I did a more inclusive hike this weekend. Somebody said I should do more of these. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Trailhead

Met up with Aida, Dale, Marilyn, Matt, Quan and Tessa in the city of pines.

Wahiawa Hills

We cut through the eucalyptus forest to start our hike.

Wahiawa Hills

Dale capturing the moving clouds rolling through the hills. Photo by Aida Gordon.

Wahiawa Hills

The group coming down the heavily rooted slippery slope.

Wahiawa Hills

Matt using the balancing shovel as he made his way across the log. Whatever works. Photo by Aida Gordon.

Wahiawa Hills

Going down the right (left) junction to stay on trail.

Wahiawa Hills

Dropping down to cross the longest stream on the island.

Kaukonahua Stream

Fording the wide and shallow stream.

Wahiawa Hills

There’s a reason why this place is called Wahiawa Hills and not Flats. Photo by Marilyn Bermudez.

Wahiawa Hills

Hike down. Hike up. Repeat until your desired destination is reached. Photo by Marilyn Bermudez.

Wahiawa Hills

Detouring off the loop trail.

Wahiawa Hills

The sunlight poked holes through the dense forest canopy. Photo by Aida Gordon.

Wahiawa Hills

Descending our way down to the irrigation tunnel.

Wahiawa Hills

Watching our steps as the rocks underfoot were slick and shifting.

Wahiawa Hills

Matt wanted to explore further down the stream before wading into the tunnel. Lucky I brought my webbing along. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Wahiawa Hills

Thanks to Quan for letting me borrow her spikes for that added traction on that slippery log. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Wahiawa Hills

Exploring downstream that was cluttered with lots of trees that must have been swept down from the numerous flash floods that engorges the streams. Photos by Matt Vidaurri.

Wahiawa Hills

Dale and Marilyn tried their footing on the slick log as we climbed our way back up.

Underworld

The water depth changed as we moved deeper into the tunnel, but the temperature remained constant. Cold. Ice cold. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Underworld

Approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

Underworld

The poor man’s waterfall.

Underworld

Matt the beaver worked his way through the tree branches blocking the gate to see what was on the other side.

Underworld

Group photo left to right: Dale, Tessa, Marilyn, myself, Quan, Matt and Aida.

Underworld

Some of us found it harder to leave than the others. The draw of the photoshoot was stronger than plunging back into ice cold water. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Underworld

Aida approaching the end of the tunnel. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Underworld

Tessa keeping all her goodies dry. Well not all of them. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Wahiawa Hills

When you don’t offer a helping hand, but give a stick instead.

Wahiawa Hills

Quan coming up the steep hill. Cardio hill has nothing on this one. Photo by Aida Gordon.

Wahiawa Hills

Dale had to leave the hike; but Ani, Cathy and Edgar joined the group at the top of the hill.

Black Hawk Down

Behind the production scene. Photo by Ani Lagpacan.

Hawaiian Ninja Warrior

Only Matt made the cut. The rest of us have to stay on the sidewalks.

Ranger Rejects

I guess most of us are not getting our diplomas. Photo by Ani Lagpacan.

Wahiawa

When the 2D and 3D worlds collide, expectations fail to meet reality.

Wahiawa

Taking a break from the uluhe ferns that dominated the trail. Photo by Aida Gordon.

Valve Tower

Ani approaching the over 100′ tower that was built in the 1920s.

Valve Tower

Angles and perspectives.

Valve Tower

Group photo in the Ku Tree Reservoir, left to right: Ani, Quan, Cat, Edgar, myself, Marilyn, Matt, Aida and Tessa.

Wahiawa

Climbing out of the empty lake. Photo by Aida Gordon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9g9kVueNoI

Video by Edgar Gamiao of our valve tower exploration.

Wahiawa

We picked up another hiker in the form of the forgetful hiker who met us at the top.

My Precious!

Somebody was making the most out of finding a gold ring.

Catwalk

The dancing stopped as soon as somebody realized there were no dollar bills being taken out.

Weekend Warriors

We wanted to be all you can be; so we headed down the road to test our speed, endurance and agility. Photo by Lilyn Avendano.

Tarzan

Only one of us could monkey the bars. Two-way traffic on the balance beams. Somebody thought it was the place to practice their bachata moves.

Obstacle Course

The course evaluators relaxing in the shade. Photo by Lilyn Avendano.

Easy Balancer

Easy Peasy Japanesey. Being politically incorrect.

Vaults

We all got over the bars in our own ways. Some more graceful than others.

Swing, Stop and Jump

Most of us swung around without any direction until we got stopped and then jumped to the ground. Not exactly how it’s supposed to be done. Matt the Hawaiian Ninja Warrior was the only one to tap the top.

Belly Over

How do you get up there?

Island Hopper

Stretching those legs.

Obstacle Course

Nothing to see here. Move along. Photo by Lilyn Avendano.

Low Crawl

Somebody wouldn’t have popped up early if there was machine gun fire over our heads. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Wahiawa

Scrambling our way out of the hills.

Wahiawa

Walking our way out. It’s still daylight! Photo by Lilyn Avendano.

Wahiawa

I hear you knocking, but you can’t come out.

All pau

Our fun exploration day covered over seven miles in the rolling hills of Wahiawa that gave us cardiovascular and physical exercise all rolled up into one hike. Post hike meal at Chicken in a Barrel. I guess it’s all in how you say it.

Note: I have been made aware that some hikers have been using my blog as a hiking guide and getting lost on the trails. Please note that this blog was made to document the hike for the crew(s) that did it. That is why some of my comments will seem to have no relevance or meaning to anybody outside of the crew(s) that hiked that trail. My blog was never meant as a hiking guide, so please do not treat it as such. If you find inspiration and entertainment from these hikes, that is more than enough. If you plan on replicating these hikes, do so in the knowledge that you should do your own research accordingly as trail conditions, access, legalities and so forth are constantly in flux. What was current today is most likely yesterdays news. Please be prepared to accept any risks and responsibilities on your own as you should know your own limitations, experience and abilities before you even set foot on a trail, as even the “simplest” or “easiest” of trails can present potential pitfalls for even the most “experienced” hikers.

Having done Warrior Dash and Makahiki Challenge last year, I was not too impressed with the obstacles. They were both fun, but not that challenging. I heard the Spartan Race was different and tougher. When Chris put out the call to join his team for the Spartan race, I decided to see if the course lived up to its hype.

We are Spartans!

Kreyz Oshiro, radio personality from Island 98.5, exhorting everybody to be Spartans. Let’s do this!

Stairs

Running and walking on the stadium stairs. Down. Up. Repeat.

No stairs!

Heading towards the spiral walkways.

Bear crawl up

Crawling and ducking underneath the strings.

Stairs again

Up in the nose bleed section.

Walls

Climbing over walls. At least no stairs. For now.

Aloha Stadium

Making our way around the stadium.

Tire pull

Pulling up tires. Drop it slowly, otherwise get a nasty rope burn.

Bear crawl down

It was easier crawling down than up. Something to do with gravity.

Jerry cans

Carrying buckets filled with sloshing water as we went down, across and up the stairs. Some folks carried two buckets. I was fine with my one bucket.

Traverse wall

Scooting on small blocks across a wall and ringing a bell. Running around in a man-made maze in the stadium. Why does this sound Pavlovian?

Hercules hoist

Hoisting up a bucket filled with sand and rocks. They had lighter ones for women. Hope I picked the correct gender assigned bucket.

Monkey bars

Swinging on the bars. Failure to be met with 30 burpees. Failure is not an option.

Football toss

Playing Monday Morning QB. Yes, I’m using it out of context. Had nothing else. Literally. Drop and give me 15 burpees.

Spear throw

Trying to stick it. Nope. Drop and give me 15 burpees.

Walls

Let’s climb more walls.

Musical chairs

Sitting on each chair in the row without using your hands. Pays to have a heavy bottom for this one.

Movie seats

Remember doing this in the movie theaters when you wanted to change seats without having to go back in the aisle? Finally paid off.

Trio of walls

Over, under and through. Let’s try to follow instructions.

Box jumps

Start hopping and give me 15.

Burpees!?!

Drop and give me 15 burpees. Just because.

Rope climb

Climbing on either the knotted or un-knotted ropes. Ring the bell at the top. So close, yet so far.

Release push-ups

Give me 15 release push ups! You don’t know what they are? Let me demonstrate!

Cargo net

Clambering up and down. Watch your feet, that’s my face.

Hurdle

“You’re almost at the finish line!” Get outta my way then.

Pugil sticks

Running straight down the middle to the finish line.

Grab your medals and T-shirts

Group photo at the finish line, standing left to right: Albert, Sheldon and myself. Kneeling left to right: Chris and James.

It’s not free?

Looking at a finisher riding the zip line. You had to pay $35 one way or $50 round trip. I paid enough already.

GPS Tracks

The course was a little over 4 miles, round and round through the stadium, which lived up to its hype. This was only the entry level course in the Spartan “Family” – the others being Spartan Super and Beast. Great fun with a great team. Next time, if there’s a next time, I will train and not just wing it.

It was time to get muddy again. That’s why I found myself on the road headed to Kualoa Ranch to participate in the Makahiki Challenge, which is a mud run/obstacle course. Just coming off the Warrior Dash two weeks ago, I decided to check out this race on the Windward side of the island.

10:20am heat

$10 to park again, this time no option to park free on the outside road. There are no check-ins or timing chips to put on your shoes, just show up and go!

Obstacle #1 – Nothing but Net

The obstacles seemed to be evenly spaced out on this course, as compared to the Warrior Dash. Coming up a hill, we stooped and staggered underneath a net, best bet was to draft somebody from behind. My GoPro kept on getting stuck in the net and almost got ripped off my head a couple of times.

Obstacle #2 – Suicide Slide

This was the best obstacle in terms of fun value. Sliding down headfirst on 100′ of water lubricated plastic. Until my face met somebody’s feet at the bottom and then a couple of folks slammed into me from behind. It was still fun.

Obstacle #3 – Monkey Business

All upper body strength as you climbed the monkey bars going up and then going down. Probably the hardest obstacle on the course, in  terms of people actually completing it.

Obstacle #4 – Hawaiian Ice Bath

A nice icy cold dunk to wake up your lower extremities. It’s over before you know it.

Obstacle #5 – Tangled

Oh, what a tangled bungee web we weave.

Obstacle #6 – Mud Crawl

The planks got lower as you crawled into this one, forcing you to kiss the mud at the end.

Moo-ve it on

As we hit the middle of the course, we saw choke cows grazing and mooing at us. Choke is a relative term and comes from a city boy like myself.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Some runners stopped to get their picture taken with this left-over film set from the movie “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Didn’t see no Jurassic Park paw prints.

Looping back

We soon found ourselves looping back and making our way towards the ocean.

Flooding

This had to be lamest of the obstacles, as it was just a couple trails flooded with muddy water. Fail.

Obstacle #7 – Da Pig Pen

Today’s entertainment was provided by this character as he was flinging mud at us as we entered this mud filled pit to hear him yell “My grandmother is faster than you” and “My grandmother’s dog is faster than you.” I guess the classics never die.

Obstacle #8 – Balls to the Walls

This was probably the second hardest obstacle on the course. Grabbing a muddy rope with muddy hands and trying to climb up a muddy wall.

Obstacle #9 – Balance Beams

The hardest part of this obstacle was trying to get your muddy feet on these beams. Some runners used the staff as support as they made their way on the zig zag beams.

Obstacle #10 – Mastah Blastah

Rolling to the finish line through these hanging tires.

Don’t forget your cup holder!

No medals at this race, just a cup holder. T-Shirts will be in the mail. Huh?

Panoramic view of the grounds

Click here for the larger image. Would I do this race again? It was fun, but not $80 worth of fun.