‘Twas it was two nights before Christmas, when all through the city, we gathered together to be shuttled to our starting point for our last perimeter walk of the year.

Diamond Head Tennis Courts

Thanks to Aileen for cramming Aida, Cinja, Leianne, Mari, Quan, Scott, Tessa, and myself in her dad’s truck to be dropped off at Mapunapuna.

Mapunapuna

Ferlino met us at the drop off point and harmonized his harmonica for our listening pleasure. Seasonal tunes.

Mapunapuna

Light being blocked under refracted light in water droplets.

Nimitz Highway

Row, row, row your cart
Gently down the road
That was built for the military bases and the airport
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
Until the homeless asks for it back

Nimitz Highway

Crossing over Moanalua Stream as it emptied into Keehi Lagoon.

Nimitz Highway

Bathroom break and free ice water at the fast food chain that first arrived to Hawaii in 1968.

Nimitz Highway

Passing alongside the mural that combines elements of Kapalama, Kalihi, Kukui and Kou trees, Diamond Head and a school of Aku.

Young Brothers

Walking across the inter-island shipping company that was established in 1913 and has basically kept a monopolizing stranglehold on the water market in Hawaii.

Nimitz Highway

Nobody wanted to get their blood pressure taken but some of us really wanted our picture taken with the fire fighters.

Nimitz Highway

Passing the former Xerox building that was witness to the worst mass shooting in Hawaii. On November 2, 1999, Bryan Uesugi killed seven of his co-workers and later surrendered to the police. He is currently serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in Tallahatchie County Correctional facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi.

Lilihia Bakery

Getting our sugar fix at the bakery that started out in 1950 selling loaves of bread.

Nimitz Highway

Entering the outskirts of downtown Honolulu, which is the business and political nexus of the islands.

Nimitz Highway

Passing through Honolulu Harbor that is the lifeline for the islands as over 80% of our goods arrive by sea.

Aloha Tower

Group photo in front of the 184′ retired lighthouse that once greeted thousands of immigrants that sailed to Honolulu. The iconic landmark opened in 1926 and was the highest structure in the island for four decades.

Aloha Tower

Walking around the seemingly deserted Aloha Tower Marketplace that is currently owned and managed by the Hawaii Pacific University. Perhaps they best stick to what they know best, which is higher education.

Falls of Clyde

Looking at the last surviving iron-hulled, four-masted full-rigged ship, and the only remaining sail-driven oil tanker that is currently moored at Pier 7. The State wants to remove the 145 year old ship so that it can develop the area but Friends of Falls of Clyde, a non-profit organization that currently has ownership of the ship is fighting efforts to evict the ship from her berth.

Ala Moana Blvd

Feeding the fishes and the birds.

Kawaiaha’o Church

The Westminster Abbey of Hawaii was built between 1836 and 1842 of 14,000 thousand pound slabs of coral rock quarried from offshore reefs. Kawaiaha’o Church was once the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom, as well as the chapel of the royal family. It was here that Kamehamhea III said the phrase that would become Hawai’i’s official motto “Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘aina i ka pono.” “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”.

Frank F. Fasi Civic Center Grounds

Walking through the annual month-long December City of Lights celebration that was started by Mayor Fasi back in 1985.

Kapiolani Blvd

Crossing the street as we passed the Advertiser Building that was built in 1929 and once housed the island’s oldest newspapers and radio station. It was purchased by Hawaiian Dredging as their headquarters in 2016.

Kaka’ako

Walking around the ever changing landscape of the Pow!Wow! graffiti murals that add a splash of color to the industrial neighborhood.

Kaka’ako

Checking out 1-2buy Asian warehouse that stocks esoteric and exotic snacks, drinks and merchandise in a no-frills shopping environment.

Kaka’ako

Japanese imported fire truck complete with working sirens and lights can be yours for only $18,000 USD or 2,567,889 JPY depending on the daily exchange rate.

Kaka’ako

We caught a last gander at the street art that was dominated by gas mask wearing rodents. One thought is that the gas masks symbolize government oppression against free speech.

Kaka’ako Farmers Market

Window shopping as we passed the corridor of tasty looking but rather expensive morsels of food and drink and immersive butterfly dome. We settled for the cheap and tasty $5 bento box lunch wagon nearby. Comfort food. Can’t go wrong.

Ala Moana Blvd

Group photo with Big Santa in the background that has made its annual appearance since 1959 to kick off the holiday season at the world’s largest open air shopping center.

Ala Moana Park

Passing the beach park that sits on reclaimed swamp land that was filled in with dredged coral fill and was dedicated by FDR in 1934. Nearby Magic Island was also a man-made peninsula created in 1962 that was originally slated to be home to a hotel and shopping complex until public outcry turned it into a public park.

Hilton Hawaiian Village

Standing in front of the sculpture that is home to one of the largest hotels in the world that sprawls over 22 acres of beachfront property.

Kalia Road

Passing the former Battery Randolph that was built in 1911 for coastal defense and became the US Army Museum in 1976.

Kalakaua Ave

Walking down the main shopping street in Waikiki that used to be for two-way traffic until 1971. We also learned a new German word, Fremdschaemen. To be embarrassed for somebody behaving in an embarrassing way. Hai! Hai! Arigatou Gozaimasu!

Kalakaua Ave

Group photo in front of the nine-foot statue of Duke Kahanamoku, the father of modern surfing, that was erected in 1990.

Waikiki Beach

Standing at the end of the Kapahulu Groin that was built in 1951 to keep the sand from coming and going.

Kalakaua Ave

Passing the surfer on a wave statue erected in 2003.

Kalakaua Ave

Itai! Itai! Japanese couple muttering to themselves “look straight ahead and perhaps this person will lose interest in us.” Fremdschaemen.

Kalakaua Ave

The futile quest to find a working payphone on this island outside of the airport.

Kalakaua Ave

Group photo at the Dillingham Fountain that actually replaced the original Phoenix Fountain that was built in 1919 and gifted by the Japanese people that were living in Hawaii at that time. However, after the Pearl Harbor attack, the fountain was torn down and scrapped for metal. If it wasn’t for the war, the more aesthetically appealing fountain might still be standing today.

Kapiolani Park

Standing in the drizzling rain in the first public park in Hawaii that was dedicated in 1877 and had its origins as home to a horse racing track.

Pioneer Saloon

Post walk meal at Pioneer Saloon. Utensils? How else am I supposed to eat? With my hands? Fremdschaemen.

GPS Tracks

Our year end perimeter walk covered 11.39 miles with a fun group. Only two more sections left to complete the entire island of Oahu.

Photos taken by Aida Gordon, Cinja Strickland, Leianne Lee Loy, Mari Saito, Quan Haberstroh, Scott Dea, Tessa Bugay, and yours truly. Not necessarily in order.

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. One should also always let somebody know of your hiking plans in case something doesn’t go as planned, better safe than sorry.

There was a full moon out tonight and instead of howling, we went hiking up Diamond Head. Picked up Chris and David from KCC and parked in a sleepy residential neighborhood side street. Started off a little past 3:30am and scrambled through dry grass, kiawe trees and crumbly terrain as we made our way up the crater rim.

Pillbox bunker

David and Chris silhoutted on the first pillbox bunker.

Crater rim

From the second pillbox bunker, we could see the city lights of Waikiki cast her glow behind the crater rim.

Diamond Head lighthouse

Looking down at Diamond Head Road and Lighthouse from the third pillbox bunker.

Fire Control Station

Looking at the fire control station buried at the top of Leahi or Diamond Head from the fourth pillbox bunker. Since we had time to kill, we climbed up the front of the fire control station to the lookout.

City lights

City lights of Waikiki from the fifth pillbox bunker.

Diamond Head crater floor, Koko Crater and Koko Head

At 6:00am, the tunnel opened and a stream of headlights announced that Diamond Head was open for business.

Best seats in the house

The best seats in the house was on the fifth pillbox bunker and not the lookout. As the lookout was soon to be as congested as the malls are during holiday shopping.

The Lookout at 6:00am

At 6:00am, the Diamond Head Lookout was very peaceful and quiet. That was about to change.

The Lookout at 6:40am

Soon we saw bobbing figures with flashlights making their way up the trail and to the lookout. It filled up pretty fast and the chatterings of English, Japanese and Korean drifted our way. Some folks made their way to the fifth pillbox and shattered our exclusivity and unfettered views.

Sunrise

Sunrises are always pretty to watch, but even more spectacular when you’re on top of a mountain.

Panoramic view from Diamond Head

Click here for the larger image.

Diamond Head Tunnel

Now the most dangerous part of the hike, we had to walk out of the tunnel without getting hit by the cars that were coming in and out of Diamond Head Crater.

Having never done a night hike, well intentionally, we decided that this month’s full moon or blue moon was too good to pass up a chance to hike the entire crater rim of Diamond Head at night. I met up with Chris, Chance “Shoeless”, Kaimi and Sina at 9:30pm. Thanks to Dave for the directions! We skirted the guardrail at the end of the street and made our way up to the crater rim. The full moon was very bright, making it quite easy to see where we were going, we didn’t even need flashlights.

Military Bunker

Once we got to the rim, I attached a chemlight to one of the Kiawe tree branches to mark our return spot and then we headed left to the lookout. We soon came upon this half buried bunker with the roof partially open, as we peered inside with the assistance of our cell phone flashlights, we could see flags and pictures inside the bunker. There are actually stairs that lead down to this bunker, but it was locked. With no way of getting inside, short of climbing in from the top; which Chance was vigorously trying to persuade us to do, we continued our way on the rim. I also didn’t realize that there are roads inside the crater that are actually quite close to the rim in some areas.

Waikiki at Night

We soon passed two more pillbox bunkers and then ran across the remnants of barbed wire on the ocean side, probably dating back from World War 2. The rim gradually became steeper as we headed towards the lookout.

Panoramic night view from the lookout

Click here to see the larger panoramic image taken by Chris with his phone.

Where’s the moon?

Clouds started to hide the moon from us for a couple hours and gently pelted us with light showers. We got to the lookout around midnight just in time to take shelter from the light drizzle.

Diamond Head Lookout

The showers soon stopped out and the moon came back out. The night views of the city lights from the top at 761′ were just amazing, unfortunately most of my pictures came out either blurry or dark. So much for night mode on my camera. We then left the lookout and passed the last bunker on the rim and made our way down. Some parts of the rim narrowed considerably and there were a couple rock faces we had to climb down, all in the moonlit darkness. Sina soon ran out of gas around 3:10am and couldn’t go further; so we agreed that Chris, Kaimi and Sina would head down in the crater and camp out until the park opened at 6am. Chance and I would return back to where we had started from and pick them up at the bus stop inside the crater when they opened. We continued on the now flat rim trail, an irony that we passed on to the rest of the group when we saw them in the morning, passed the communications tower and headed back down the crater and got to our cars around 4:45am.

Panoramic view of Diamond Head

We drove to the lookout point that is right before the Diamond Head Kahala Tunnel and took a power nap. At around 5:45am, we woke up to hordes of tourists milling around and waiting for the gates to open. After the long stream of tour buses made their way into the tunnel and gave us a chance to get in, we picked up the rest of the group and headed home to a well deserved sleep. Click here to see the larger image of Diamond Head Crater Rim from inside the park.

Diamond Head, known to Hawaiians as Le’ahi has got to be one of the most hiked places on Oahu due to it’s ease of access and scenic views. You can thank the US Army in 1908 for carving out the trails, steps, tunnels and fortifications that make this hike what it is today.

Kahala Tunnel

You can either walk or drive through this tunnel. Either way you are going to pay a dollar or five dollars respectively to the parking lot attendant that awaits you on the other side of this tunnel. However, the tunnel is not meant for people and cars to co-exist at the same time, as it’s quite narrow. My wife and I decided to take the safer route and drive through the tunnel.

Information Center

One can learn some facts and trivia about Diamond Head here, before heading out for the .8 mile walk up to the summit. Bring comfortable shoes, water and sunscreen. This is the only place where you will find bathrooms. Start the hike early, that way you beat the sun and the crowds.

Crater floor

Here you can see the floor of the crater and parts of Hawaii Kai and Waimanalo past the rim.

74 steps

These steps will lead you into the first tunnel. No need to bring flashlights as it’s lighted. In the old days, we walked barefoot and had no lights.

99 steps

That song “99 bottles of beer on the wall” pops into mind. Just when you thought you were finished climbing steps. The cross-beams were used for camouflage in the old days.

How high are we?

Question answered. Some people’s heads will be hanging down by the time they reach the top of the stairs, so they shouldn’t miss this elevation marker.

Dizzy yet?

Round and round you go on the 52 spiral stairs, until you reach the Fire Control Station.

Nice view

Looking out to Waikiki through the Fire Control Station slits once covered by metal shutters.

Keep your distance

Walking along the trail, you can see Diamond Head Lighthouse at the bottom. Built in 1917, it can shine it’s light 18 miles out towards the Pacific Ocean.

Traffic

Last set of 54 stairs which replaced the old ladder to the summit.

Protecting Waikiki

Remnants of the once extensive military fortifications that used to ring the crater.

Rainbow shot

Photo at the top of the 760′ lookout. Then we joined the rest of the moving mass of humanity to go back down.