My First Sunrise Hike
Hey everyone!
Today has been, quite honestly, a very tiring day. Actually, this whole weekend has been tiring. Let's start with Sunday, given that you are all familiar with what Friday and Saturday consisted of.
On Sunday I was finally able to hang out with the girls for the first time since being back. Even though I had to work from 9 to 1:15, I was able to see them for a few hours, which was a lot more than what I've had recently. Together we had dinner and then walked to one of the boba shops, a little place called Taste Tea, for a snack afterwords. We also spent some time at the neighboring college, Chaminade, where we went on a self guided tour in search of "Lokelani", where one of the girls read there was an exorcism. I don't mess with that kind of stuff, but the others were pretty eager to see firsthand the place where something supernatural took place.
After running around Chaminade we walked back to campus and called it a night. A little after parting, Shannon and I made a quick trip to the store to buy some baking mix. As incentive for successfully going on the hike, we wanted to reward ourselves with a cake. We weren't going to do this originally, but we've been putting this hike off for too long that, at least for us, if we had made a cake it would be a reason to complete the hike. Needless to say we were up until one baking the cake in the kitchen.
After the cake was made we went to bed and woke up a few hours later to head off. Ironically, we found ourselves in the same situation as a couple mornings ago when we were too tired to hike. However, this time around I was determined to stay awake so that we could finally complete it. Because I was able to successfully wake Shannon up, we were able to be out the door by 6:00 and at Diamond Head no later than 6:30.
The walk to the top was brisk, and we had to hurry past a lot of tourists to get to the top on time to see the sunrise. In what I consider to be a record, 20 minutes, we had finally reached the highest point. Surprisingly, no tourists were on the ledge to the side of the top, so Shannon and I were quick to crawl under the fence and make our way over to the cement slab. Here are some pictures of our view. The tourists were quick to follow, of course after watching us for a bit and deciding that we were safe on the cement.
The hike was a lot of fun, and I'm so thankful to have finally woken up with enough motivation to go through with it. The views at the top make the walk worth it, and I would suggest to any and everyone that the cement slab to the left of the pillbox is worth going on. It's not exactly recommended, as I think there's a sign that says "Keep Off", but no one will stop you if you try, so take that for what you will.
After the breather we walked back down the crater and caught the fastest bus to Waikiki where we would recoup with some coffee. It was still very early in the day, only 8, and so we had some time before we needed to be back. Once finished with our coffee we decided that we couldn't postpone going back to campus any longer, and soon we were on our way to the dorms.
The rest of my day went on pretty normally after that. I had to work, again, and after brunch I had to leave the girls so I could go spend a few hours at work. After that I came back, had dinner, and began working on homework.
The routine feels odd, after not having one for a few weeks, but it's a welcome feeling. I'm glad to be back in a routine and am excited for what the next few weeks will hold. I really want to manage my time better, and part of this involves me dedicating some time to the gym and friends. It is also a goal of mine to do a hike a month (originally it was to complete one hike a week, but I've soon come to realize this is a very difficult feat). I want my next hike to be one a haven't done, and I have a few in mind. However to keep some mystery to my future posts I will withhold telling you.
Until next time,
Aislinn
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