Hiking St Louis Heights Trail, Oahu

Since Valerie had to spend Sunday morning prepping for school, Dan and I went for a hike on St Louis Heights Trail. While it had rained for much of the night before, the trail was pretty much OK except after we got rained on during the return. Then one section was a bit sloshy, but not too bad.

We hit the trail head at 7:25 AM. The trail follows the crest of the ridge most of the way. Here's the obligatory view of Diamond Head:

This is Dan on the return. St Louis Heights Trail is very up and down, and one does do a lot of climbing in order to get lower. This is one of the places. In some places the trail is necessarily only a couple feet wide, and if you get off it you are likely to make quite a rapid descent until you are stopped by the undergrowth.

 

Dan is still descending upwards:

 

This looks like a white hibiscus, but I haven't checked the book yet. My new camera, a Canon Powershot S5IS really came thru as the flower was about 10 feet away and thrashing about in a strong breeze. I shot a bunch of pics, hoping one would turn out usable, and several did.

 

As you can see, there are lots of roots and rocks on this trail, and a hiking stick seems mandatory even tho none of the several other people we saw had one. Here Dan is waiting patiently for your intrepid photographer to finish:

 

Here's Dan still being patient:

 

We dawdled both ways, and made it back to the trail head at 10:25: exactly three hours. This is definitely a hike to do again, perhaps on a clearer day for better landscapes- or a really overcast one for softer shadows. Take your pick.