Learning to Enjoy the Journey Despite Changes: Pu'u Haleakala, Kalawhine to Konahuanui, Byodo-In Temple and Bellows Beach

The greatest lessons can be learned only through experience.  As was the case with The Hiking Buddha's adventures this weekend.  My sister came in town to visit, and we decided we were going to hike as much as we could.
First up was a planned sunset hike for Pu'u Haleakala.  After researching exhaustively online, reading a few different blog posts, and asking for help in planning the route through a Facebook hiking group, we decided that going the shorter trail from the North West ridge across from the West Side Pavilion would be our best bet to reach the top by sunset.  This hike is actually the one that inspired The Hiking Buddha idea in the first place, as there was once a Buddha statue at the summit that has sadly been removed.  The original plan for my Buddha was to use it to replace the one that had been stolen.  However, after purchasing it and going through the logistics of the work it would take to cement/secure the Buddha in place as to prevent it from being stolen, carrying The Hiking Buddha on my back everywhere I go seemed a better alternative.

 We got there a bit later than expected, with only 2 hours until sunset and started up the trail.  The main problem was that we couldn't find a discernable trail and ended up forging our way through tall grasses, loose rocks, over some rock climbing sections and through thorny trees that cut up our arms a bit.  Luckily we found some perfect walking sticks on the way up, that helped a ton with our little trail blazing adventure.

 By the time the sun set, we hadn't made it up to the top of the first false peak.  So, we decided to regroup for a moment and descend back the way we had come.  After carefully navigating our way back down a rock face we had climbed in the dwindling light, (thank goodness for headlamps), we decided to meditate.  Sitting peacefully in the dark of night with only a sliver of a golden moon and a slight breeze, made for a great moment of reflection on the current predicament and how it holds true to plans in life.  When we finished our brief meditation, we both noticed a small light coming from the ridgeline that had, up to that point, been so elusive.  We decided to traverse over to the ridge and go down to the light.  Someone had placed a solar powered garden light on the trail, I'm assuming to help guide hikers like ourselves who have lost their way on the uncertain trail.  From there it definitely wasn't easy going, but I was less nervous about where we were headed and what we needed to do to get safely back to the car.

 The next morning, we got a bit of a late start yet again.  Being slightly uncertain about whether or not we should do the planned hike up Konahuanui, since I was definitely tired from our evening of lost adventure.  After a quick breakfast, we decided that Konahuanui still felt like the right trail, and off we went.  We reached the beginning of Kalawahine (our connector trail) around 11am, and set out with our packs and our walking sticks from the night before.  Personally, Kalawahine is one of my favorite jungle trails, it has nice views, great vegetation, and is a fun little trail.  We turned left at the Puaoa Flats junction and proceeded through all the tree roots, and the bamboo forest to the Puaoa Flats lookout above where the Lulumahu trail is located. We took a moment here to eat a snack, and grab some pics with The Hiking Buddha.  We also strapped on some micro spikes, as it was cloudy and misty on the mountain, and the last time I hiked up Konahuanui I wished I had better grip.

Off we set, and the burning in my calves was immediate.  I started having a hard time catching my breath, even though this was a trail I was familiar with, today was a different day with different circumstances. We opted to take the contour trail at the split instead of the ridgeline trail for the whole, since that was the trail I had hiked on my last trip up K2. The trail was in good condition, only a few spots that had drops you had to jump over, and they were obvious, so no danger of a missed step.  As we got higher and higher, the screaming in my calves subsided and we hit our hiking stride.

  When we reached the connection with the split ridgeline, the mist and cloud cover we had been hiking under started to turn into a soft rain.  We kept along the ridgeline, which is well worn in places with narrow trenches creating worn in steps.  Off to the left we could hear a waterfall, and when it came into view I was surprised to see a two tier beauty across the valley.  It hadn't been flowing as heavily the last time I was here, and it was a really cool find. 

 As we started climbing up another well worn stairs section, both of my calves started to cramp with a vengeance, and I couldn't continue any further.  We came upon the first clearing on the ridgeline and decided to take a food break and rest there to see if my calves would stop hurting.  As we sat and refueled, I pulled The Hiking Buddha out of my backpack yet again, and took a few pictures.  We decided it would be a good spot to take a moment and do another brief meditation.  As we began to meditate, the sky opened up and the rain started pelting down at an angle with a stiff wind.  When we opened our eyes, the cloud cover had come even closer to our current location, and there was a glow from the sun illuminating the contour trail and leaving the rest of the valley and stormy dimness.  We decided that while we would love to soldier on, heading down the trail was the right decision, and we started back down.

When we reached the lookout bench on Kalawahine, we took another moment to reflect on our experiences with a guided meditation. It was a wonderful way to spend Mother's Day and to bring closure to the hiking plans for our weekend.

 The next day we decided it was time to recharge and we spent the morning at Byodo-In Temple, feeding the Koi and paying our respects to Buddha.

  Then we went and frolicked in the beach on a wonderfully cloudy, yet not rainy day, at Bellows.

  Overall it was a great weekend with lots of activity and a perfect time of reflection and recharging.

 The lesson I learned from these two hikes is that sometimes even despite your best preparation and efforts, things just don't work out the way you had hoped.  Both trails didn't go as planned, both trails were left unfinished.  At first I had a very hard time with this, finishing and reaching the goals of the day is what I do.  However, despite the hikes not being complete, we still had a wonderful adventure filled with beauty.  The sunset and the new moon on Pu'u Haleakala was the most beautiful sunset I've seen since moving to the island.  The moon and the stars were so bright and vibrant, a rare sight out in the super populated area we live.  On Konahuanui, the beauty of the hidden waterfall I hadn't seen before, and the wonderfully refreshing and restorative rain during our meditation was what I needed to help me relax and accept that sometimes things don't workout how you planned, but they do work out how you needed.

Until the next hiking adventure...