From the Mountain to the Sea

 

On Thursday Quincie and I ran away for the afternoon.  We found this awesome beach, and had it pretty much to ourselves. A few people came and went, but just look at all that  gorgeous, empty sand!.  The only footprints were from our feet.

Quinice found all kinds of tiny shells, sea glass and other beautiful things.  Her back got a little sunburned from spending most of the time like she is in the photo above.

The waves were fierce!  Standing in the shore break letting wave after wave slam into me was awesome!  There is something magnificent about the power of the ocean.  I love it!

Sometimes I crave the way it feels to have my feet in the wet sand.

The mountains come right up to the beach.  There were incredible views in all directions.  That mountain was calling our name, so on Saturday we came back and hiked it.  It is Kealia Trail, and the trail head is at the 3rd gate of Dillingham Airfield in Waialua. You can see the airfield in some of the photos.  They do skydiving, gliders, and small airplanes.  We saw several gliders and planes in the air as we hiked. 

We saw a bird eating these berries.  I am pretty sure it was a female pheasant.  Later we heard it's call.  I had no idea there were pheasant on Oahu. I tried to snap some pics, but it quickly went into the foliage.

There were a LOT of rocks on this trail, from GIANT to pebbles and everything in between.

It was so lush and green!  There were vines everywhere!  Truly hiking in the jungle.

You could see the ocean pretty much every step of the way.  We had to keep reminding ourselves to keep walking and not just top and stare at the beauty that was before us.

Q on top of one of the larger rocks.

Lots of lava rock to climb over at one of the many switchback turns.

Oh, the upness!!!  It went up and up and up, with so many switchbacks!

On the way down we sat under that giant rock and had our snack.  It actually got a little cold and Quincie was shivering.

We made it to the top right at an hour.  We did a LOT of lolly gagging.  We were trying to get a good pic of us and the awesome view behind us.  Where are the other hikers when you need them?

If you look closely, you can see the trail below.  Did I mention there were a lot of switchbacks?

That is the beach we were at on Thursday.  Looks like the waves are still fierce.  Pretty awesome view!

Yes, moss on a rock.  I wish I had brought my macro lens so I could have an even closer view of the stuff.

We are not exactly sure what this is - some sort of shrimp farm, or aquaculture farm.

Look at all that green farmland.

Yes, more moss on a rock.

I love hiking and exploring this amazing world we live in!  I'm so grateful to have shared this adventure with Quincie.  She's the best!   I want to see everything beautiful. I don't want to miss a thing.