Hiking Diamond Head Crater
Dec. 27th, 2021 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerOahu travelog #14
Diamond Head, HI - Mon, 27 Dec 2021, 9:30am
This morning we got up bright and early to hike Hawaii's Diamond Head Crater. ...Actually, we were up so early it wasn't even bright. We got up before dawn to beat the crowds at this popular tourist spot. Alas we weren't early enough! By the time we arrived in the park just after 7am there was already a long line to park, and another long line to buy hiking tickets. Yes, pay to park and pay to hike. But at least it was via convenient kiosks instead of an antiquated, hidden web site like Lulumahu Falls.
One thing I only learned like, yesterday, is that Hawaii's famous Diamond Head is actually Diamond Head Crater. I'd only ever seen views like this one before:
This is a picture I took the other day from a very chill park down in Waikiki. From angles like this it's like, "Yup, that's a steep mountain with lots of canyon folds on its sides."
Then when you get up to the rim you see it looks like this inside:
So, what did it take to get from the first picture to the second picture? A lot of hiking. Uphill hiking.
Some of it is on ramps that just go up, up, up...
...And were crowded. It was like a human escalator on the busy trail today.
And speaking of escalators, there were also long staircases in parts:
But after all that huffing and puffing we break out at the top of Diamond Head with amazing 360° views, including down over Waikiki.
I'm glad we started this trail early in the day. We finished all the hard uphill hiking while it was still relatively cool out and I think we avoid the worst of the crowds— though they were still intense. Fortunately there's enough beauty around for everyone to walk in.
Diamond Head, HI - Mon, 27 Dec 2021, 9:30am
This morning we got up bright and early to hike Hawaii's Diamond Head Crater. ...Actually, we were up so early it wasn't even bright. We got up before dawn to beat the crowds at this popular tourist spot. Alas we weren't early enough! By the time we arrived in the park just after 7am there was already a long line to park, and another long line to buy hiking tickets. Yes, pay to park and pay to hike. But at least it was via convenient kiosks instead of an antiquated, hidden web site like Lulumahu Falls.
One thing I only learned like, yesterday, is that Hawaii's famous Diamond Head is actually Diamond Head Crater. I'd only ever seen views like this one before:
This is a picture I took the other day from a very chill park down in Waikiki. From angles like this it's like, "Yup, that's a steep mountain with lots of canyon folds on its sides."
Then when you get up to the rim you see it looks like this inside:
So, what did it take to get from the first picture to the second picture? A lot of hiking. Uphill hiking.
Some of it is on ramps that just go up, up, up...
...And were crowded. It was like a human escalator on the busy trail today.
And speaking of escalators, there were also long staircases in parts:
But after all that huffing and puffing we break out at the top of Diamond Head with amazing 360° views, including down over Waikiki.
I'm glad we started this trail early in the day. We finished all the hard uphill hiking while it was still relatively cool out and I think we avoid the worst of the crowds— though they were still intense. Fortunately there's enough beauty around for everyone to walk in.
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Date: 2021-12-31 03:45 am (UTC)