Holy crap what a grueling day. I set out around noon and headed to Cheeseburger to grab a light lunch before tackling the crater that I failed to get to on Sunday. The hike costs a buck for entry and is about a 2 hour round trip. The first part was paved so I thought it wasnt so bad, then it turned into a rocky path that was blown out of the crater which ran for several hundred feet. At the end of the rocky path, I thought I had reached the end but after turning a corner, there was a staircase with about 50 steps which led to a lookout. After taking a 5 minute break to cool down and to get the heart to slow down a bit, I continued on…. towards another staircase of 50 steps. I thought I’d get it over with so I started to run up the stairs which was a mistake. I was completely burned out at the top that I had to sit down. After 10 minutes, I continued through what looks like an old army lookout and around the corner was another set of stairs, people coming down told me that this was the last bit and I’d be at the top. After going up the spiral staircase, I was there and what a view. I was at the top of Oahu, I could take pictures of everything. The walk down wasn’t as bad and took less than half the time but it was hard on the thighs, why couldn’t they have a tram that comes down like at Grouse? I’m surprised that I made it and I’m glad I did.
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