Dateline: October 10-24, Big Island, Hawaii
Hawaii is what’s next. Kip and I spent our honeymoon on Kauai in October 1987, and we haven’t traveled alone together since. Maybe we were spooked because the last time, we flew home on Black Monday, October 19, 1987, into a stock market crash and recession. The whole thing might have been our fault. This time, we decided to give ourselves 2 weeks and spend it exploring every nook and cranny of the Big Island. And with all that a’a lava, there are more nooks and crannies then an English muffin.
As luck would have it, Kip had us flying in the night before Ironman, so we got up on East Coast time and watched the swim start and saw some of the early going on the bike. We stayed in Kailua- Kona that first night with Barbara, whom we found through Air BnB. Another guest in the home was a 4- time veteran of this World Championships, and she told us how best to view the swim and the first hot corner of the Bike.
A sprint triathlon here would be a wonderful Challenge, but the limitations I knew might crop up as I rack up the states started to wield their influence early. Five days before departure, I was clattered in a soccer game, plowing my right shoulder into the ground, injuring my collar bone. Like, badly. I wasn’t about to waste my time at the ER, so I ordered a brace online for $25 and did 2 sessions of physical therapy at my old office. Jeff seemed pretty darn sure I had fractured it. I wore the brace 24/7 for the first week in Hawaii and there was no way in hell I could ride a bike or swim distance. I tried to follow a fish snorkeling on day 2 or 3 and was brought up short in considerable pain. Ok, I thought, wear the brace, the sling, take advil round the clock, protect your ability to hike. Don’t blow that.
Hiking went well- So well that my dream of summiting Mauna Kea seemed a real probability…
Until we got to 9200 feet, after a warm up hike at 7000 ft. along the Saddle Road.
Kip has been having altitude sickness for some years now, and it was pretty scary on Mt Washington. The Ellison Onizuka Visitor’s Center, at 9,200 ft, is the acclimitization point for any Mauna Kea summit hike, and we were there at 12:30 pm, a perfect weather day. Deteriorating weather was expected the next couple days- we said- ok, go for it. I changed my clothes, I was going to go, Kip was going to drive me down- but… I got to thinking. I was alone… He wasn’t sure he could get the front wheel drive car to the summit or be in any condition to drive down, and I couldn’t hike it in both directions before dark. I said NO GO.
Thank God. We drove down- he was not acting right, then felt ill, then passed out as we went rapidly to sea level in Hilo. After that day, every time we dropped altitude, he was sick. My summit dreams were not going to be reality, especially once Hurricane Ana hit, bringing snow to the summits of Maunas Kea and Loa. I was determined to regroup and find something else. Meanwhile, we weren’t exactly suffering or sitting around. Hawaii wow’d us at every turn.
More roadblocks in my search for the Big Island Challenge- the Kilauea Rim Trail was closed due to volcanic fumes- that would have been a 10 miler, but fatal, which kills the buzz. The Red Hill Trail is too high for Kip. On the Saturday, with the Park closed and the 5k up in HonoKa’a canceled, I found a rain forest trail that required almost no driving. We did it in water and mud up nearly to our knees, during a hurricane, while most everyone sat indoors.
That’s something. It was listed as almost 5 miles- but it was short of that I’m sure. Is it enough? I may need an impartial judge. Tomorrow we could go back to Saddle Road and do a hike at 5,000 feet- but I don’t know if Kip will want to drive there. We should head south. We could go south and tour a coffee farm and perhaps I could run or hike the Cane Haul Road, but its right on the southeast coast where the hurricane hit. And my sneakers are filled with rainforest mud.
I was pining after that mountain, but not anymore. It’s ok, really, I am so much more flexible than I was last time I came to this state. On my honeymoon, I actually threw a golf club in the general and nearly specific direction of my new husband’s head- because I was mad at myself for sucking at golf. It was, of course, my first time on a golf course. I had zero sense of humor at 25 apparently. I may be older now, but maybe I’m somewhat less of an idiot. Let me ask around!
10/19 I have seen the Cane Haul Road- I think this is IT but its 17 miles long so we decided on 10 k for me tomorrow. I love these highways that time forgot, like the National Road, on my trip to St. Louis.
…Unfortunately we couldn’t find the Cane Haul Road from the other direction. Kip let me out on a road of the same name but after a mile it dumped me back on the highway. After 1.5 more miles of running, Kip had me turn onto a dead -ended road and all flow was lost. I did 5 k. As much as I could with a bum stomach in 91 degree heat and a collar bone brace. I stopped at one point to rescue a monarch butterfly that was exhausted on the shoulder of the road. That made two of us.
I did the minimum, 5k, but… I didn’t feel I had really bagged the state. It was bugging me.
We arrived in Captain Cook and started snorkeling, living in a lovely cottage on a macadamia nut farm. The couple that owned it were both psychologists, Heide an artist, and Jeffery an excellent ping pong player. He gave us both a lesson.
I looked at loop hikes and run walks. I was running out of time, obsessed with the Challenge. Wednesday morning, the 22nd, we got up and did a 2 mile hike to the Captain Cook Memorial snorkeling grounds, then after over an hour of reefs and fishes, including a radically cool peacock flounder, we hiked back up the cliff.
It was pretty tough as morning hikes go. But everything is so beautiful here, it’s inspirational.
We had thai food and did our shopping
came back to the cabin and had rum and oj in the gazebo. I found a run- thought it would do, felt good, went down alone to clock it. It was a rolling sine curve right along the water, route 160, single lane, linking Napo’opo’o Park and the Place of Refuge. Two important points in Hawaiian history and 2 places we have snorkeled. Perfect- and over 7 miles. Temp low to mid 80s, no sun.
I started out, water bottle in hand, slippery with sunscreen. It was driving me nuts. Somewhere along the way I opened my fanny pack and threw all my change out on the road. Little things getting to me, (probably because I had already started drinking!) but the first half went well enough. Stopped at a small beach for a couple minutes and drank from infernal water bottle. Dumped it on the way back and carried home the empty.
It was hard after 5-6 miles. I had not trained much in a while, what with the collar bone and all. The climbs just kept coming and the ribbon of highway straight ahead undulating like a snake over the mounds of old lava. When I finally crested the final hill I saw a USGS marker on the rock and it said 816 feet. The run had listed 250 feet of climb. I say it’s 1600! Finished up tired, dragging, but satisfied. I visited the Place of Refuge at sunset and snorkeled at neighboring 2 steps- saw a green turtle- she slipped under the coral and hid away like a garaged car. I felt privileged- no, blessed.
I saw a woman ladling stew and rice out of two huge aluminum pots balanced on the tailgate of a pick up truck. I told her about the turtle who shared my sunset swim and then tucked itself away safely at home. She smiled broadly and said, “Thank you for telling that story.” Hawaiians call it Talking Story. I hiked 4 miles, snorkeled over an hour, ran 7 miles, and had an authentic Hawaiian experience with a native family, living life the Hawaiian way. Today I found my challenge and I have bagged this state-and learned a lot and seen this island from all vantage points.
I cannot describe and these photos can’t capture the beauty that is The Big Island. I focused mostly on my quest to bag the state, but we were on- island 2 weeks and we did SO much more. Put this island at the top of your bucket list and email me before you go and I can help you find the best places to stay and the most awesome things to do. I really want to return. Take me with you!