Feeling my age

I was debating whether or not to hike the Stairway to Heaven this morning (which would have meant a 2:30 wakeup), and then decided to sleep in. Which meant, of course, getting up at 06:00.

Going for what I guess I can now call my usual morning walk down to the beach to see the sun come up, I could feel tightness in my legs from yesterday's hikes. I figured I'd walk some more to loosen up, and then gave up about halfway across Honolulu Zoo and went back to sit outside Starbucks (hey, they have really easy wifi to glom onto).

Coming back to the hostel, I talked with one of the moped guys and we exchanged stories about this really brutal hike on the island, Ka'au Crater Head. After hearing that a person died on it, I just knew I had to do it. And when moped guy reassured me that the water to drink was mostly safe, I knew that I wouldn't run out and could deal with whatever leptosprirosis tried to cross my path. What's a bit of a fever and some stomach cramps when you can say you're one of a large handful of people to hike one of the most punishing trails of Hawaii?

Besides, I figure the more punishing these hikes are, the better prepared I'll be for Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Those both are only about a mile up from the visitor centres, but it's at altitude. The hikes I've done so far are about a mile or a little less, so I've got the distance down. What I don't have down (yet) is the height. I'm still on the fence as to whether I prefer switchbacks or straight up. I think I prefer the latter if it just gets me there faster (like on Diamond Head), but switchbacks if they're not too long and have some shortcuts along the way.

My hair also didn't take long to get wrecked. A combination of the ocean water and not being able to wash and condition like I can at home have given it this slightly greasy feel that, while looking great from a distance (hello, body!), makes me not run my fingers through my hair at all. Sigh. Only a couple weeks til it doesn't get 'washed' with saltwater.

Today's plan is to moped around the south/east part of the island, check out Maunawili Falls (and jump down!) and just do whatever.