My new army wife friend agreed to go on a recon adventure to scope out hike logistics for a hike called “Old Pali Rd”. I want to host the hike for one of my spouse groups. We had heard mixed comments about parking etc, so we went to find out ourselves. Turns out you basically drive through a jungle to get to the trail head.

There is parking at a golf club, it costs $10 and they accept the last car at 3pm (they close the gate to leave at 4pm). There is off street parking on the way up, however, there have been MANY car break ins. It’s a weird and annoying thing in Hawaii… there are signs everywhere not to leave valuables in your car. There are many philosophies, like leave your door unlocked and leave money for them to take just so they don’t smash your windows… Anyway, she had just had her window replaced (reason undisclosed) and it took six months to replace, so we decided to play it safe and come up with a plan B. After some discussion, we decided to go to Pu’u Ma’eli’eli Trail. Translated from Hawaiian, Puʻu Maʻeliʻeli means “digging hill.”

This parking is a little better, you park at a McDonald’s (the dinning room is currently closed) and walk down a pretty busy street (think RT. 20) behind the guard rail. Mind you, she had three kids (9, 4, and 2). So needless to say I didn’t take pictures of this part, because I was too concentrated on the kids staying far from cars or the ditch next to us.

When we first started up, it was really steep and muddy and there were ropes to use on the side to help. This is looking down from the top of it. The picture does not do it justice.

There were lots of interesting plants, including wild orchids.

The little one wanted in on touching and feeling the plants.

The foliage was very diverse on our way up!

The kids did really great. It was honestly really helpful to have them slowing us down (Look at this leaf! My foot is stuck!) because I never felt out of breath and my lungs did great. There’s also just an innocence and fearlessness that makes me feel more comfortable.

I absolutely LOVE this next picture. Note the dog tucked into the bag.

Unfortunately, they did slow us down enough and with the slow start we had to turn around before the very top… the pace we were going, if we made it to the top it would’ve been getting dangerously dark to be “sliding” back down that “mud slide” as we called it. We didn’t completely miss the views as there were a couple lookout spots on our way.

We turned around right before a really steep, rooted part that looked like it’d take a bit to get up and down. The kids were understandably disappointed… It’s just that I envisioned us trying to hold phones with lights getting down that first steep muddy slippery part at the beginning and it being really slow and tedious. I hope they’ll learn to forgive me so we can go again. I think they overall had fun, though! We sure got muddy.

This is my friend. She is fearless and strong and a ton of fun to be around.

Unfortunate we couldn’t count it as “done”, but I’m looking forward to going back and trying again. When we got to our cars it started pouring, so I think we made the right decision. We will be back! Here are a couple of me she grabbed.

I’m really proud of myself for doing this. It was my first hike without Brian, who has been my security blanket for the last 8 months of recovery during activities. It took some courage and a lot of ignoring my feelings and fear to not back out. It was so, so rewarding.