Kaena Point

Ka'ena Point is the western most point of Oahu. There is no road around the point, and to get to it, you have to hike in from either the North Shore side or the Wai'anae side. Since my cousin mentioned she did it a week ago from the Wai'anae side, it sparked my impromtu decision to hike the trail. It's not a hard hike to do, if you are considering the terrain ... it's just a miserable hike to do because it is so hot there, and there is absolutely no shade at all! Ka'ena translates to "the heat" ... and rightfully so! I've done this hike several times and all I can remember is how hot and miserable it is doing it, but getting the point is beautiful and totally worth it!

Close to the begining of the trail, looking back, you could see Mokulei'a. I'm not sure what that orange orb is in the picture. It could do something with the angle of the sunlight on my lens, or it could be a ghost orb (if you're into that kinda stuff). The orange orb shows up in several of my pictures. If you take the trail from the North Shore side, at the begining of the trail, you walk past the jumping rock. It's the rock that is believed that souls on this island jump off of to the afterlife, and is caught mid-air by their ancestors.

I'm not sure what the deal was with all the bugs and stuff that greated us along the trail ... they disappeared on the way back, thank goodness! There were also moths everywhere! For some reason, alot of them landed on the muddy water puddles along the path and got stuck.

My friend, Don joined me on this hike. (I don't know if he knew what he was getting himself into!) Here he is at the begining of the hike, still smiles!

Since the trail is right along side of the ocean, it really sucked, cause the whole way we could see the ocean, hear the waves, see the tide pools, and couldn't figure out a way to get to them safely. It was so hot and a nice dip in the tidepools would have been heaven! Here's a picture of the first sea arch that I saw.

Here's a picture of the 2nd sea arch I saw. I think this one is the more "popular" sea arch that more people see in pictures and magazines.

Ka'ena point is a Natural Area Reserve and home to these Laysan Albatross. These birds live up to 50 years, and are HUGE! There are wire roped paths along the point now, that keep you out of the most of the area that they are in. Before you could walk right up to them. I guess this is for the better, since they are becoming extinct. You can see this one is guarding her egg.

I was so hot, I decided to cool down and take a dip in the water. I didn't chose a tide pool, but a small little beach area between 2 huge lava rocks. The rocks were over 6 feet tall, and the area between them was about 10 feet. But it opened up to a gorgous view of the ocean. It wasn't the normal sandy beaches that I'm used to - instead of sand, it was covered with thousands of chunks of dead coral and rocks. It hurt to walk barefoot on it. But I made it to the water, and had to brace myself against the incoming waves. The water was cool and refreshing, and I definately enjoyed having it all to myself!

The other side of the rock on my left, lay 2 monk seals - most likely a mom and her pup. They are also endangered species and known to frequent Ka'ena point as a resting and nesting area.

And the other side of the rock on my right, in a tide pool, lay another monk seal. I loved how this one was sleeping, cause it was using a rock as it's pillow! :)

We also saw whales off the coast, about 1/2 way towards the horizon, almost straight out from behind the monk seal pictured above. There was a pod of them just crusing on by. This is one of the reasons why I love doing this hike - because of all the things you get to see at the end. I guess this is also one of those things that I can say, "lucky you live Hawaii!"