Adventure Time! Sunset Pillbox Hike

S/O to all 16 of you that looked at the last post! It was great content, but whatever. Fame comes slowly for unlucky people like myself.

So today I'm gonna talk about one of the more popular hikes in Hawaii. I'm actually not 100% sure the actual name of the hike, but what we call it is something along the lines of Sunset Pillbox. (There's like 1000 pillbox hikes I swear and I'm not much of a hiker so this is just what it is.) So to get there you need to go to Oahu's North Shore and drive to Sunset Beach Elementary and park in the little designated area. As soon as you park, you'll see a little trail head and that's where you need to head.

Now, as you guys begin to read up and follow this little blog, you'll realise that I don't exactly do things the safest way or at the safest times (I'm referring to almost dying in Waimanalo.) So let me give you some heads up.
1) I suggest going on this hike when it's dry. It absolutely sucks when it's wet. I have little videos saved on my phone where I am literally sliding down the mountain. Either on my feet or on my butt. Either way. Slippery. Muddy. It's hard. I fell a bunch of times going up, Ruined my favorite pair of swimsuit bottoms (the same ones I ripped in my lost post) and pretty sure I pulled my shoulder that day. But fun fact, the ocean has healing properties I swear.
2) THERE ARE MOSQUITOES AND THEY WERE SENT FROM HELL. WEAR REPELLENT. They don't look like mosquitoes, you'll think they're gnats, but they'll bite you and it will itch for the rest of your life. (Not really but they do itch. And Hawaii's hot and humid so it'll just double the misery. Unless you're one of those rich people that can afford an air-con.)
3) You'll want water and a camera for this hike. You might get tired because it's pretty straight up, it's easy, but not like a stroll in the park. The only reason I got so tired was because I was focusing my time on not falling and dying.

Alright so now the actual hike. If you're a natural born hiker, you'll get up there in like 30 minutes. (approx.) When my cousin and I did all of our adventures, we did them without any type of planning ahead. The only thing we planned for before was going to the beach after, getting the best acai bowls in the world (SHOUT OUT TO BANZAI BOWL at SUNSET, NORTH SHORE, OAHU. They're located next to the chevron and they have the best acai bowls on the whole island.), and me bringing my 64oz water bottle (which is MIA at the moment. I love water. Water is the essence of wetness,) Anyways, all we took up were our phones and her GoPro. We didn't even take shoes. (It's like a normal thing. We get weird looks a lot. Especially me.)

So the hike is (which according to google, cos I just googled it, is called the Ehukai Pillbox. I'd translate that, but I don't speak Hawaiian.) hard to get lost on. There are some "stairs" made out of tree roots that you can see clearly define the way up. You start off with nothing but nature for 1/3 or the hike, then about maybe 10 minutes in, you get to the actual "stairs." Now these stairs are just some good Samaritans project. There are ropes that go up for about 1/3 of the way as well as the stairs which are just pieces of plywood that help prevent you from slipping (they help a lot trust me.) So you pull yourself up and then you see a clearing! There's a little table and the view is pretty sick, but did you make it? Nope. 10 more minutes to go. So now the ground is dry and there are dead pine needles all of the ground making it easier to walk, and then you go through and there are some more steps, and then you make it!!! There's the pillbox.

To be honest, I don't remember much on the way up except that the whole time I was wondering if we were there yet, if I was gonna die from the mosquito bites, or if I was gonna slip and fall off the mountain (which technically wasn't possible because the trail is in the middle of all the trees.) But I do remember the top. Looking at the mountain, it looks like you're in a forest, there are heaps of pine trees (I'm assuming) and there's a little hut thingy that looks like scrap metal. There's also a garbage bag (respect the aina irraz) so you know. Keep my people's land clean. But once you stand on the pillbox and look over the view is so amazing and relaxing! To be honest, I'm not really feeling this post so I'm gonna end it here. Enjoy these photos of us on the pillbox.

First adventure post

Since I'm pretty bored at the moment, I'm gonna share some of my travelling adventurer stories! The first place I want to talk about is my absolute FAVORITE place on the planet so far. It is probably the most beautiful little place I've ever been to in my entire life. It's called the Makapu'u (mah-kaw-poo-oo) Tide pools and is located in Waimanalo on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

To prepare for the hike, I suggest that when you climb to the pools, you only take bare necessities. A camera, your phone, and your car keys. I mean by all means take whatever else you want too, but the less we took with us, the happier I was. I also recommend wearing some sneakers or shoes that will help you climb the cliff. My cousin and I tried to do it barefoot (we're maori. It's just kind of what we do) and in all honesty it was really difficult getting a grip on anything without sliding. Also, some water stashed in the car would help. The pools are INCREDIBLY salty.

When I was told about this place by my cousin, I didn't really want to go because I am in NO WAY a hiking person at all. I'n a klutz, and hiking just isn't something that has appealed to me EVER. And that's saying something coming from someone who willingly runs for fun. Anyways, back to what's important. The drive to get to the location is beautiful in itself depending on which way you use to get there. At the time I was living in a little community called Laie, and that was on the north side of the island. We went the west side way and decided it would be nice to take a little scenic route. You get to see some amazing beach fronts, the mountains, and (if you're lucky) the beautiful canoe boys (and sometimes girls) getting ready for paddling season!

Once you get to the hike spot, which I think is called the Makapu'u Beach Car Park (I could be wrong. To be honest, I was asleep the whole ride there) there are a plethora of amazing things you can see! First of all, there are numerous hikes you can go on. There is the hike to Pele's chair (she's the volcano goddess) there's also the hike to the lighthouse (I heard the view is beautiful and the picture opportunities are endless the whole way up) and there is also a few pillbox hikes as well (still have no idea what a pillbox is but it's fine lol.) The path to the tide pools isn't exactly marked with a sign, so you just have to know what you are looking for. One indicator that you have made it far enough up the hill is that there are binoculars? telescope? thingies that are used for whale observations during whale season. As soon as you see those, the path is just off the to the side on the left. You'll walk down the side of the cliff a little and notice a sign that marks the beginning of the trail. BE SURE TO READ THE SIGN BEFORE HIKING DOWN TO THE TIDE POOLS.

Now I've done a lot of stupid dangerous things in my short lifetime, but that doesn't mean everyone should follow in my footsteps. I am a living witness that the Makapu'u Tide Pools can be EXTREMELY dangerous if you are not careful (story time for you all later on in this post.) But before I get to my life/death experience (it actually wasn't that bad in my person opinion) I'll give you a little info on the hike down.

So to get down to the tide pools, you have to scale the side of the cliff. It's not too dangerous, but if you slip on a rock or fall at all, I'm almost 49% sure you'll die or seriously injure yourself. Some kind soul has actually spray painted arrows to help people get down the cliff safely, as well as post little signs every once in a while to reassure you that you're going the right way. It's pretty much a switchback path, it's not a straight path that you can easily get down. As soon as you start descending you immediately see the pools as well as a blowhole! It's such a beautiful sight to see. You also get a glimpse of the ocean surrounding the pools and know where exactly to go and where to not go (but does that mean that I stayed in the safe zone? You bet I didn't!)

Well after a long way of carefully climbing down we finally make it to the blowhole. You can just hear it breath and the ocean flowing thru it. If you know how to read waves, you can time a pretty cool picture with the blowhole. Once you get down to the bottom, there are a couple of dryspots away from the water you can put your things, and prep to hop into the pools. After that long hike you'll be grateful for the nice cool waters in the pool. The surrounding is awesome! If you look at the ground you can see the salt that dries up after the tide goes down, and some dead sea critters, but all it's just gorgeous.

Now for the story time we've all been waiting for. My near death experience (kinda not really.) So I'm like... entranced by the sea. That thing is like my idol. If I could ask god to turn me into anything, it would be a mermaid (even though I classify myself as a mermaid anyways.) So while I was standing DANGEROUSLY close to the edge of the pools, I though, "gee this would make a really cool background setting for a photo for instagram later." So I was selfieing away, not paying attention to the waves at all. Next thing I know, I hear a wave hit. As soon as I heard that wave hit I knew I had to hold onto something for dear life.

Here we have the innocent selfie.

Here we have the "Oh crap I'm gonna die moment."

Here's the, "I know I'm bleeding in a few place's but I flipping knew I was a mermaid who could breath underwater because my cousin just said I was under for a good 5 minutes, even though I was hiding in the water purely out of shame."

And here is more shame.

So what had happened was that I was in a safe enough place to where I was on top of the rocks that led to a little waterfall of sorts that led to one pool which led to the main pool. I was fortunate enough that the waves knocked me into the lower pools and not into the ocean. Thinking about it now that whole ordeal could have ended very badly. I came out of that with a torn swimsuit bottom (my favorite one in the whole world) a torn knee (got some pretty cool scars tbh), a lot of bruises, and a hurt pride. There were a handful of people there that saw and were wondering if I was alright, and my cousin is just sitting on the rocks laughing as she sets up some music. But that was how I almost died haha!

These pools are AMAZING. They're really clear! They've got a bunch of sea life, but the only problem is that the pools are really salty, so if you're a mermaid like me, your eyes might sting a little afterwards.

They're actually deep enough that you can do some decent bombs into them. And there are multiple pools you can get into so feel free to explore them all! It's an amazing place, and if my cousin and I weren't busy with our adventures, we would have stayed longer! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone as long as they stay safe and smart about it. Don't be like me and almost die!