Day 34: Lanikai Pillboxes

View from the first bluff at 5am

While grabbing a bite post-surfing lesson last week our guides had recommended a few hiking trails, one of which was very close by and known for its spectacular views of the windward side of the island. After doing a little research Alicia and I decided to get up at 4am and hike the Lanikai Pillboxes Trail (Ka’iwa Ridge Trail) at dawn so that we could watch the sun rise.

We stumbled out of bed in various states of alertness, fumbled around for a flashlight, and drove to a nearby golf course, where we parked the car. The sun was set to rise at 5:18am that morning and when we arrived at the entrance to the trail - which was not clearly marked - the sky was just beginning to brighten, although not enough that visibility improved much. Thus we began our upward trek in the dark and were soon pelted with fat raindrops, which made the trail slippery and our ascent slightly more dangerous.

Consistent with Island weather, the rain did not last long and when it receded we were left damp and fumbling up dirt trails in the faint glow of the rising sun. We stopped at the top of the first bluff to admire the hazy view and get our bearings before Alicia charged on to the first bunker, leaving me scrambling after her.

As we rose we began to make out the silhouettes of other hikers on the ridge, mostly native Hawaiian teens likely ending their nights together with a sunrise on the bunkers. The first WWII bunker was largely occupied by a handful of onlookers waiting for the sun to break over the horizon, so Alicia and I moved on to the second bunker, where we took a seat and waited, eyes focused on the horizon, until our view started to look more like this:

As it grew lighter the sun crept slowly over the horizon behind the clouds, tinging the scene with a soft warm glow and scattering colors on the clouds.

The rising light afforded us sweeping views of the Lanikai and Kailua neighborhoods, and of the Mokulua Islands (see above: Moku Nui on the left and Moku Iki on the right).

(See picture below) We could see down the side of the island and pick out the faint glow of Makapu'u Lighthouse, where we'd hiked earlier in the week (furthest tip in the background of the picture), and Sea Life Park, where Janine was headed to for work in the coming hours. The trail that we continued to follow after the second bunker winds off to the right of the picture below in a semi-circle. We made our slow, steep descent at the mountain in the center (foreground) of the picture below.

Few hikers chose to continue on past the second bunker once the sun was up - most turned around and went back to the golf course. Alicia and I decided to hike the entire ridge trail, at times fumbling through tall grasses along barely visible trails scattered with rocks that made it challenging to find footing. We saw one other hiker in the hour + that it took us to complete the ridge trail.

Our descent was a sharp decline with little purchase for our feet. We spaced out a good distance and basically slid, a few feet at a time, down the slope of the mountain, grabbing roots where we could until they turned into cacti, then crab walking and testing out places to plant our feet. When we got to the bottom, very dirty but happy, we ambled along the highway through Lanikai back toward our car and on to breakfast.