The Bear Went Over the Mountain

We went hiking today in La Perouse Bay, which is located in South Maui. Since Myra was leading the hike it was assumed that this would be a fairly rigorous hike. We had no idea what we were in for.

As you can see in the picture above, the landscape was some beach but mostly rock. The rough terrain is the result of the final volcanic blast that formed the island of Maui oh so long ago. Lava rock for as far as the eye can see.

Although the rocky trail is majestic in size and beauty, it certainly made for a difficult hike. The problem with walking on thousands and thousands of varying sized rocks is that they move quite a bit. And when the rocks move, so do you. Among other things, it was an intense ankle workout.



After about an hour and a half we stopped to rest at a gorgeous beach.



We discovered a blow hole – where the water seemingly erupts out of the ground with great speed and force. We played around a bit. I rested in the nearby foliage.



Then we took the oh-so-wrong-turn. Upon resuming our hike, planning on returning to the car (and lunch) we took a wrong turn. Well, we sort of thought we were taking an alternate route back. As it turns out, it was a route up the mountainside. After about an hour uphill with few breaks we finally accepted the possibility that perhaps we were a bit lost.



As you can see from this picture which was taken about halfway back down the mountain we had strayed pretty far from the ocean. We estimated that we climbed to about 2000 feet elevation before finally giving in and going back down. Luckily the way down only took a half hour.

At this point we were all pretty beat…ok, I was pretty beat. Myra and the gang were still rocking. In all it was a five hour hike over tough terrain and about eight miles total. Blisters and sore muscles for everyone.

Afterwards we all piled into the car and headed for the beach. There is nothing better after a long, hot and physically grueling hike than jumping into the ocean and doing a little body boarding.

Sundays are fun.