A Tale of Two Hikes

We headed out this morning to Iao Valley State Park in search of some hiking. Ada was ready and raring to go and enjoying her view from 6 feet up. The map at the trail head illustrated various trails of varying, unspecified, squiggly lengths. Prepared for a hearty adventure, we set off to climb up for a view of Iao Needle. 

Sean & Mandy in front of The Needle

On another trail spur we found this:

Not quite sure what they are (Offerings? Prayers? Feats of engineering?) Regardless, they are pretty cool.

This tour was over quickly (trail map evidently not drawn to scale) as we conquered the entire park in 30-40 minutes. A little dissatisfied, we decided to seek out a more challenging hike. Thirty minutes of switchbacks later, we found the Waihee Ridge trail. We should have given more consideration to a write-up that said, "...the initial incline will have you almost hating this trail before it even begins--but keep going." Although clouds hid a lot from the camera, the views certainly were spectacular, if not slightly dangerous to achieve. Ada happily narrated our journey and served as official lost member beacon by joyfully calling out names. 

Caroline: climbing trees all over the world. 

By the end, we looked like this:

We have a LOT of cleaning up to do before our family photo session this evening.