January 4, 2001 - Thursday

Kahana Valley - (Oahu), Hawaii

I headed to Kahana Valley State Park after that. The bus dropped me off at a lightly forested area, which opened up to Kahana Bay, which showed a sweeping view of water and mountains.

This park is unique in a way that there are 31 families living in the park. The brochure explained it as "a way to nurture and foster native Hawaiian culture and spread knowledge of its values and ways." What I saw was more like the trailer park of Alabama.

After reaching the trailhead, the vegetation became lush with tropical foliage towering overhead and a smattering of small purple orchids along the forest path. As I breathed in the humid forest air, my spirited soared and the initial trailer park shock was temporarily forgotten.

The trail looped back and ended 2.5 miles later and I was somewhat glad to start my 1.4 mile hike out to the bus stop in the more open air where mosquitoes were not present. After dinner and buying some bug spray, I continued my bus pass to Waikiki and walked around there for a while before heading back to Jeff's place to crash.