Friday, February 27, 2020:
Our 23 hour layover in Honolulu gave us just enough time for a short hike in the morning before our flight to Auckland. We woke up at 5:30AM to catch a 6:15AM bus to Diamond Head on the eastern side of the island.
Diamond Head is an inactive volcano that has been transformed into a beautiful state park. There is a tunnel to allow pedestrians and cars through the volcanic wall into the center of the crater. Here is our view on the walk up the slope to the tunnel entrance.
We arrived just before 7:00AM and saw a lot of joggers on their sunrise runs. Inside the crater, they have built restrooms, a small souvenir shop, and a stand selling fresh pineapple juice and smoothies.
We started making our way up the trail toward the ridge line. I’ve hiked a volcano before (Mt. Fuji), but not inside out. We started at the bottom of the crater and hiked up the *inside* of the volcano. Here is a view of the crater wall and the blue sky above.
The trail up the crater wall was long switchbacks, making it perfect for a morning trail run. It was inspiring to see how many runners were there to catch the sunrise at the top.
Once we made it to the ridge line, the views were like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We could see the inside of the crater where we had just climbed from, and could now see the ocean on the other side. The sun was just starting to rise as we broke the ridge line and we stopped for a few minutes to meditate and appreciate the moment.
We reached a viewpoint that overlooks the inside of the crater and faces the sunrise. This was my favorite spot on the hike.
We made it to the summit where we were greeted with even more impressive views of the Pacific. I sat here for a while and thought about how incredible it is that this volcano I climbed rose up from the vast ocean that was in front of me.
Honolulu is also visible from the summit. Waikiki Beach is nestled between downtown Honolulu and Diamond Head.
The final climb to the summit is a staircase with probably 200 stairs. We decided to snap a photo of it on the way down because the view back into the crater was stunning. It’s hard to imagine how far below the crater walls those houses are in the distance.
We finished the decent and headed straight for the bus stop and back to our AirBnb. We checked out at 11:00AM and grabbed a Lyft to the airport in time for our 1:30PM flight to Auckland. We were finally heading to New Zealand! (And what an adventure it was… stay tuned!)
20 Kiwis 