July 15, 2011 - Papali Loop Trail

About 1 month ago, the kids and I  did the Hau'ula Loop Trail. I asked them at that time if they wanted to do the Papali Loop as well. The answer was a resounding, "no". So I told them we will have to come back. I finally got a week off during summer work and told the kids that we were going to do Papali. Surprisingly, they agreed. The plan was to do Papali, then go to Malaekahana Beach. 

We started from Kapolei at 8:45 am, but while I was in Wahiawa, I realized that I forgot my wallet. Crap! I needed my wallet and decided to turn around. Well 40 minutes wasted. We got to Hau'ula Homestead Road at 10:45 am, got out of the car and walked up the road. To the right was the Hau'ula trail, I figured Papali was just a little more up the road. Just then we saw a trail: Ma'akua Ridge Trail? Perplexed, I thought that's not it, and we should go more up the road. Malia said that we should go onto the trail we just passed. I told her that wasn't Papali. We walked up the road until it ended. No trail. More confused, I checked my internet for the Papali Loop trail. According to Na Hele information, Ma'akua Ridge and Papali Loop started at the same trailhead. I told the kids that we should go back to the trail we just missed. Malia who is always bitching about something said, "we walked all this way for nothing".  I told her, "that is part of trail exploration". 

We ended up on the Ma'akua Ridge/Papali Loop trail. The Papali Loop trail is a bit confusing. One minute into you have to cross a dry stream bed. But I didn't think so, so I told the kids to take a trail that paralleled the stream.

That trail ended quickly and we ended up crossing the dry stream bed. We hiked up 4 or 5 switchbacks until we ended up at some benches. The view from these benches are awesome. You can see all of Hau'ula from these black benches. At the benches is a junction. You can take either way. I was assuming that this started the loop. 

The Papali trail goes up and down and around. There are switchbacks and contours. Its like a labyrinth. You can get into some deep meditation if the brain wants it. The only problem is the trail appears and disappears. There are red and pink ribbons to assist, but this can cause distraction to your deep mediation. 

Both the Hau'ula and Papali Loop trails are beginner hikes. A good hiker can do both in a little over 4 hours. I call Hau'ula the brother and Papali the sister. Hau'ula is a little more ascending up the mountain. It takes a little more strength to complete, you can say a hiker needs a little more muscle going up the mountain like a strong man. Hau'ula is well groomed like a handsome man. The problem with Hau'ula is that there are no real views and it can get boring, kind of like your average guy. Laie comes into sight near the top of Hau'ula, but the view is blocked by vegetation like a man who doesn't come through or a man who talks big, but can't back it up. On the other hand, Papali is a longer trail and feels like it may not end. It's like a woman taking a man on this journey that seems like it will last forever and the man is unsure where this woman is taking him. There is less ascending up the mountain and the trail takes you in all different types of directions, just like a woman who lives in the moment and does things based on emotion. 

The Papali trail has beautiful views of the Hau'ula coast, these views come into play more than once as you circle the mountain. These are the good qualities about this trail just like what a man would want in a woman. Papali can also get confused with the appearance and disappearance of the trail, similar to a relationship with a woman, it can get confusing and perplexing at times mainly because the woman will take the relationship where she feels it should go. 

After about 2 hours and 35 minutes, we got to the black benches and sat down for a break. I was a little tired, maybe because I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. We headed back to our car and drove to eat. 

I wanted to eat at a place called Kaya's Kitchen. It's supposed to be good food in Hau'ula, I iPhone mapped the address and it was near the end of Hau'ula, more near the Punalu'u area. The eatery is in Kaya's general store. It's a real dive. The kitchen is in the back of the store and looks like a kitchen at your local YMCA. I ordered the furikaki mahi mahi. I waited for what seemed like 20 minutes. In fact, I think it was exactly 20 minutes before my food came out. We went into the car and headed towards Malaekahana Beach. I opened the take out container and the food looked delicious. I thought the plate would consist of some pan fired mahi with some furikake on top. But no, this plate looked real good. The cook chopped up the mahi, then pan fried it.

He also caramelized onions in a soy reduction sauce. The mahi and onions were put on a bed of rice with some fresh macaroni salad. I took a bite on the way to the beach, very good. I was impressed. I would go back again, no doubt. 

We got to the beach at about 2p. I played with the kids for a little while, but was so tired that I fell in and out of a nap. The kids eventually got tired too and laid down on the beach near me. We left and got home at about 5:30 pm. Nine hours of playing, what a day! I know these days can be draining, but its well worth it. 

The next steps for the kids to develop into better hikers is to do the Nuuanu Overlook and Mariner's Ridge. It will be a challenge, so I can assess their progress towards becoming better hikers. They actually did Hau'ula and Papali like nothing.