Lazarow World-Hike-About: Hike 26: Koko Crater and Rim follow through

LAZAROW WORLD HIKE-ABOUT

San Ramon: At first, I thought it needed explanation. Not true. Top Left: "You're kidding me. After hiking 4 miles from the base below, you still want to climb up there...and snakes...?" The stance revealed it all. The rest is self-explanatory, too. (Not part of the formal trail either).

'LAZAROW WORLD HIKE-ABOUT: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HIKE-ABOUT?'

Hike-about is an adventure that commenced June 2010. After storing our household movables, ridding ourselves of a house but retaining our 'home' together, we set off with the purpose of hiking in different parts of the world, not forgetting the home country, the USA.

Our primary focus is hiking to mountain peaks but any challenging hike will do just fine. Extended stays enable us to enjoy and experience living in various places amongst differing cultures. Hike-about has evolved into a way of life. It's also a process of discovery, both the world and ourselves.

We work and live 'on the road' but return to the city in which our grandchildren reside, every couple of months. This provides us the wonderful opportunity to be with them as well as a child or two, even three and of course, friends.

By the end of 2023, the blog contained over 1,560 hikes (less than that actually undertaken), each a set of pictures with stories and anecdotes from the trails. An index to the right allows the viewer to identify earlier experiences.

Finally, we are often asked about the journey's end. Our reply, as accurate as we can state, is: "When we are either forced to cease through health issues or the enjoyment level no longer reaches our aspirations, we will hang up the boots."

"A Life Experience As No Other: Dare to Seize the Day Together", published by Fulton Books, depicts our life on the road and mountains until the beginning of 2017. It has developed 'exponentially' since then.

Jenni and Jeffrey Lazarow

Whereas we continue to update the blog regularly, we circulate email notifications infrequently.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Hike 26: Koko Crater and Rim follow through

(Click on pics for better perspective)

Jenni begins the first of 1048 sleepers up to the top--1200 feet elevation to gain in a short distance. I'll be waiting in the car, Sweetheart.

Steep and getting steeper

Good thing you can't smell us, especially the one with the stylish hat

Tuesday 7th

A pretty exciting morning, we’d say, as we headed into Shavuot. We mentioned last week that we turned around because of the danger we faced as we approached the steep arch on Koko Head. Today’s hike was from the other side of the crater so we regained a little credence. It was an extreme exercise workout as we climbed 1,048 railway sleepers to reach the top of the mountain or crater, after crossing a ravine at the halfway mark. What a sweat it was, climbing a trail that had been established as a tram system by the military, during the war. Our clothes attest to this should you view the pictures.

Heading down along the rim--a lot of ocean on the side

The real excitement came as we continued along the narrow ridges of the rim after reaching the peak. It’s hard to describe the 'elevated' feeling of standing alone on a narrow precipice, surrounded by the ocean and other daunting mountains, looking down into the valleys of greenery.

Editor not showing usual confidence as ravine below is intimidating

Adrenaline pumping a little more than usual. An incredible high for a little guy (Click on pics for better perspective)

Many young and ‘youngish’ people use this climb as a ‘rites passage’, if you will. However, very few if any go on to the rim, which is where the real hiking and excitement occurs. The scarcity of people on the trails suits us except when it doesn’t. We had the distinction, if it may be termed as such, of being the oldest on this busy climb. It seems that it is a sign of the times and is likely to continue. Our editor is known to mention from time to time that ‘we are not getting any younger’. Sometimes she has a firmer grip on reality than we do. Sometimes she can be quite harsh.

Coming up on crater rim--what a day!

Jenni with some of our new contemporaries

We spent Shavuot at Chabad of Oahu. Besides learning meaningful aspects of life through Torah, we also caught a glimpse of the culture of some of the locals at shul. We will expound of the experience later. However, we close with this observation. When we left shul on the first day, we half expected to see a ‘parking space’ for surfboards outside as a few of the members looked as if they had stepped into shul from the beach. We could be wrong though, they may have been on the way to surf, but stopped in for a quick prayer before catching the wave.