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<\/p>\nThis past Saturday was the\u00a0last day on my Hawaii business trip and I was able to carve out some time on Saturday morning for a ride.\u00a0 The destination was the Maunawili Trail on the windward side (east) of the island.\u00a0\u00a0 I got an early enough start that I had to casually get ready at the trailhead while waiting for daylight to join me\u00a0at the rally point.<\/p>\n
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The Maunawili trail is a 10 mile singletrack\u00a0that countours along the foothills above\u00a0the\u00a0Maunawili Valley and near the\u00a0striking cliff\u00a0bases of the\u00a0Ko’olau Mountains.\u00a0\u00a0 All of the descriptions of this trail I had found recommended it as a point-to-point from the north end near the Pali Lookout and going south down to the community of Waimanalo.\u00a0 There was only about 1,000 feet of elevation between the high and low points so that even accounting for some undulations in the trail it should not be too bad as an out-and-back.\u00a0\u00a0 The sun did not make a majestic entrance when I started out from Waimanalo.\u00a0 It was quite cloudy when\u00a0I set off on the double track climb that would take me up to the start of the trail proper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The doubletrack was not horrible, but\u00a0the singletrack was downright awesome\u00a0pretty much right from the get go.\u00a0\u00a0Sweet narrow\u00a0goodness etched into steep hillsides was the theme most\u00a0the\u00a0time.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While most of the trail tread is smooth, there were numerous rooty and rocky section to keep your technical skills on point.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0The trail went in and out of numerous foothill fingers and while the cloudy morning was putting a damper on the full beauty of this place it was still impressive.\u00a0\u00a0 The prominence of the cliffs often made me feel downright small.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The beauty of this trail really did a good job of hiding the danger of the steep hillside that was often less than a foot off the trail thread.\u00a0\u00a0 If this was a barren desert trail, it would be easy to get wigged out about some of the exposure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother Nature added to the deception and danger of some of these spots with\u00a0ferns that grow in from the high side of the trail.\u00a0\u00a0 I preferred having my faced\u00a0brushed by ferns\u00a0over finding a weak spot on the\u00a0downhill edge of the trail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0The\u00a0 flora on this trail was simply incredible.\u00a0 I only knew what a few of the types I saw where.\u00a0 Later on I found out that I had been cruising under cool stuff like mango trees, pink guava, a plethora of ferns, and a bunch of native plants that contained way too many vowels for me to pronounce.<\/p>\n
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As I started nearing the north end of the trail, there was more signs of use and well as trail maintenance.\u00a0\u00a0 In some of the wet spots a few boardwalks had been installed to help the trail and habitat keep from getting thrashed.\u00a0 At this point one thing was for sure, this trail is uphill in both directions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It took me a lot longer than expected to cover the 10 miles and reach the north end of the trail at Pali highway.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The plan was enjoy the trail in other direction, but I did not have enough\u00a0time\u00a0now as I had after lunch work commitments.\u00a0\u00a0 With a great deal of reluctance, I played grown up and dropped\u00a0off the mountain on the road and speedily made my way back\u00a0 to my car.\u00a0\u00a0 The work went well, but I did have to burn some “lamp oil” to polish everything off.\u00a0\u00a0 One thing is for certain, this will not be my last ride on this trail.\u00a0 I’m already looking forward to a sunny day return…someday.<\/p>\n