Travel Blog #120 - Oahu Bike & Hike Excursion

Our guide picked us up from the Ala Moana Hotel in a white 14 passenger van with a "Bike Hawaii" logo on the door. He introduced himself as "Cory" as he swung the vans door open for us to get in. There were a few other members of the group that were already seated in the van that Cory introduced us to as we climbed in to occupy two vacant seats in the second row of the van. Cory shifted the van into gear and we began to make our way out of town and up into the hills. We continued up a narrow curvy road into the hills until we reached about 1800 feet of elevation. At this point Cory eased the van into a large pullout on the shoulder of the road and began to unload the bikes from the roof.

The bikes were all the same model but there was a range in sizes. Cory paired us up with the bikes that fit us best before he began to brief us on what we could expect on the ride. He explained that we were going to be going mostly downhill so we were not going to need to pedal very much at all. Cory then went over the operation of the bikes disc brakes before he encouraged us to pedal a few circles around in the parking area to try them out for ourselves. Once we were all comfortable with the bikes we began to make our way down the hill. Cory rode in front, and his assistant drove the van down behind us. The first couple of miles of the road was heavily shaded then all of a sudden we rounded a bend and were presented with a full panoramic view of Diamond Head and the cityscape of Honolulu, it was magnificent!

Cory pulled the group over so we could have the opportunity to take some pictures of the view. I grabbed my DSLR out of the van to get some good shots of the view for my archives. As I snapped pictures Cory briefed the rest of the group on some history and fun facts about the different things we were looking at.

Eventually, we got back on our bikes to and made our way to a beautiful park where we ended the biking portion of our trip and had lunch. Cory had a picnic table, a cooler full of drinks and another cooler full of sandwiches for us to eat. We sat in warm park under the shade of the trees and enjoyed our meal as Cory loaded all the bikes back onto the van. Another van came by and picked up his assistant who had drove the van down the hill, because he wasnt going to be needed on the hiking portion of the trip.

Our hike took place on some private land that Bike Hawaii has leased deep in the Manoa Valley. Before the hike Cory explained that the hike was very wet and muddy and passed out rain boots to any members of the group that wanted them. As soon as we were all ready to go Cory opened the gate for us and we began to make our way up the trail and into the jungle.

Periodically we stopped so Cory help explain to us what we were passing. He showed us a variety of interesting tropical plants, some edible and some not edible. He explained to us how such a small portion of the foliage of the jungle is made of indigenous plants compared to massive amount plants that have been introduced by humans. Before we completed our one mile expedition to the Manoa Falls everyone in the group had absorbed a great deal of information from Corys narrations. The groups interest in Corys narration was evident by the undivided attention that Cory received, as well as the amount of follow up questions that were being asked by the groups members.

When we got to the falls we took a break to enjoy the view. Unfortunately earlier in the week a flash flood had brought down with it a great deal of debris to the area surrounding the base of the falls, Cory was pretty confident that it wouldnt be much longer before another hard rain came and pushed the debris pile further downstream. After we were done with the falls Cory led us back on a different route that took us right through the middle of a bamboo forest. The bamboo forest was well received by the group and we even made a few unscheduled stops to snap some pictures in the forest.

When we got back to the van we stripped off our muddy boots and drank some cold tropical juices from the cooler before we loaded in the van. Once we were all aboard Cory begin to head back to town to drop us back off at our hotels. On the way he pointed out some landmarks and points of interest including some of his favorite restaurants as well as the childhood school of President Obama. As we pulled up to our stop at the Ala Moana Hotel we said our good byes and then made our way back to our room to shower off and change into our bathing suits to spend the rest of the afternoon on Waikiki Beach.