todd

Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii

Tammy and I just returned from a trip to the Big Island....we had an amazing time there. After spending a couple days with our friend Ben on his farm near Hilo, we went on a four day backpacking trip on the south coast of Volcanoes National Park. This is probably one of the best backpacking trips we've ever done. The first and last days could have been really difficult: it's a 6.6 mile hike over exposed black lava fields, and the waypoint campsite has no water, so you have to carry water in. However, on both days we had slightly overcast weather with a bit of misty rain to cool us off: absolutely perfect weather for the trail. Any more rain and we'd be slipping on the lava.

We camped in two diffferent spots and stopped at a third for a day trip. We saw some incredibly rare animals, amazing deserted beaches, and nothing but nature for miles. (Well, nothing except the glorious, immaculately maintained composting toilet towers provided by the NPS. Think lifeguard tower with a view overlooking the coast.)

After the backpacking trip we returned to Ben's farm and helped pick coffee, went clambering through the woods along an old water flume trail, looked for ghost shrimp in the creek, and just generally absorbed the warm humid air. We also took some day trips to go snorkelling at a bunch of our favorite spots around the island. And of course, we paid a visit to our favorite little town, Hawi, on the north shore of the island, to load up on lilikoi margaritas and fresh fish at Bamboo.

Anyhow, blah blah blah-- we had a great time, we filled up on "salad feeling" and returning to SF was really hard. Everything here seems sharp and cold by comparison. Posted by todd at November 22, 2005 10:23 PM