Koko Crater

Yesterday I climbed to the top of Koko Crater. The crater is a 1,200' tall cinder cone from the volcanoes that made up Oahu. It is the tallest cinder cone on Oahu. The top of Koko Crater is dotted with bunkers that date back to WWII. To access these remote bunkers, a tram system was installed to take soldiers and equipment to the top. The tram is long gone but the tracks remain and that's how you get to the top, climb the tracks.







We begin. We had only gone a little ways up and it was already tough. I stopped and used taking a picture as an excuse :) In this picture you can see Linda (she has swam all but 1 channel in the islands) and Wendy (26 Ironman).










At the top. Would you look at that view! It was amazing.











This is the view looking toward the north, or windward side. Cheryl, that mountain in the distance is Makapuu that we climbed that day. Next time we do this one :)














This is the view looking back towards Honolulu.
That area is known as Hawaii Kai and that is the marina you see.








These are the ladies I hiked with. Linda (channel swimmer), Wendy (Ironman), and Joy (marathoner). It was great fun and these are great ladies.

After some rest at the top it was time to head back down. That would prove harder than the uphill part.










Oh, but first we must visit the bunkers. Here is one of them.









And here is the machinery that brought the tram to the top of the mountain.






















Here we are heading down. That straight brown line all the way down is the trail. It's the rail tracks the entire way. Some parts are incredibly steep and it was tough going. Needless to say, my quads are screaming today. I've been sitting in this chair writing this post. I fully expect my legs to not work when I stand up :)


Anyway, it was a great hike and pretty darn hard. I will definitely do it again. It was great fun.