First Impressions of Hawai’i


Today is only my 4th day on the island, but I already feel like I’ve been here for much longer.

Many of you have been contacting me asking how things are going, so I thought I’d “kill two birds with one stone,” as they say, and briefly outline my first impressions of the Big Island of Hawai’i, as well as provide some teasers for what’s to come. (There are also more video-blog entries coming, as well.)

Pink Hawaiian Flowers

In short, it has been magnificent. This island really does have a strange kind of magic to it, and I can easily say that in all my travels I have never been to such an incredible place.

So far, the only downside has been that the sun sets faster (Hawaii being so near to the equator), and is obviously more intense. But with precautions, these differences are easily accounted for. The people also seem much more relaxed in general, although perhaps more superstitious. As I was soon to learn, Hawaii is the only US State where myth has been woven into the very fabric of the culture itself, often with fascinating results.

Day 1

Upon landing at one of the in one of the cutest international airports in possibly all the world, I exited the plane and immediately found myself outside. No tube was attached to the craft leading me into a confusing maze of terminals. Instead, I found myself walking down an attached flight of stars and walking across the tarmac, feeling not unlike the Beatles as they exited a similar-sized craft onto a similar tarmac so many years ago, although certainly not in such a tropical place.

My Beatles parallel soon shattered though. I looked back at the Alaskan Airlines plane still parked behind me and considered my situation. No one was here waiting for me, and no one was going to pick me up. Having gained 3 hours from Californian time, it was only 10AM, and my host wouldn’t be off from work in hours. Add to that the truly abysmal public transportation options leading out of the airport, and it left me but one option: Hitchhiking.

Now granted, there are various shuttles you can hire to get you down to Kailua-Kona from the Kona airport. But none of them are economical options, and my host assured me that hitchhiking on the island was, for all practical purposes, a cakewalk.

And so, I made my way down the long road that led to the main highway. I didn’t even feel like sticking out my thumb at first. After all, my last experience of hitchhiking had been on the mainland years before, and truth be told, I was still a bit nervous to do it.

I never even got the chance to stick out my thumb, though. After about ten minutes of walking, a shiny, clean car parked on the other side of the road. I walked over and after talking to him, I realized that he’d been on the same flight I had been on. He told me he’d been in my position before, and offered to take me into town. I studied him carefully, and my intuition gave me a green light.

Turns out, he used to work for Oracle and made some decent money in the stock market (although he beat himself up a bit about how he wished he’d sold his stock earlier). After a short stop at the grocery store, he dropped me off at my host’s place and gave me his card. I must confess it’s refreshing seeing someone with wealth have the empathy to pick up a hitchhiker. Yes, it does happen!

Later that Day

Since my host was still at work, I met my host’s brother first, a talented cook whose dream is to be a head chef someday. After talking to him and another friend who stopped by, hitchhiking to a beach and exploring it seemed to be the best way to spend the rest of the day, and within two short rides (the 2nd being from a lovely lady named Loana who was very sweet and asked me various questions to make sure I was prepared), I found myself at the entrance to the path to Makalawena beach, one of the most beloved white-sand beaches in the area.

The trail was rather ugly and long, but the reward was worth it. Within a half hour, I found myself at my own private white sand beach. No one else was in sight, and I began reacclimatizing myself to salt water. After all, it had been nearly a decade since I’d swam in it.

Everything was going so very well, and the sun was low on the horizon, reducing my need for sunblock. I even found that I was able to function nearly adequately without glasses if I squinted.

It would have been a perfect visit, if I hadn’t sliced my foot open just before I left.

Continue →



A Stunning Hiking Tour into Red Rock Canyon, NV


This one’s been a long time coming.

Today, I’m going to take you on an adventure through the gorgeous Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas.

If you’re a newer reader, you may not know that last January, I attended Steve Pavlina’s Conscious Success Workshop, and last year I wrote a bit about the workshop experience itself. What I haven’t written about yet is a powerful experience which happened the very next day, during my return to Red Rock Canyon.

You see, people who attend Steve’s workshops are not ordinary people, not by a long shot. From my experience, they’re a heck of a lot smarter and more interesting than the “average” person you might run into, and many of them had planned to stay in town the day after the workshop in anticipation of any meet-ups that might occur after the workshop was over.

In fact, exactly one year ago today, that’s precisely what happened. And lucky for us, one of the workshop alumni, an awesome fellow named Dana, had an abundance of experience in search and rescue teams (as well as being an EMT-B), so we felt pretty confident letting him lead the way. Our explorations filled most of that day, so I’m only going to share the highlights with you here, including some of the most beautiful rock formations I have ever seen; a mysterious, abandoned house; a red, alien tree; and some very tiny caves.

Surprises Along the Path

Rocky desert path leading deeper into Red Rocks

Even though Red Rock Canyon is on the eastern edge of the Mojave Desert, the canyon area itself is quite different. Nestled between rock formations is a wealth of plant and animal life supported by the streams which can be found within, and the photo you see above was taken right before things started to get stunning.

Boulders forming stone tepee

Out of the 100+ photos I took that day, this is probably my favorite. A seemingly natural formation, these massive red boulders form a tepee shape. And look how colorful the rocks are below that. This place is a rock-lover’s (and climber’s) dream.

Robin and DT sitting on stone house ruins

Along the path, we came across this intriguing echo of the past. The story goes that someone wanted to build a house here a hundred or so years ago, but soon gave up because there were no official roads leading so deep into the canyon. In the end, it proved to be a good place to take a breather, as my friends Robin & DT from the workshop so effortlessly demonstrate in the photo above. 🙂

Small lumpy mountain at Red Rocks

Coming across this little mountain of sorts made my eyes feel weird. In a strange way, it was hard to judge its actual size. In any case, it reminded me of something from The Land Before Time movie.

Little Green Leaves n Red bark closeup

Now here’s a bizarre little specimen. Instead of rough bark, this tree has a very smooth, red skin. It was so smooth, I can’t even describe it as bark. This tree has skin, most likely an adaptation to such dry air.

Tiny cave formed by desert stone slabs

A hike around the canyon is not complete without incidental cave sightings. The whole area around this cave was surrounded by the small pebbles you see in the lower half of the photo, almost as if it were once the bottom of an ancient stream bed. Indeed, that is quite likely. And from the boulder on the bottom left, you can also see how almost all of the boulders in the area are made of sedimentary rock with layers of color buried within them.

Natural cave hollowed out in sandstone

To finish this visual tour off, I present to you the cutest cave I’ve ever seen, if it can be called such a thing. Apparently a natural formation produced by erosion, this little cave would provide a perfect shelter in the event of a sudden downpour. Remember, if you’re hiking around Red Rock Canyon and you need shelter, you can probably find a cave around if you keep a sharp eye.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief tour of some of the areas within Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. I invested a good amount of time in cropping and tuning the colors of each of the three dozen photos of this shoot to accurately reflect what we saw that day. So thanks for virtually joining me today. A huge thanks also goes out to everyone who made my time in Las Vegas awesome! (especially Kevin who hosted me and a few others who were going to the workshop)

And keep in mind, there were many photos that I didn’t include in this article. We also came across a trickling waterfall that had roughly 1 drip per minute, a mossy stream, pink cacti, rock climbers scaling a cliff edge, and mysterious roses placed alongside the path. You can find all of that in the accompanying photo gallery.