Pu'u Pia Hike: Hidden Gem in Manoa

The muddy trail

  A clear, sunny sky over the Ko'olau Mountains and Manoa Valley is a rare sight. Some years this area sees more than 200 inches of rainfall. I found myself in Manoa today picking up some food, but once I saw the clear skies I launched into an impromptu adventure. Luckily they are easy to find here in Hawaii.

   There is a well known hike in back of Manoa valley that leads to the Manoa waterfall, or Waihi in Hawaiian, but there are lots of other hikes that criss-cross the rainforest covered mountains here. I stumbled upon the entrance to one of them called the Pu'u Pia trail.

Moss growing around everything

See the bug?

 Pu'u means 'hill' in Hawaiian so I should have known the trail would lead me straight up. And I should have known that it might be a muddy path since it is in the rainforest and it has been raining for a week straight. So despite knowing this I trudged on despite wearing my usual hiking shoes...flip flops. Luckily there were enough roots and exposed rocks to avoid getting too muddy and wet.

Almost at the top

Hidden Valley

 The path led up to a beautiful overlook of Manoa valley all the way down to the skyscrapers of Waikiki. What really surprised me was the overlook in the other direction. Looking the opposite direction I could see a hidden valley of lush green. By the time I arrived at the top of the hill I could see some grey clouds starting to form so I didn't dawdle too long at the top.

View from the Top

Going down...well that was a bit tougher.