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 ther...