The kids and I drove up to the North Shore, to go to Ka’ena Point State Park for a bike ride. I had crazy hopes that we’d actually ride all the way out to the point there, but we didn’t even come close.
Knowing that the “road” from the south had washed out some years ago (great description of that route, here), I figured / hoped we’d do okay on the dirt road on the north side.
And by road, I mean something that looks like this:
There’s always been a road around the whole island, it’s just that this one was pretty much abandoned in the 40′s when private companies stopped maintaining it and the new State of Hawai’i wasn’t ready to take on its upkeep. Now, it’s left as a nature preserve — which is very cool.
There’s now about a 6 or 8 mile stretch, all the way out to the point, that’s just a park. Vehicles are permitted, but really, you do need a truck since the road isn’t much of a road. But, it is idea for bike riding. Not so much for single speed bikes, like my daughter rides, but more for mountain bikes.
Some folks were fishing, some were just out for a drive. We passed one couple hiking to the point, and another guy out for a run (he runs the length and back, he said). Lots of trucks — big trucks, dirty trucks, trucks that look like they get used.
The surf looked pretty strong. Online I’ve seen that it’s surfed less, but folks report big waves through the area. I’d rather not surf there — the lava shoreline would be a mean thing to hit.
On the way out, we ran into a park ranger. She told me to go to this website, because it has details of all of the hiking on the island. And I gotta say — cooooool website!
If you’re interested, I made a Google Earth file, here. Also, there are more photos of the trip on Flickr, here.
PS — After Iraq, I’m doing a LOST tour of Oahu, which will include returning to Dillingham Airfield.
October 19th, 2008 at 10:59 am
All of this sounds neat. I’m envious.
And I like the idea of the Lost tour!
October 19th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Oh, I know. Big chunks of it is filmed on the North Shore, so it’s a very real possibility to put together something like that.
October 19th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Very cool photos! Can’t wait to see it in person later this week.
November 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
[...] you remember, about a month ago the kids and I went to ride bikes at Ka’ena Point State Park and had an awesome time. When we were doing that, I noticed some odd structures up on the ridge [...]
November 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Nice pics, keep it up because it’s all new to me.
January 10th, 2010 at 1:11 am
[...] headed north to the Ka’ena Point State Park. I’d been there before; the kids and I went bike riding there once before, and I’ve been on the cliffs above it when I visited the satellite tracking station in [...]