Yes, an actual, bona fide mountain. I went with a group of friends (who were always waiting for me to catch up). Physically it wasn't too bad, though it was probably one of the hardest hikes I've done. It took us about 3 and a half hours to go up, and 1 and a half hours to come down.

It was extremely muddy. I wore the wrong shoes. My trusty Arizona hiking sandals were no match for Hawaiian mud. I had gotten a few blisters on my feet the day before, and one burst open, and was exposed to the mud, which was more painful than the actual blister was. Also, getting mud inside my sandal, I was slipping on that mud, then my sandal was slipping on the outside mud - so walking became very difficult. I but some bandaids on the opened blister, but they quickly got wet and rubbed away. So I went into McGuyver mode, and made a bandage out of young bamboo leaves (since they were the only plant I could identify and knew for sure it was non-toxic). It worked pretty well - better than the bandaids, but I was still having a problem slipping inside my shoe. Luckily, one of the other hikers (Jessica) gave me one of her socks to wear over the blistered foot, and that helped considerably (there's no way the sock is coming clean, so I need to remember to get her a new pair).


Overall, the hike was pretty darn cool. At the beginning is a gorgeous waterfall - people were swimming in it, which isn't the brightest idea because 1) there are harmful microbes in the water and 2) there are frequent landslides and rocks coming over the falls.

After the falls, up and up we went, over countless muddy switchbacks. In some areas, the path was about 8 inches wide. I got over the fear of looking over the side of the path down the steep slope of the mountain rather quickly by just focusing on moving forward. In one place, a bunch of huge, elderly banyan trees had over taken the trail and we could only progress by carefully threading our way through the roots and holding on. Oddly, there are lots of places that have convenient handholds - root handholds.

Throughout spots on the trail and up at the top, there is bamboo forest. It's probably the most peaceful type of forest there is (probably because birds can't perch in the straight stalks). When there is a bit of wind in the treetops, the bamboo clatter together gently and sound a bit like wind chimes. It is a beautiful sight to look up and see their dark lines ascending to the sky.

The other cool thing about bamboo is that they make a great handhold while hiking. The other trees can be mossy and slippery, but the bamboo stalks are smooth, green, cold, thick, sturdy, and straight. They are extremely reassuring. I leaned against them alot as I climbed, where the path got dicey.

Since I was behind everyone else, and not talking, I let my imagination wonder. There were times I was hiking in China, about to catch a glimpse of panda bear; I was a guerrilla fighter in Central America escaping the army and making ready to camp undetected in the forest; I was on an alien planet discovering new species; I was an ancient Polynesian looking for food; I was a LOST castaway on a dangerous and unknown quest.

At the top of the mountain, where there was thick bamboo forest, we all became 12-year-olds again, pulling down dead stalks, breaking bamboo, wacking bamboo with bamboo, launching bamboo stalk rockets. It was probably a horrible thing to do with the forest, but bamboo grows quickly so none of us felt too terribly guilty. I was able to break off a three segment piece, which I used as a walking stick on the way down. It saved me from an nasty ankle twist or too (less vigorous going down, but more treacherous).

It was a fantastic hike - I think everyone felt exhausted but elated. My legs are in some serious pain, but other than that, the exertion was fine. My foot is currently throbbing because I rinsed the blister with hydrogen peroxide and put some bactine on it). My knees are pretty much locked up at the moment. I'm going to be in some serious pain for several days. However, totally worth it!