Also, it makes a great title for our last weekend's adventure...
We did what's called the Pouakai Circuit, a two day tramp around the volcano in our back yard :) It's known for gorgeous views of the mountain, as well as a huge variety of geology, because the trail goes from alpine ridges, to a marsh, to a rainforest. (this is a picture of last time I did it with my adventure racing team)
Well anyway, this time we didn't get nearly so lucky. It rained. A lot. But we "manned up" and had a super fun time any way :D
The whole crew at the trailhead. I had to add the picture on the left, because we all found it super funny that Danny's head ended up on the bird poop :)
The first day was mostly just overcast and foggy, not rainy, and we had tons of fun rolling rocks down the mountain (I mean "accidentally knocking boulders loose," because everyone knows rolling rocks is irresponsible :P) and made it to the hut just as it started getting cold and wet.
The next morning we woke up to some serious weather! The whole hut was shaking with wind, and there was so much water! The other family sharing our hut had little kids as well, and they decided they were going to wait it out and stay another night, but we had to get back to school the next day, so we packed up, "manned up" and headed out into the downpour.
(neither of these rivers existed when we came past the day before!)
(the entire trail was an ankle-deep stream!)
It ended up being so fun! Of course we had a few episodes with my younger sisters being cold and wet and tired, but I was so proud of everyone for staying positive and finding ways to have fun and bond as a family.
(sorry for so many pics, I just couldn't bear to cut any of them :P)
