The Reality of Diamond Head

I finally took the time to hike up diamond head! Normally when I go to Hawaii my first and only goal is to hit up the beach for the entire day. This time, however, Per (who I have had the greatest time working with) and I were motivated to finally hike the infamous volcanic cone.

Honestly, I was a bit nervous to hike it at first. I definitely was convinced that it was going to be a lot harder than what it was. In reality, the hour and a half walk to Diamond ahead was a lot more challenging than the hike itself! The concierge told us the walk would take 20 minutes if we followed the street and used our GPS- ha! “20 minutes my butt!” I kept saying. To the nice man’s defense we did take our time as we followed the coastline; it was just too picturesque not to! We also didn’t think to use google maps until about 40 minutes in…oops. So what could have been a 10 minute Uber drive turned into a slightly challenging walk, but at least we got to see more of Honolulu.

Finally, we made it to the entrance. We paid the $1 admission and began the winding walk up to the beautiful view. It was a pretty busy day, but it didn’t take more than 40 minutes with our occasional stops for photos and water. (I’m definitely out of shape!) I wish someone would have told me about the stairs! Oh my word, the stairs! Jeez, I thought my legs were screaming at me from marching up them. I guess it was just a lot more entertaining being surprised by them.

So my version of the reality of Diamond Head is, yes, it has a beyond gorgeous view of Honolulu. You can see the many tall resorts looming over the wide coast on one side and the stillness of a quiet, not yet breached shoreline with ocean-front homes you wish you could live in on the other. My biggest and possibly only complain is that there was surprisingly (or perhaps not even surprisingly for today’s world) a lot more trash thrown about and forgotten throughout the hike and even at the very top. I couldn’t help but see wrappers, paper, and bottles within the shrubs of the hike with not a single trash can within sight. In one of my photos above you can see water bottles that were just left there, hopefully to be recovered by one of the bustling other tourists.

So in a nutshell, and mainly because I have to wrap this up as we are boarding guests now, Diamond Head was a easy-ish hike with a beautiful backdrop as a destination but with its harsh realities of pollution of the world we live in. Check it out for yourself and tell me what you think!

Xoxo Mary