The Giant - an Alaska Hike

The Giant is a large formation of rocks on top of mountain located at 60-61 mile on the Kourgarak road system outside of Nome, Alaska.  Our family camp is located at the Pilgrim river bridge. So as a family , we hike to the Giant often.  The trail is about 3 miles round trip with great views of the Pilgrim River Valley and the Kiglualik Mountain Range.

So after you cross the Pilgrim River bridge, you are looking for the trail.  The trail is actually a ATV trail.  You can blaze your way across the mountain on your own but the ATV trails works its way through the Alder brush, making the trek a lot easier.  You should easily see the ATV trail and where it connects to the road.

This was a family event, my parents just got married and so a whole bunch of family:Aunts, Uncles, Cousins were in town.  Last year, my Aunts and Uncles had come up to Nome to bury the ashes of my grandparents at the base of the Giant.  So we had an ulterior motive to do this hike.

If seen with human eyes, you would have been able to see the giant rising out of the background, but as with pictures, you don't see everything that the picture taker saw.

The Giant, I would almost rename it the fingers myself.  There is a Hawk's nest on the side and has been for as long as I have hiked up to the Giant.

The hawk's nest is the brown dot there on the very left column towards the top.  The hawks were still there, so as to not stress them out too much we stood on the other side of the Giant from the nest.

My grandparents memorial.  Doug & Alice Scott: Its started over.  Also in between the rock columns, you should be able to find a plastic peanut butter jar.  I hope you brought a pen to write down who and when hiked to the Giant. So sign away but please the jar back firmly.  The winds are strong up there.

All the way around the Giant, a field of Monkshood bloomed.  A very pretty purple flower.

This a fun and fairly easy hike, that really the whole family can do.  i would recommend 8 and older.  We did seem some bear poop along the trail and recommend bringing a gun with you. A great and fun hike around Nome Alaska.

Aiea Loop Trail

My boyfriend and I hiked the Keaiwa Heiau loop trail, or as it is more commonly known as the  Aiea Loop Trail. This is a 4.8 mile loop with very little elevation change.  There are some minor hills and rock piles and gets very narrow in a small section but overall a very easy but long hike.

First off there are three main parking areas at the Keaiwa Heiau State Park.    We parked at the second one and then walked by the road to the trail head.  This doesn't really matter because the way that the trail loops even if you park by the trail head, you will still walk up the hill in the end.  The hike started out pretty dry but we had a hint of what was coming from another hiker covered in mud.

Expect to get muddy, wear good shoes - no flip flops.   I have been on couple of hikes here in Hawaii and always see people trying to hike in flip flops.  Stop! Its a great way to break your ankle. I have a tendency to roll my ankles, so I have two types of hiking shoes - a pair of running shoes with good traction and then ankle high hiking boots. My boyfriend is modeling hiking sandals - good for people with strong ankles.  The straps on the toes keep your feet from moving around unlike flip flops.

 The trail goes through multiple lemon eucalyptus stands and gives the air a nice citrusy scent. There are also conifer trees on the side of the trail.    A couple of times, I smelled a fragrant flower in the air but could never locate the bloom. 

 Boyfriend in front of a grove of Lemon Eucalyptus.  I initially thought they might have been rainbow eucalyptus.

Dogs are allowed on this hike if on leash and well behaved.  This little guy above is named Jack and he is an avid sniffer.  Other hikers have seen boar on this trail so be aware.  There are also two boar hunting days a week on Oahu.  Which I believe are Wednesdays and Sundays.  The boars aren't what I worry about much, but the boar hunting dogs on the other hand, keeps Jack home on those days. 

This was one of the tricky parts of the hike, it was very muddy on our hike and made getting up this rock pile tricky.  Expect to straddle a couple of fallen trees that are blocking the path and maybe even duck under a few more.  The hike was worth the breathtaking views of the H3 - the most expensive road to build per mile in the US.  Get pockets of views of Aiea and Pearl City as the canopy breaks for views of the land and ocean.

It took us two hours to finish this hike.  We saw only a couple of hikers which is nice when you can feel that you are in the wild alone