Today I decided to go hiking on the Aiea Loop Trail. The last time I went there was on a school field trip sometime in the mid-70s. The Aiea Loop Trail is probably most known for the WWII airplane wreckage visible from the trail. But decades in a rainforest have taken their toll on the plane and it is now little more than a piece of sheetmetal (unless I was looking at the wrong thing). That was a little disappointing. But it did not diminish the relaxing quality of a hike in the mountains on a crisp cool morning.
view of Pacific Ocean from Diamond Head side of trail
By the way, here's a piece of trivia to file away in your memory banks. Aiea, a suburb of Honolulu, is the only city in the United States that is spelled with only vowels. Hopefully this bit of information will come in handy to you someday.
Perhaps the biggest change since the last time I hiked here in the mid-70s is the view of the H3 Freeway. This freeway wasn't around back then as it opened in 1997. For a while, it was the most expensive interstate in America per mile at $1.3 billion until Boston's Big Dig took that honor. From the east facing slopes of the trail, the H3 Freeway can be seen winding up the valley connecting Aiea to Kaneohe on the windward side of Oahu. If you ever visit Hawaii, I recommend driving on the H3 from Aiea to Kaneohe in the morning while the sun is rising. The view is spectacular!
H3 Freeway visible from east side of Aiea Loop Trail
It took about 2 hrs to walk the 5 mile trail. We saw edible fruits along the way, but played it safe and didn't eat any of them. The Aiea Loop trail is a pretty easy trail but there are other more scenic trails around the island. Still, it was fun and I felt happy and accomplished when we were done.
