Aiea Loop and the Battle with Nature

It shouldn't have surprised me but amazingly enough I woke up Saturday with clogged sinuses. It seems that this time of year has my number. I am always getting sinus infections or the flu or some other tyrant of a disease that forces me back into bed. Not that I can complain about being able to lie around all day either. As luck would have it we had planned to do the Aiea Loop Hike on Saturday and since I am used to this whole being sick part of life I decided I was well enough to battle the great outdoors. So off we headed to Aiea and the 4.5 mile loop that was supposedly going to be a great hike. We parked the car and headed to the trail head which was straight uphill so by the time the trail beckoned my call I was already pooped. Not to mentioanl my nose was running faster than I was. The trail proved to be just okay. There were never any steep grades along the way but because the brush was so thick it was difficult to get any good views of the island. I suppose the best part of this day was the cloudy skies that kept the trail cool for the most part so we could enjoy our leisurly stroll. It is sometimes difficult to remember that Oahu actually has lots of greenery when you live in the concrete jungle known as Honolulu. It proved to be rather refreshing to be able to smell the outdoors and peer off at nothingness. Hues of green line the trail and off in the distance the lighter shades of green look like popcorn scattered among the trees. But even on top of a mountain the city can not be fully escaped when there are power lines running atop ridges and around the trail. It has been a rather rainy week making large portions of the trail seem like nothing but one giant mud pie. There were points that my shoes were completely under a puddle of mud and slowly sinking further. Needless to say I escaped having mud only up to my lower back. All in all however, it was an okay hike. I think it would have been a better trip had my nose not been the enemy.