2001-07-15 - 11:50 a.m.
wow, what a week.
i haven't been home for the past five nights. this is a first, i think. i'm pretty sure i wrote about it, but i just want to recap for myself so T.S. for you.
on tuesday i went out and saw Scary Movie 2.
on wednesday i went to see Final Fantasy.
on thursday i went to the beach with jenna, kim, and dennis.
on friday i went to kim's house with everyone.
and saturday, this is where ALL the fun shit happened.
if you haven't already read jenna's diary (http://kick-a-rock.diaryland.com), i hiked crouching lion (a.k.a. crouching tiger). it was oh so cool.
kim and her sister, michelle, picked me up at around 10, and then all six of us (myself, kim, michelle, jenna, dennis, dae won, and steve) met at a mcdonalds and proceeded to figure our route to the crouching lion parking lot. this took all of about half-an-hour. after we found our route, jenna, dennis, and steve jumped into jenna's car, and myself, dae won, kim, and michelle went into kim's car as we were to lead since kim had the road map and dae won was to be the navigator. we left the mcdonalds parking lot and jenna was to meet us on the Pali Highway, but she got held up in traffic, and not knowing what had happened to them, kim went into the far right lane of traffic-- the lane for SLOW moving vehicles, such as trucks. while, there we moved as fast as 40 MPH in 40-45 MPH zone. after driving for abotu 15 minutes, jenna was finally able to catch up to us. so we were able to take off towards Ka'awa or something like that, our destination for the day.
this took us another long time. but it was a fun ride. this time included me and dennis making fake threats to eachother while at stops, with dennis even throwing water at kim's car from jenna's car and dennis walking up to kim's car to throw water at dae won's seat in the car. it was a fun time to be with us.
after that, finally made it to Kanaha or Kahana or some name with a "K" state park. it was around 12 by now. we all got dressed and went in search of the route start. the only problem was, the instructions were vague. something along the lines of "after the first Rt. 83 sign, just past the first utility pole, next to a guard rail." what the hell is a utility pole when there's telephone poles every 5 yards? so, with dennis and dae won in lead, steve following close behind, and me making sure jenna, and kim didnt choose to leave whlie michelle was between both groups kinda doing her own thing by mingling with both groups. upon finding "a" route, dennis and dae won decided, "okay, this must be the place" so off we went. up the side of the mountain. without an actual trail. what we did find was a cannabis plant, rock cliffs, and lots of sliding ground. but it was fun. about two hours into our climb (i say climb because at that point, thats what it was), we finally found the trail. but the thing is, kim and michelle had a dinner to attend, so they had to leave. the good thing is that they found the trail, so they were able to take the trail back down to the actual start point. meanwhile, dennis, steve, dae won, jenna and i drove on through the actual trail. this is where it really got hard. sheer cliffs on both sides, wind blowing, mud, dense thickets of brush, and close to vetical cliffs to climb. oh how fun it was. we climbed four peaks. up and down. up and down. up and down. up and down down down... but the time inbetween was great. at the peaks, we were below, inbetween, and above the clouds. at one point, you couldn't see down, but you could see other mountain peaks and wow. it looked like avalon, the land that comes and goes with the fog. the clouds were grey, and the mountains looked like they were moving with it. it was as if the clouds could move land. i felt like i was in my own world.
but the climbing up down the cliffs was great too. it haven't had a good honest to god sweat like that in oh so long. i felt like i was working for once. my arms were tired, my legs were shaking, my knees were sore, my toes hurt, i had a head ache, i was out of breath, my muscles were burning, but i was having fun. i felt like i was accomplishing something. the trail seemed like it would keep going on and on and on forever, but i didnt mind because i knew i could keep going and i knew i wouldn't give up even if i could, becuase it was what i loved to do. climb, run, jump... all in natures serene beauty.
towards the end, i could really feel my legs shaking and my knees beginning to buckle. but, looking at jenna, in all her not wanting to be there glory, i knew i couldn't stop for a second and show any weakness cause she wasn't showing me any weakness. she would look at me every so often with this look of "why the fuck am i here?" and i would look back and i would see my fears shrivel because she kept going, so i had to too. not that i would stop, but i didnt want to even slow down cause she kept me going. thank you jenna. you certainly are my sweet little shit.
but somewhere along the way, dennis had made a wrong turn in his run, jump, let a tree stop me, way of making a path and lead us off the trail onto a 1 and 1/2 foot wide trail coverd in mud and moss. but i thought it was all a part of the trail because it seemed so much fun and even more challenging. this was also about where it rained a little bit. this was also where the sun started to get real dark (read: the sun was setting really low and we were running out of day light). but we were good. dennis and steve had gone ahead and a game warden had found them and so dae won went ahead of jenna to help her further down the trail while i brought up the rear. the game warden got us all down the side of the hill, albeit, the wrong side, but a side of the hill and explained to us that we were on the wrong side, and that the actually use mexican immigrants here to guard stashes of marijuana and that the growers sometimes booby trap their plants. meanwhile i was thinking "hey, we saw a weed plant too!" at about 730 he gave the five of us a lift to our car and guess what i found out. he's a roosevelt grad too. he knew ms. minamai and ms. scarci back when they were teachers. he called ms. minami the english teacher from hell. we all laughed. and agreed that she is crazy. he was cool. he also told us to ask her if she still remembers him-- randy ego. so i intend on asking.
upon our arrival at the car we all changed and put all our dirty stuff in bags in the back of jenna's trunk and went in search of a 7-11 to hydrate and eat. we eventually found one and we sat outside there eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow. at least thats how i was. i went in twice to get food. i think the cashier knew i was hungry. she gave me a knowing grin. she also spotted me a nickel.
after eating and me and jenna talking to our paranoid parents, we headed back for town. dennis slept, jenna drove, and me steve and dae won discussed the future of the battalion. we were all supposed to go back out for a celebratory dinner, but it didnt quite happen. i think jenna got in trouble for going on the hike that was supposed to take us four hours but ended up taking us 7 and a half. i say we did fairly well. but thats just my opinon.
i must say, last night was sore though. i couldn't sleep for a while because i had a headache and my knees hurt like a bitch. so i popped some Ibproufen and waited a little bit and then slept like a rock. oh, i also showered and did my laundry too. just thought i should put that in to make sure that no one thinks i'm a pig and slept dirty. although i probably would've if i didnt have to sleep on my bed.
this morning i awoke after about 10-11 hours of sleep and i went driving at my dad's work place parking lot. i did left turns and three right turns for an hour. i got my first hour behind the wheel. i'm a little sloppy on turning, i dont quite know how to estimate parking distance, but i can reverse... sorta, and damn can i drive in a straight line! okay, so i suck at driving. so sue me. i never learned the ride a bike either.
i'm still afraid of driving.
6:06 p.m. dennis called me and said that the trail ended while we were still in the mountains so he didnt take us off the trail. MY BAD!
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