First off, I should say that I don’t work for Volcanic Rock Gym. I do try to support VRG as much as possible though because the gym has done so much to foster growth of the rock climbing community in Hawaii. So while gym climbing is an indoor activity (Unreal Hawaii is an outdoor lifestyle blog) and meant to be a training facility, I like to feature the gym because it’s allowed me to meet some super cool people. People that I now climb with outdoors. Also, the more you climb the more awesome your abs will look at the beach. (Come on now, you know you’ve thought about that too.)

Now regarding that reset…

At rock climbing gyms, the walls are covered in holds and each hold has at least one piece of colored tape next to it. Each color represents a route or bouldering “problem.” When you’re on a route, you can only put your hands and feet on holds with the same color tape. Look for holds lower to the ground with two pieces of same color tape and a name on it. That’s a start hold. Then follow the route up the wall and you’ll see another hold with two pieces of that color tape, and that’s the finish. This is what makes climbing in the gym fun. When you look at a wall and see over a hundred holds on it, you challenge is to figure out how to climb a route that might only use six.

To finish the route you have to figure out creative ways to extend your reach and build your grip strength to hang on to small holds. Sometimes you finish a route on the first try, sometimes it takes 20 tries or more. But each time you climb you get better and that progress is addicting. Many of you already know this but I know that my first time at the climbing gym, I had no idea what was going on until someone explained it to me.

Eventually, after a couple months or so, what happens is you’ll find that you’ve climbed all the routes within your skill level and you’ll crave some new challenges. Most likely everyone else feels the same way and that’s when it’s time to reset the holds.

See more »

I’ve seen Chinaman’s Hat (Mokoli’i Island) countless times while hiking, driving or swimming on the Windward side of Oahu. It’s the small island that looks like a rice picker hat. But up until a few of months ago, I had no idea you could walk out to it. Yep, you just drive out to Kualoa Regional Park, put on some old shoes and walk right out to it over the reef. You can only do this at low tide though. At low tide the water is waist high but at high tide it’ll be neck high or higher. You may have heard that there are supposedly hammerhead sharks all over these waters but we didn’t see any. Just don’t think about it when you walk back in the dark in neck deep water. And, um, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

On the back side of the island there’s a beautiful small cove with a tiny sandy beach. Cory, Luke, Troy, Jen, Dale, Jen, Reanne and I had been talking about trying to have a BBQ out there and a couple of weeks ago we finally made it happen. The experience of walking out to the island and being on your own secluded and private cove, plus Cory’s amazing cooking, made for a happy day indeed.

See more »

Every 18 years or so the moon passes the Earth at the closest part of it’s orbit. What that means for us Earthlings is that the moon will be bigger and brighter than usual. And as the moon rises over the horizon, it’s supposed to look HUGE.

Last Saturday, the 16th, lots of people came out to check out the moon rise. Unfortunately for us in Hawaii, rain clouds passed over the islands during those few minutes when the moon was closest to the horizon. But eventually the clouds dispersed enough throughout the evening to capture some nice night shots. We didn’t see a massive super full moon in Hawaii but it was definitely super bright.

See also:

• Article and video on the “super full moon” on NASA Science.
• Super full moon photos from Hawaii local photographer Dallas Nagata.

Up on the North East point of Oahu, there’s an island shaped like a goat. It’s a few hundred yards out and when the tides are low you can simply walk to the island from the beach (wear some old shoes if you do). If the tides are a bit higher, it’s much easier and safer to paddle out using a body board or surfboard. After a fun rock climbing session in Mokule’ia, we made our way out here to relax and share a few brews on the beach. Of course, there are plenty of other beautiful beaches to relax on but there’s something a bit more special about sitting on a beach on what feels like your own private island. Especially when that island is shaped like a goat.

See also:

• Getting there: Goat Island sits off the beach at Malaekahana Sate Recreational Area. See map.
• More about Goat Island on HawaiiWeb.

There are a few hikes on Oahu that I had on my “not going to attempt” list. Up until a week ago the Pali Notches was one of them as it has a reputation for being very dangerous. If you’re driving up the Pali Highway from town you can see two notches cut in the narrow ridgeline. The notches are man-made. They were created by warriors of ancient Oahu to house cannons when defending attacks from Nu’uanu Valley. In 1795, King Kamehameha’s warriors disabled these cannons in the Battle of Nu’uanu which helped him conquer Oahu.

So, if the ancient Hawaiian warriors were able to hike the notches then at least it’s possible. But, a Hawaiian warrior I am not. Nevertheless, some friends were hiking this trail last weekend and I decided to give it a shot. The trail is short yet intense. It’s known as one of the most dangerous trails on the island because of the descent down the second notch. It’s a vertical down-climb and there’s no rope to assist you. And, even if you bring your own rope, there’s nothing to attach it to.

It was a difficult hike indeed yet we made it.

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is for entertainment purposes only. Hiking can be extremely dangerous. One slip or trip and you could easily fall down the side of the mountain causing injury or death. Do not attempt what you see in these pictures.

See more »