We hiked through a sea of this.

We pushed through this.

We climbed up this.

At the top, we saw this.

Pu’u Piei is a mountain peak that sits on the north wall of Kahana Valley. There are a few different ways to get to this peak. A couple weeks ago we decided to hike the ridge mauka of Pu’u Piei (“mauka” = towards the mountains).

The hike took us 10 hours and was a full body workout. Even though we spent most of the time up on the ridgeline, we found ourselves contorting our bodies to weave our way through trees and shrubs for almost the entire hike to the summit. We encountered a few steep climbs as well where there was nothing to hold on to but grass and the occasional well placed root.

There’s not much of a trail up there. I mean, there’s something to follow but it’s not much.

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.

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Ever find yourself in a situation where you did something or saw something interesting and wish you had a camera with you?

Some people don’t have that problem.

Some photographers carry a camera everywhere they go and seemingly never miss a shot.

John Hook (pictured above) is one such photographer and I’d like to share his work with you.

John is a professional photographer in Hawaii. I got a chance to work with him recently on a photoshoot and I can tell you, the guy is talented.

If you live in Hawaii, you’ve probably seen John’s work in a magazine somewhere. He’s a staff photographer for FLUX Hawaii and Innov8 magazines. John also does photojournalism work for Honolulu’s civic affairs news website, Civil Beat. On top of that he shoots weddings, fashion, and custom studio shots. You can see his wedding portfolio at JohnHookPhoto.com.

And now, he has put together one of the best Hawaii Tumblrs you’ll find that contains all original work. It’s called Handsome Unicorn and it’s worth a follow. I’ve found it to be inspirational.

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