Bamboo Trail

I went hiking with my pastor again yesterday. I don’t know if the trail has a name. It starts in a bamboo forest along the road to Hana.

The bamboo is cool.

I’ve been to this trail before, but I’ve always stopped at a stream that I couldn’t get across without getting my feet wet. This time, I would continue on – even if my feet would get wet. But my feet didn’t get wet because the water level was low. Yay!

There were a few small waterfalls, but the spot most people stopped at was a swimming hole.

There were a lot of people on there.

Off to the left side of the above picture, there was a small rock wall that had ladders leaning against it. After climbing up the ladders and using some rope to get over the top, we continued on the trail that ran along the stream.

Eventually, the trail ended. That was when my pastor said we would continue by swimming in the stream.

After I took this picture, I put my phone in a zip bag to keep it dry.

We had to swim only about forty yards or so. The water was a pleasant temperature, but I couldn’t touch the bottom. It was also so murky I couldn’t see more than a few inches down. I think I might have panicked a little. I was flailing a lot, and breathing hard. At one point, I wondered if I maybe wouldn’t make it.

But I did make it. Another rope climb, and we saw the tallest waterfall of the day. There wasn’t much water coming down, but it was still cool looking. Pastor swam some more. I sat on a rock and breathed hard and tried to slow my heart rate.

So peaceful. We were the only ones there.

It was another great hike. I think I may do this again. And next time, maybe I won’t panic at the water.