The Sunrise at Pu'u Ma'eli'eli

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Pu’u Ma’eli’eli Sunrise – July 13, 2013

I’ve always wanted to do a sunrise hike again. Last time I caught a sunrise was when I did the Lanikai Pillboxes years ago. Though I’m an early riser, doing a sunrise hike is still a hike that needs some type of commitment. Since I live in Kapolei, it means that I have to drive to the windward side. In addition, I also know that I will be taking a chance on the weather, since Hawaii weather is so unpredictable.

With the forecast appearing good, it was off to Kahalu’u to do Pu’u Ma’eli’eli. I would join OAG- Erik and Aprille, along with David and my son Jared. I thought this would be a good hike for Jared because he too is an early riser and needs to break the monotony of summer. All he’s been doing is playing video games, withering his brain away.

I got a super early start. I woke up at 1:30am, and just packed my stuff and watched TV. At 3:45am, I picked up Jared from his bed, got him into the car, and drove to the windward side. Jared awoke during the ride. We met Erik at McDonald’s and drove to a cull de sac where the tennis courts were located. The route we were doing today cuts the hike by 10-15 minutes, giving us ample time to get up there and set up. The darkness freaked out Jared even with a lot of light from the headlamps. I was worried he would hyperventilate. He was so scared that he didn’t want to follow any of my directions to slow down and take it easy. I remember grabbing him and calming him down, his heart was beating so fast.

We got up to the top in 20 minutes and set up shop at the pillbox. There was a lot of cloud cover, but the sun pierced through a section of the clouds creating beauty. Ma’eli’eli is most likely the best place to catch the sunrise during the summer. The sun rises almost exactly in front of the Ma’eli’eli pillboxes. During the winter, the sun rises more south of the island making the Lanikai pillboxes the perfect place to catch the sunrise. Since I don’t have my camera yet, I had to live vicariously through Erik, Aprille, and David’s pictures as they snapped away.

We stayed there for about 45 minutes, packed up, and headed back. We took a different route back, dropping down to another cull de sac. The post hike meal was at Kahalu’u McDonald’s. This McDonald’s maybe one of the busiest McDonald’s on the island just because its miles away from a good place to eat in the morning.

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