Diamond Head at Night

 Diamond Head Lookout - December 13, 2013

money shot of Diamond Head Lookout, used for my calendar

After a hard week with stomach flu symptoms, I mustered enough courage to tackle the rim of Diamond Head again. Last time I hiked up Diamond Head in the dark was 2012. The goal this time was to get the money shots from the lookout.

Joining the crew today was Marvin, Will, Christian, & Alan. I’ve hiked with all of these guys before and they are all good guys.

We met at Marvin’s house at 6:30pm and brought our DSLR camera's, from there Christian and Will drove us to a place where rich people live. We found some parking. At the end of the street was where the trailhead started. The problem was that the last house at the end of the street was putting on this massive party with dozens of people in attendance. Dozens of people meant many eyes on us, but we stayed goal oriented and walked towards the end of the street. There appeared a camera which was mounted to a pole. We quickly bypassed it ignoring whatever uncomfortable feelings we had and tried to find the trail that headed up the ridge.

We all seemed confused, but after a few minutes, Marvin was like what-the-hell lets just head up the ridge. So that is what we did and we did it successfully. Marvin told us earlier that it should only take 5 minutes to get to the crest, but I think it took us 6 minutes, greatly disappointing him. The ridge heading up was on very loose dirt making traction somewhat of a problem, plus we didn’t have our headlamps on so visibility was impaired. On the rim now, we took a very short break at a bunker. We could see inside the bunker and it appeared dressed up with pictures and stuff. Christian said he had the code, but I think we all wanted to head towards the lookout.

We went up and down a bunch of steep rolling hills. The ridge was crumbly and barbed wire was littered all over the place. On a few occasions, my pants got stuck on some barbed wire. Being impacted with the stomach flu really beat me down as I lagged in the back. I just lacked a lot of energy. It must have taken us a little over 1 hour to get to the lookout, there we wanted to take a short break, but the fireworks started going off. We fumbled and shamefully made a feeble attempt to get money shots, it was one of the most saddest attempts of tripod set up in the history of hiking. Although, Alan and Christian who got to the lookout a few minutes before we did, may have caught some good shots.

After we failed at the fireworks, we had time to get in my opinion, the best view on the island at night. The strip of Waikiki is so nice at night, it puts me in awe. I’ve done a bunch of hikes at night and I’ve never seen a view like this. It just adds to a person perspective about hiking on this island. After we took a bunch pictures at the main lookout, we crossover to the other lookout. I don’t think people can access this lookout in the day. It presents pretty much the same view, just a little closer. After shooting a bunch of photos we headed back. The crater seemed empty on this day, probably better to go when the National Guard is not on duty which is the first weekend of every month.

Lookout

group photo at lookout

While heading back, Will tripped on some barbed wire and fell partway off the mountain. He cut his arm pretty badly as blood was gushing all over the place. Maybe it wasn’t that bad, the dark seems to magnify the problems, just like rain seems to magnify the problems while hiking. Christian with his first aid hiking kit bandaged him up and we were on our way. As we finished our hike and neared closer to the trailhead, the party was in full swing. From our vantage point on the ridge, we could actually see into the patio on the second floor of the house. Everyone at the party seemed drunk and boisterous. Instead of joining, Will drove us to the Wailana Coffee Shop to eat a midnight snack. It was great to talk to everyone since its been awhile and I needed to updated on the “happenings” in hiking which everyone seems to know except me.