Geysers, Chutes and Ladders

My housemate had posted earlier this week on Facebook that she was looking for some fellow adventurers to find the infamous Chutes and Ladders hike on Monday.  

Chutes and Ladders is a locally known spot where you clamber down the sea cliff aided by ladders and ropes down to a pool formed from lava rock at the ocean's edge.  I have seen pictures of the place by friends on Facebook and I really wanted to go there myself.

I had the day off and volunteered to go with her.  Before we headed out, we both spoke to friends over the phone who had done the hike before and pretty much everyone told us we should go with someone who has gone before.  Not only is the trailhead hard to find, but also the hike itself can be pretty "sketchy."

I was a little put off at first, but my housemate and I decided that we should attempt to find the spot, and if we were at all concerned about doing the hike, we would turn back around.

The trailhead is hard to spot, and we ended up parking next to a whole bunch of other cars by mile marker 38.

We decided to explore the area and look for any signs of ladders or ropes.

The sea cliffs were majestic; the water a deep aquamarine blue.  The wind whipped our hair around as we followed worn paths along the overlook.

The lava rock looks like alien lifeforms growing up out of the stone.

My housemate surveying the coastline.

The trail down to the ocean is known as the Acid War Zone because of the way the landscape has been eroded by salt spray and wind.  Others say this area got its name because the landscape resembles a bad acid trip.

We decided that we had probably overshot the Chutes and Ladders trailhead and had made it to the Nakalele Blowhole instead.

We followed some tourists down to the waterline to check it out.

Over time, the ocean has worn away the shore underneath this lava shelf, so with each passing wave, the water rushes under the shelf and is forced through the hole in the lava rock.  The eruption of water resembles a geyser.

Depending on the tide, surf and other weather conditions, the blowhole can be quite dramatic.  We got a pretty good show today and left covered in salt spray.

Hand painted signs at the parking lot

After hiking around the coastline in the other direction for about thirty minutes or so, we decided to get back into the car and backtrack to where we saw a small gate after mile marker 37.

We parked the car on the side of the highway, passed through the fence and followed a red dirt red to the cliff's edge.

As we were walking along, the scenery and road matched with another friend's description of the hike, so we felt confident that we found the spot.

We came to the edge and saw the pools far, far below.

Shortly after I took the photo above, a huge ocean wave crashed over the lava rock and stirred up the pool so it looked like a washing machine.  Not a good idea to go down there for a dip!

We found the first ladder to start the descent:

It was a rickety, short ladder that was completely unnecessary.  We just stepped down over a few rocks to get to the next plateau to find the rope climb down.

Eep!  It's a LOT further down than it looks here in the photo.  After seeing that the pools were not going to be safe to swim in today, we decided not to make the climb down.  

I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous when I saw the descent.  I've heard that it's a fairly easy climb down since the rock has got great grip to it, and the cliffside itself has an incline to it so it's not a taxing or frightening climb (unless you have a fear of heights).

I hope that I'm brave enough to do it the next time I'm out there!  My housemate went down a few handholds to pose for a photo that I took for her on her camera, and she said the rope felt steady, but she felt more comfortable relying on the natural handholds in the rock.

Although we didn't make the full climb down to the pools, we felt satisfied that we had found the spot! On our way back up to the car, I was surprised to notice how tired and sore my legs already felt.  I hadn't realized how much hiking we had done over some fairly hairy terrain.  Today was the first time I've been that far north on the west side of the island.  It's sad to think that for as long as I've been here that today was the first time I've gone to the blowhole or driven this far north, but then again, it makes me excited to know that there is still so much to do!

I'm still doing some car shopping, and it makes me so much more motivated to get a set of wheels when I know that there is so much great stuff to see that it still so close to home.  I could do a lot of daytime exploring before I even have to go into work!