Vacation Travelogue - Hiking Diamondhead

Now that we have waved Pearl Harbor good bye its time to get into some real hiking. First up was Diamondhead which was listed as a 1/2 mile moderate hike. I'm going to say they are wrong! Being from Colorado hiking is not a new thing for me but I would push this almost to a difficult hike, if I was rating it from a skiing standpoint this would be a high blue, its not a green for sure. I think 1/2 a mile is incorrect too, definitely longer than that and includes, steep inclines, steep stairs and a tunnel that if you are claustrophobic you may not be able to get through. The tunnel was longer than I thought it would be and while relatively wide its not tall, if you are six foot plus you will be ducking your head through most of it. Not only that but it curves so you can't see the end. It cuts right through the edge of the rim to get to the observation posts on the seaward side. Definitely worth the trip. I'm a bit disappointed but I didn't upload all the pictures that I thought I did, so I may update this post with more photos in the immediate future or make a whole different post.

First look back into the Diamondhead crater, you can just make out the parking lot near the center.

First sight of the Pacific as we get closer to the top

I'm not sure if these are original observation points or not. I'm pretty sure that the one on the left is not, but the center one might be.

 A little out of order, but in about the middle of this photo is where the tunnel that cuts through the rim for the road is located.

Looking back at the crater from the base of the first set of stairs, at the top of the stairs is the tunnel.

This series covers the area from pretty near the top, this one is from the tunnel

From the observation point, a close up of the observation points.

From here you will go up higher to the main observation facility and another set of nasty stairs. I'll have to upload those photos though, apparently they were not in this batch.