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How Hiking Koko Head is a Great Analogy for Life

Melissa
Jul 23, 2015
10 min read

I consider myself incredibly blessed and fortunate to have a brother and sister-in-law who live on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu and have been generous enough to open their home to me anytime I would like to visit. My first time out I was about one-year post op double kneecap replacements so aside from surfing I didn’t really try anything too daring. This most recent visit, however, I had quite a number of some more challenging items that I intended to cross off my “Bucket List.” One of these items was the infamous Koko Head Crater Hike. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this trail, it is a set of 1,048 steps/railway ties that take you up an 1100-foot elevation change to one of the most breathtaking views from the island. The rails were built over 60 years ago and were once used to transport supplies to the military bunkers situated at the top.

After looking at pictures that other people had posted from their experiences when they climbed the trail I knew it was something I had to do; 1) because I like to challenge myself with a good workout and 2) I wanted the bragging rights to someday look back and claim “I climbed that bitch!” I was perfectly content to do the hike by myself since both my brother and sis-in-law had already tackled it, but was super excited when my sister-in-law, Katie, offered to do it with me (Bless her soul!) So as the rest of my family headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the day, Katie and I hit the road to the Koko Head trail.

When we rolled up to the base of the climb I was in awe… pictures just didn’t do this beast of a hike justice. All I kept saying was “OH MY GOD THIS IS GOING TO BE FREAKING AWESOME!!!” I will admit that I may have been a tad bit arrogant going into this climb. I mean, yeah it looked steep, but I train for marathons on the streets of Bethlehem! I eat hills for breakfast! If I can do 10, 15, 20 mile training runs around Bethlehem what’s a measly 1,048-step 1100 ft. elevation climb? I’ll tell you what it is… IT’S A BITCH OF AN ASS AND LEG WORKOUT! It was 86 degrees and humid (which is unusual for Hawaii) when we started. Katie looked at me and said, “anytime you need a break just let me know.” I was like “pfffttt I’ll take a breather when we reach the top.” And so we began our ascent.

At first it didn’t seem like much of a challenge at all…I was able to stride the rail ties and it was not really all that steep. About one quarter of the way up, however, the trail began to get steeper and I found myself having to step in between the ties as striding them became harder. I found myself reflecting on life a little bit. I was thinking how sometimes life really just seems like one big uphill battle; some challenges are a choice, whereas others are handed to you involuntarily. As my heart rate began to rise and my ass began to burn I found myself repeating the mantra I have used so many times in my running… “One foot in front of the other…just keep putting one foot in front of the other…” I was starting to find my groove until about a third of the way up when SHIT GOT REAL!

Approximately one third of the way up the trail there is “The Bridge.” The “Bridge” is a small section of the trail where there is nothing on the sides or under the rail ties…a trestle of sorts. Some of the planks are loose and one misstep can send you either falling of the side or slipping in between the ties. Either way, if you miscalculate, the end result is not pretty. I was a little nervous but took a few deep breaths, told myself that my knees, my body and my mind were strong enough to do this and my mantra became “just take your time and breath with each step.” And that’s when I saw them… lots of them; flying things making buzzing noises coming out of one of the wooden rail ties smack dab in the middle of the bridge. Side note – Hawaii typically does not have many bees, aside from the carpenter kind that don’t really sting and I can outrun them. I looked at my sis-in-law and kind of chuckled as I said, “those aren’t really BEES, right?” And then a gentleman coming up behind us confirmed my fears when he said “Holy shit that’s a lot of bees! Someone must’ve knocked over their nest!” He must have seen the look of panic on my face when those words left his mouth because he looked at me and tried to calm me down by saying “It really wont be much of a problem unless you are allergic to them.” Ummmmm… winner winner, chicken dinner! Yep, this girl is definitely allergic to the little bastards!

So I had come upon a bit of an obstacle on this upward battle, just as we come across obstacles in our daily lives. I took a moment and considered my options as well as the consequences they would bring.

Option #1 – Take the alternate route; this was a side trail that was

available for anyone not wishing to cross the bridge.

Pro – the alternate route would spare me the bees

Con – I would feel like a cheat for taking the easy way and

would feel like a pansy for not facing my fears head on

Option #2 – Don’t be a pussy and cross the damn bridge

Pro – There was a chance nothing would happen, the bees

would leave me alone and I would feel like a badass for

facing my fears and not cheating the trail

Con #1 – I could get stung – I had my sis-in-law, I had my epi

and I had my road ID. If I went into anaphylaxis Katie

was trained to epi me and could buy me enough time

to get me to a hospital. (*Bonus – Katie also knew to

stab me in the thigh and not the ass, and knows the

value of a nice pair of lululemon shorts so she’d be

careful not to poke holes in them)

Con #2 – I could get stung, panic, fall off the bridge, and die

a slow and painful death

After mulling it over, I decided to face my fears and cross the bridge. Just as life presents us with obstacles and decisions and we must learn how to accept the path we choose, I knew that once my choice was made I had to be willing to accept whatever may happen as the result. I noticed that the majority of the bees were congregating more to the right hand side, so I made a quick sign of the cross blessing myself and proceeded along the left hand side of the bridge. As I approached the nest I reminded myself that in the event that I get stung I HAD to stay calm and get across the rest of the bridge. This did not stop me from saying a loud “Please don’t sting me, please don’t sting me,” as I hustled past the nest. After we got off the bridge (sting free – whoo hooo!) we paused for a moment. My hands were shaking, but I didn’t pee or shit myself, so I sipped some water, thanked God, and continued on our climb.

We were a little over the halfway mark of our journey, and by this point were now huffing and puffing and sweating (I mean “sparkling”) our asses off. We paused again so we could regroup and so I could take a “halfway to the top” photo. Katie looked at me and said “get ready, we haven’t even reached the steepest section yet.” I turned my head to look upward at what was coming next and thought “HOLY SHIT did I overestimate the shape I was in and underestimate the difficulty of this trail!” I took a deep breath, sipped some water, and told myself “Melissa… you are NOT a quitter! You CAN and you WILL finish this.” As I pushed my way upward I felt every muscle in my legs and ass burning. Katie had mentioned grabbing lunch at the Kona Brewery afterwards so my new mantra became “BEER… DO IT FOR THE BEER!!!”

As we approached the top and could see the bunker I felt relieved, until I looked down and remembered the cliché saying, “what goes up, must come down.” I looked at Katie and said multiple times that I was apologizing in advance if it took me a while to get down the trail because I had to be cautious with my knees. Then I had a revelation… I hadn’t even reached the top yet and had a chance to enjoy my accomplishment before I was already moving on and worrying about the next challenge coming my way. It dawned on me that I tend to do this A LOT. I set a goal, make a plan, follow the plan, and then when I accomplish the goal I don’t even give myself a chance to enjoy it. Instead I am already setting my next goal and plan of attack. I’ve done it with my running; I set a PR or race goal, achieve it (or sometimes not), and before the lactic acid is even flushed from my legs I am already developing a training plan for my next race. I’ve done this with my education; two seconds after I walked off the stage from receiving my masters’ degree I was already thinking about what I wanted to do for a PhD. This aspect of my “type A” personality is something I really need to work on, and I realized it there in that moment, just a few steps from the top of Koko Head.

When Katie and I took that last step to the summit we took a selfie; it is one of my favorite pictures of us because it seriously looks like we are “glistening” rather than sweating. I took a moment and just took in the scenery. Katie pointed out some of the beaches we had been to and showed me how you could see one of the other islands. We must have spent a solid hour f

inding some cool spots to rock some yoga poses. In between finding spots for our little yoga photo shoot I would just stand there and take it all in. I owned the moment, and for once in my life just lived in the present. When we decided it was time (or should I say when our tummies told us it was time) to make our way back down, I took a deep breath and told myself to go as slowly as I needed, partly because of my knees, but also because there was no reason to rush to the next “challenge.” So many times we push ourselves up those “hills” of life only to rush over the top and fly down the other side without even realizing what we are passing by on the way down.

I took my time as we made our way down. It wasn’t as bad as I thought; although I did lose my footing here and there a bit on some loose dirt. I made it down the steepest part without any real issues and thought it was smooth sailing but had forgotten I had still had one major obstacle… “The Bridge of Bees.” I was hoping maybe they would have vanished by the time we had gotten back down to the bridge, but nope… there they were still buzzing about. I was able to stay standing upright as I crossed the bridge on the way up, but trying to stand up while going downward seemed a bit sketchier. I decided to take to “crab walking” to accomplish this task (thank you elementary school gym classes for teaching me this fine maneuver – I always wondered when in life I was going to use it, but now I know!) I was crabbing along at a pretty good clip but as I approached the nest I found myself weighing out my options again…

Option #1 – If I continue to crab walk there is a real possibility I may get

stung in the hand or worse yet, the ass, both of which are closer

to the heart and thus allow the toxin in the bee venom to get to

the heart faster and be pumped more quickly through my body

(sometimes being a science teacher and knowing too much is not

necessarily a good thing as it often causes you to freak yourself

out more). If I was going to get stung I would rather it be as far

away from the heart as possible!

Option #2 – If I finish the cross standing I would be more likely to get take a

stinger to the ankle, If I panicked I could fall, but if I remained

I could get across and get to more advanced medical care.

I took a deep breath, stood up, told myself to remain calm, and went at the fastest pace I felt comfortable doing. I focused my attention on the rail ties rather than the bees and before I knew it I was across, free and clear of stings. I may have gotten a bit cocky as we hit the flatter section because the next thing I knew I felt my foot slide and I was on my ass! I think Katie was a bit more rattled than I was by my fall, but after I laughed she just chuckled and said “you made it through all the toughest parts and then fall here!”

As we reached the base and stepped off the trail our legs were shaking and our butts and hamstrings burning. We took a “baby wipe bath” and were on our way to celebrate with an adult beverage. As we drove away I turned and took one more look back at Koko Head and reminded myself to also take with me the lessons that it had taught me:

Set your goals and work your ass off to achieve them.
If an obstacle comes up along the way, stop, think about your options, figure out the pros and cons of each, and be willing to accept the consequences for your decision.
When you achieve one goal (aka reach the top of that “climb”) take a moment to relish in it. Enjoy your moment; don’t be so quick to move on from it.
Enjoy the downhills; don’t just fly down them. Look around, take it all in and use it as a chance to recharge and reset for your next “climb” in life.

I will admit that had I not had my sister-in-law with me there is a very real possibility I may have overlooked these lessons. I felt way more confident facing the bees knowing I had someone there to epi me in case of an emergency (funny how I have no problem stabbing other people with an epi but I can’t stab myself). I also don’t think I would have taken the time to enjoy the views from the summit if I were alone because I would have been way too focused on how I was going to get back down. I feel blessed and thankful to have had this opportunity and to have taken something away from the experience that I can apply to life in general.

In closing, I feel it very apropos to leave you with some lyrics from my girl Gwen Stefani…