Mount Ka`ala

I just posted the pictures up of our trip to the Mount Ka`ala Natural Area Reserve. It was a great day. Betsy Gagne guided us, and we piled in to Jeff's jeep and DLNR's crew cab - usually used to transport convicts - for the trip up. We passed through all the mysterious gated areas that I could see from our Waialua lanai - Ka`ala Ranch, alongside the Monastery, and then alongside Makaleha Valley. It's shocking how much land on the North Shore is off limits to exploration.

It took almost an hour to get to the top, and it was another world fromthe O`ahu I know. Ka'ala is an almost completely intact indigenous forest - one of the few I've ever seen. We were about 3000 feet up, in the mist. The clouds muffled sound, so all we heard was the lapalapa clattering in the breeze, and the echo of machine gun fire from the live fire range downhill.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. I still need to sit down with Betsy and get the names for a lot of the indigenous plants we saw.

I'm loving my little Cannon PowerShot! I'm not so sure about PhotoBucket; getting the photos posted was a bit of a pain in the ass; hopefully it'll get easier as I do it more.

I thought about going out tonight - some of the guys are going to see Ursula 1000 at 39 Hotel. I love the DJ, it would be great to hang with the guys, but I'm just not in the mood. I think I'm still going through some residual nicotine withdrawl. My body is definitely suffering & taking it hard, though my mind is ok. Strange how every time I quit it's a different experience.