I've been lucky during my life to travel more than anyone I have ever met. And yet, I wish to travel more. I am addicted now.
My love for travel is rooted deeply, way back in kindergarten. We travelled to the destroyed Glacier House, part of the original Rogers Pass route of the railway. This is the earliest point that I can recall that I was obsessed with seeing something bizarre and beautiful. This was where nature was reclaiming the area that humans messed up for it, and I couldn't pry myself away from it. I spent quite a while exploring the ruins of the old hotel.
Over the years, I travelled to dozens of locations, some of which are gone or closed (cue that Beatles song). I've been to all sorts of places too, not just one type. I've lived in a Parisian Art-Deco mansion, rode the elephants at Disneyland (and World), been at the top of the world's tallest mountain (Mauna Kea, in height, not altitude), navigated the highest swamp in the world, seen the midnight sun, walked the great wall, flown a plane, witnessed a waterspout in Oregon, driven through a sandstorm, been irradiated at the oldest nuclear power plant in the world, timed Old Faithful, driven the world's longest continuous highway, and I'm just now beginning University. I've done a lot in my life. A lot more than a lot of people.
What does the future hold? I don't want to know. Exploration to me is the key to happiness, not even knowing what you don't know, to the point where what you learn is completely unexpected.
Unfortunately, I haven't had this option as I have pretty boring parents (despite that list of things I've done). They don't believe in taking any risks. If the trail doesn't look like it's maintained, they don't hike it. Had I been with a friend while hiking the Awini Trail through the Pololu, I would have carried on to Honopue valley, a secluded and difficult to access valley seldom seen by anyone. We stopped after Honokane Nui, because my mum didn't want to come along. This was a turning point for me, I decided that adventure is my sort of thing. Very few people hike beyond the next valley, Honokane Iki. I plane on doing so once I have the money to fly to Kona (which I already do, I simply need enough to survive after buying a plane ticket). My parents will disapprove. Highly. I don't care. I love the outdoors, I want to experience things.
At this point, I'd like to make it clear that, no, I don't believe I am invincible as do many young adult males of my breed. I want to stay alive long enough to see where this out-of-control world is going.
So what is truly my greatest goal in life? Hamakua coast. That's about all I can say. If things go the way I want, it will be all the way from Waipio to Pololu or the other way around. What does this entail?
Ten to twenty days in hell, to put it mildly. There is only one account of anyone else ever doing this hike, and it took them twice the estimated time of seven days. There is no trail (although many have been built, most are destroyed by nature). What else?
A partner: be it a girlfriend who actually appreciates hiking as much as me or a friend who is nearly as insane as I am. I just need a partner, or multiple partners. Hiking alone isn't safe. Nothing is safe when you're alone.
To conclude this, I'd like to say that it is a dream. Not a terminus in sight. A dream. Hiking a route that no one else ever writes about will be difficult, to say the least. This is the only unexplored tropical rainforest in the fifty states, and it is dangerous. I will need a good troop. One day, this will happen. Not today, or any time in the next five years.
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