Koko Head Crater...and a word to the wise

When friends come to visit, it gives me the excuse to go out and explore places that I haven't been to yet.  I have a couple friends visiting this week and on Saturday morning we decided to hike up Koko Head Crater.  Only two words really encapsulate the Koko Head hike on the East side of O'ahu...holy crap!  Koko Crater is a cinder cone remaining from the last active volcano that occurred on O'ahu approximately 10,000 years ago. This crater is the tallest tuff ring in Hawaii, measuring 1,207 feet in height. The slopes of the crater drop steeply into the Molokai Channel, an area which lacks protection from any offshore reefs, causing very turbulent seas in this area.

View from the Bottom

If you're looking for a nice, easygoing hike then stay away from Koko Head.  The good news is that the entire trail is a staircase.  Originally Koko Head was used as a radar stand for the military during WWII.  In order to get supplies up to the mountain, they used a tram that ran on railroad tracks.  The tracks are still there and that's what you use to get up.  The bad news is that it is a straight vertical climb.  It looks really steep from the bottom, but I had no idea how difficult the hike would be until I got about 1/4 the way up.  It's REALLY steep!  I am in fairly good shape and yet my calves and my ass have been killing me for 2 days.

View from Halfway Up

In my defense, however, I did ride my bike for an hour a half (25 miles) that morning so I had already had a pretty good workout.  So the "word to the wise" is that you should not workout prior to hiking Koko Head.  The trail itself was not too crowded, but there were a good 50 people on the trail at any one time.  No one got in each other's way, though, and everyone was taking periodic breaks along the way.  We must have stopped 5 or 6 times ourselves just to catch our breath.

View from the top

Prior to going on the hike, I had heard from some people that the view from the top of Koko Head is nice, but not really worth the pain of climbing up.  I disagree.  Yes, Koko Head is a bitch to climb.  However, the view from the top is pretty amazing.  I could sit up there all day and just stare out onto Hawaii Kai and the ocean.  Being at the top, especially after working so hard to get there, makes the view all the more amazing.  So overall if you're looking for a challenging workout and you're willing to put up with the subsequent pain, then Koko Head is a really gorgeous hike that offers amazing views and good story.

A long way to get down...

The Ground Should Not Move

Earthquakes on the Big Island 1962-1985

Growing up in the mid-Atlantic region and going to college in Washington, DC, I am not accustomed to the ground suddenly deciding to move.  Hawai'i, however, has earthquakes.  Last night, there were 2.  My California friends will probably tell me to pipe down since the earthquakes, which struck off the coast of Maui, were only magnitudes 4.7 and 3.3.  I recognize these are small, but when I was sitting in my bed at 6:31pm last night, I thought my roommate was home having sex and shaking the wall.  Turns out, she wasn't.  There was a small earthquake.  The bed only shook for a second and was only enough to confuse me.  But I did notice.  I did a little research and it seems I will have to get used to this craziness.  Hawaii has a lot of small earthquakes.

One of the best things about an earthquake though is it gives me something to write on an otherwise boring day.  Pretty soon I am going to have to talk about my job, which will surely get my 2 readers to stop reading.  I also get to give fun facts!  Earthquakes in Hawai'i are closely linked to volcanoes. They are an important part of the island-building processes that have shaped the Hawaiian Islands. Thousands of earthquakes occur every year beneath the Big Island alone.

Crustal Plates

Hawai'i is geologically a unique place because it is caused by a "hot spot." Most islands are found at tectonic plate boundaries.  There are few "hot spots," though and the one under Hawaii is right in the middle of one of the largest crustal plates on Earth - the Pacific Plate. A geologic "hot spot" is an area in the middle of a crustal plate where volcanoes form (see picture at very bottom of blog) when molten magma breaks through the crustal plate. A hot spot is why Yellowstone National Park has geysers.  Eruptions and magma movement within the presently active volcanoes (Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Lo`ihi) are usually accompanied by numerous small earthquakes.  Many other earthquakes, including the largest ones, occur in areas of structural weakness at the base of Hawai`i's volcanoes or deep within the Earth's crust beneath the island.

Week 1

I still can't decide what direction to take with the blog.  Part of the problem stems from the fact that to make it interesting, I may have to give details that I don't necessarily want to share.  For now, I think I will primarily make it a blog about my experiences as a state-level appellate clerk (i.e. types of cases, challenges, benefits, and downsides).  To a lesser extent, I will discuss what it's like to live and work in Honolulu.  At times, I may include things about my personal life, but not likely.

With that in mind, the first week was more eventful than I could possibly explain in an interesting post that people would actually want to read.  Suffice it to say, the first week can be characterized by roosters (yes, roosters), roommates, BBQs, beaches, legal research (including an inconvenient amount of training), and football.

To start, Sunday started with a beach BBQ near Diamond Head.  For those that don't know, Diamond head s the name of a volcanic tuff cone on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu  and known to Hawaiians as Lēʻahi, most likely from lae 'browridge, promontory' plus ʻahi  'tuna' because the shape of the ridgeline resembles the shape of a tuna's dorsal fin (thank you Wikipedia).  Here is a picture I took last week (to the right).  Anyway, as I was sitting on the beach, with a drink in hand, the sun was setting, about 12-13 people hanging out, I realized that living here may not be so tough after all.

The work week started on Tuesday (Monday was Labor Day). Surprisingly, the work day starts early.  We are at work by 7:00-7:30am and don't leave work until 5:00, or sometimes 6:00pm.  This week involved the preliminary training associated with any job.  We got our passwords for Lexis/Westlaw.  We learned where to get the files for cases.  We got library training.  We also got a few nice "Welcome Lunches" served by the judges. 

There are six judges on the Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii.  Each judge has 2 clerks and each judge assigns cases and handles his or her clerks differently. While ethical rules prevent me from going into detail about how cases are assigned or even the facts of the cases I am working on, I CAN discuss how my average day goes.  Basically, cases are appealed from the lower courts (in Hawaii, these include the Circuit, District, and Family courts).

Now, one of the most difficult things about working (as opposed to school) is getting used to waking up EVERY morning at insanely early hours.  Fortunately for me, the ROOSTER outside my window helps me with that by making God-awful noises as the sun rises.  Now, sure, on weekdays, I am basically waking up with the sun so it's not such a problem.  However, on Saturday morning, the rooster is seriously risking its life.  If I find it, I may be looking up a new dinner recipe.

The first week of work went by fairly smoothly.  One thing I will note, however, is that hypothetically speaking, people going through a divorce can be some of the most immature people in the world and they seriously need to get over their egos, hurt feelings, and illogical emotions and just work shit out.  Your ridiculously stubborn behavior only makes my job harder.

Today was pretty cool as it was football Sunday.  It was the first time I woke up to watch the NFL on TV at sunrise.  Fortunately, the Eagles-Packers game was a 4:15pm EST start time so I didn't have to wake up at 6:30am.  The game started at 10:15am here so it was nice to be able to watch the game and still have the entire day to get things done.  My judge, much to my chagrin, is an avid Packers fan.  Also, Justice Duffy on the Hawaii Supreme Court is ALSO a Packers fan.  I was very fortunate to be invited to Justice Duffy's house with my judge (and his good friend) to watch the game.  Although I was surrounded by misguided Packers fans, it was a pretty amazing morning.  Justice Duffy's house is nestled in the mountains of Oahu and he and his wife are two of the nicest people in the world.  So we sat and watched the game, munched on some snacks, and watched the Packers embarrass the Eagles.  The only positive of the morning (aside from the good food and good company) was that Michael Vick showed why he is one of the elite NFL quarterbacks and that Andy Reid needs to re-think his starting QB situation.

The roommate situation is still working out pretty well.  I have no complaints.  I have had some pretty TERRIBLE luck with roommates in the past and this situation is great.  So far the three of us  get along well and hang out a decent amount on weekends.  In fact, Saturday my guy roommate had to work but I went to the beach with a bunch of his friends.  So it's all coming together to make the adjustment period a little easier.