diamond head

Hiked it yesterday... easy walk from parking lot, through the crater... trail switches back for awhile, then goes straight up... 142 steps, steeper than any at great american ball park... felt sorry for the older folks... they call it diamond head because stupid western explorers in the late 1700s mistook calcite crystals in the rocks on the slopes of the crater for diamonds... the summit is very small, holds no more than 30 people at a time, but the view is spectacular, worth the risk of a coronary provided by the 142 steps... all of waikiki beach, downtown honolulu, central part of the island, and the gorgeous and less well traveled eastern shore... saw probably 40 dolphin running fairly close to shore...