With at least three back-seat drivers, Handy is able to find his way and bounce on the potholed Naftan Road, then down the rutted Obyan Beach Drive to the parking lot.
Obyan Beach. Early morning quiet. Despite last night's thunder, lightning and rain storm, and a prediction of the same for today, the sun is out, the breeze is cool, and we are once again reminded of the beautiful island sceneries.
Very serious group of people, checking it twice, to make sure the shoes are in good shape for a "long and strenuous" trek.
After climbing up the coral road, we take a left turn onto this overgrown trail, entering the tunnel of pink-flower vines.
A close up view of the pink flowers. These are called Cadena de amor, aka Chain of Love, Hearts on a Chain, Coral Bells, Queen's Jewels, and Coral Vine. A Femme Fatale of the plant world, as this beautiful flowered vine slowly covers and chokes the other plants to their death.
A short pause for CC to catch up and determine which direction to continue. There are several off-shoot trails that lead toward the ocean, but our trail parallels the main highway.
One of several unfortunate encounters. We are at a loss as to why people would destroy nature's beauty, unwilling to take their trash to the dump.
We reach our destination, Ladder Beach. A new pavilion is being builtat at the top, overlooking the beach, probably for tourists and visitors. It looks fairly nice. We hope the old structure to its left would be dismantled and the grounds cleaned up.
A beautiful sight from the top. The white sands and the lagoon look inviting. From this view, the beach look surprisingly clean and without debris. We head toward the stairways (hence the name Ladder Beach), one to the caves on the right, and one to the cave on the left. We take the one on the left.
This cave goes in quite deep, offering safe and dry overnight camping space. This and the other caves are in fact a favorite camp ground for many people.
Our first order of business is to dig into our snacks. Everyone takes CC's urging of bringing "lots of snacks" quite seriously. A wide array of goodies is spread out and we spend a considerate amount of time eating, chatting, and relaxing.
Although we grumble about various frustrating aspects of living on island, we all realize that Saipan is still a great place to live and we can enjoy quiet beaches, warm sun, cool breeze and good friendship.
The double caves on the other end of the beach with two archways. We do not explore these caves and just take the right stairway to return to the road.
The main stairway back to the parking lot and Ladder Beach Lane.
Before we reach the Ladder Beach Lane, we notice a concrete wall in the boonies. After stomping through the bushes, we find a two-section walled-in structure of unknown purposes. Several guesses are offered, but no one knows the answer.
Ladder Beach sign on fake wood.
Unnoticed on the way to the beach, we suddenly discover a collection of war time memorabilia on the left side of the road, on a gated property, including this machine gun that Handy seems determined to bring back to life. Strewn on the concrete floor are big and small bomb shells, containers, and machine parts.
Giggles, Chops, Handy, and Cutie look like victors of a hard fought battle with their war trophy.
Another machine gun hidden in the boonie. Both guns are aimed toward the ocean.
Spent shells?
Very washed out coral road back to the Obyan parking lot.
The trail distance is only 4.36 miles, but we enjoy the 3.5 hours of easy hiking, and many new discoveries. It is a five sneakers for interesting hike, and a three sneakers for difficulty.
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