~~~~~The Long March~~~~~

Having had several "easy" hikes, we are ready for a longish one to get back our old toughness and strength. With more trails opened for the upcoming XTerra race in March, we decide to make a round trip hike on the XTerra trail, Talofofo Road, Egigi, and McDick trail. The morning sun is still rising quite late, so we meet at the trail head at 6:15 a.m. By the time we are ready to start, it's nearly 6:30. Taking the challenge of this hike: Scout, with Boy, Ewok, Chops, Peppy, Thor, Sparky, CB, Rexplorer, and CC.  

The trail is still dark, but good enough to see. As others recedes into the dark trail, Peppy stops for a photo op.

A brief stop at the knoll to admire the view of the Pacific Ocean, Kingfisher Golf course, and the expansive green valley. Thor, Sparky, Scout, Rexplorer, CB, Chops, and Peppy take a breather.

The sky lightens up.

An action shot of CB dashing down this steep slope, with Peppy following at a slower pace. The trail has been deeply gouged by heavy rains, but today it's dry and easily negotiable.

The trail opens again into a nice and wide road covered with fallen leaves. Another break with Rexplorer, Ewok, Scout, Thor, and Sparky.

Meanwhile, Peppy checks her cell phone, and CB reties her shoe. 

From here the trail is easy and flat, we are almost at the end of the XTerra trail.

Just before the Camacho farm and KingFisher golf course, the trail opens up to this beautiful view of the distant ocean and green hills. At the end of this shaded trail, we begin our road walk on Talofofo Road.

Hikers begin to separate based on their speed of walking. Rexplorer and Thor stay together.

Ewok and Peppy keeping steps together.

Sparky, Scout, and Boy chatting up going down hill.

Chops and CB bringing up the rear.

Peppy, Rexplorer, and Thor stop to look at the farm house to figure out if it had expanded recently. It sits on a view spot overlooking the green valley.

CB identifies these two flowers. On the left is Guava blossom, and on the right is a Gardenia-like blossom called Oskar. 

Almost near our turn-off to Egigi, everyone is ready for the break from the road walk.

A group photo is called for before Rexplorer takes off for his next appointment. Here at the entrance to Egigi, CC, Scout, Boy, Thor, Rexplorer, Sparky, Ewok, Peppy, Chops, and CB, bid Rexplorer adieu. (Boy is stealing the show!)

Ewok puts on his 3-D specs for this special photo with Sparky.

Boy is eager and determined to chase down his vision of chickens in the neighborhood. Scout tries to hang on...

From Egigi, we turn onto McDick trail. It's nicely shaded. Chops, Ewok, Peppy, Thor and Sparky head deeper into the boonies.

A "newly" constructed bridge for the upcoming race crosses over a small river. Everyone takes a long pause to look around.

CB, Chops, CC, and Thor on the bridge.

The water seems to fascinate some, as Sparky, Chops, and CB linger to stare into the water.

CB decides to get down close to the water.

Chops! Looking for shrimp? Or treasure in the water?

Who are those hiding in the woods?

General resistance against finishing the rest of the McDick trail due to hunger and fatigue, a picnic is set up on the side of the trail (in case bikers come charging down the trail). Everyone is happy to chow down all the goodies. After snack time, we turn around and retrace our steps back to Egigi. At the Talofofo Road entrance, Ewok decides to turn left to go up Talofofo, Isa and return to the car. The rest of us turn right and go back up to KingFisher and XTerra trail. It is a long haul, but we bravely finish the hike all the way back to the starting point.

Peppy emerges from XTerra trail. Happy the hike is over.

Sparky and Thor have just bid goodbye to Scout and Boy, also happy to have finished the long march.

Four Hours and 7.62 miles of a tough hike prompts Sparky to declare this hike "Clarie's Revenge" as a punishment for taking it easy on the last several hikes. Everyone should be quite proud for having completed the challenge...

Coffee Trail

To take advantage of last week's Coffee Trail Run, we decide to hike the same trail this Sunday. This trail is on private properties and open for the race only once a year. We hope the trail markers are still up so we don't get confused and lost. Since the race course is quite long and ends with a hot and grueling run/walk down Isa Road, Pale Arnold Road, and meander through American Memorial Park near the pavilion. we decide to skip that portion of the walk, and do a round trip. We will park at the hospital parking lot, up Navy Hill near the top and turn toward the farm. At 6:15 a.m. Chops, Thor, Peppy, and CC meet at the parking lot. With the boys absent, it's girls only hike. Just as we are ready to take off, Giggles joins us. 

While waiting to start, everyone turns on their walking software, Thor and CC with RunKeeper, Peppy with Strava, and Chops with Nanopod. This is the new electronic way to measure our hiking trips.

Up Navy Hill we go, the sky is slowly brightening. Giggles and Peppy lead the way, while Thor and Chops follow up hill. This is a pretty tough start going up continuously for nearly a mile. Fortunately it's early and the temperature is cool.

Part way up the road, we see this strange palm tree laden with numerous tiny "coconuts". It doesn't look like a normal coconut tree with just a few normal size nuts. These nuts don't appear to have a chance to ripen into a normal size coconut.

Continuing on the unpaved portion of Navy Hill Road, Thor and Chops near the turn off onto the trail to the coffee farm. A little puppy walks ahead of them.

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This cute little puppy follows us for a short distance before running back to the mommy dog.

On the road to the farm. Giggles and Peppy stop to look at the valley between Navy Hill and Mt. Tapochao.

A young pandanus fruit looks so fresh and perfect.

From the road we can see the entire Russian housing compound on Mt. Tapochau Road.

A batch of mangos appears on this tree. We are surprised to see them showing up so early in the year. Maybe we will have a good crop this year.

Nearing the coffee farm, Giggles stops to double check her snacks, Thor, Chops and Peppy enjoy the scenery.

We are welcomed into an open field with tree canopy and a little shack to rest our tired legs and sore feet!

A tidy little shack for the coffee pickers. Giggles, Thor, Chops and Peppy look ready for some hard labor! Although we are a bit hungry and are tempted to have our snacks right here, we decide to wait until we reach the turnaround point.

This group of coffee trees are healthy looking and growing up fast. We are now in the coffee farm proper, so we have to be very careful in walking through the farm so as not to disturb the young trees.

The trail is marked with the yellow tape so we follow the trail, winding through the farm, enjoy seeing that the trees are growing up so well. 

Three different mushrooms growing on the rock and log.

After passing the coffee farm, we reach the bamboo forest with towering bamboo trees and a thick carpet of golden bamboo leaves. Chops, Thor and Giggles carefully make their way down the hill.

 Chops, CC, Giggles, and Peppy peeking through the bamboo grill.

After the bamboo forest, the trail begins to be more rocky and uneven, following a stream bed down the hill. The forest is full of large trees, beautiful birds nest and other ferns. We have to stop occasionally just so we can look around and soak in the natural beauty.

A cluster of tiny white helmeted mushrooms growing on this dead tree trunk.

Bamboo trunk with hula skirts swaying in the wind. 

Giggles the tree-hugger is very happy to have found her tree friend!

More mushrooms...

The woodsy trail leads us to this private ranch with lush ground covers and a variety of trees and bushes. Although very near the main roads, this peaceful acreage seems a world away.

 A close-up look at these coffee beans nearly ready for picking, roasting, brewing, and drinking!

We find a nice spot under the big tree for snack time. The road behind us leads to the main thoroughfare not far away. We have taken a stroll up this road and turned around before we reach the main road. From here we retrace our step back up along the stream bed, the birds nest fern forest, the bamboo forest and back to the coffee farm.

Back at the first coffee farm shack, we have our group photo taken with CC, Thor, Giggles, Peppy, and Chops. On the way back it's downhill all the way to our cars. Although it is already after 10:00 a.m. there is enough of a breeze to keep us cool under the sun.

Peppy's Strava shows a 6.5-mile distance, and a three-hour walking time. It is one of the most enjoyable hikes through the coffee trees, and the lush forest.