Who's your buddy?

and Maui running

3 Parts: Defined, Who?, Maui Zowie

Note - There’s a good chance this whole post won’t appear in your email notification (if that’s how you get these). Too many photos! You’ll have to click through.

Part 1: Defined

Soul mate? Kindred Spirit? Partner? True Love? Yeah sure. They’re all pretty cool. 

But what about the Adventure Buddy? 

Where is that in the list?  How hard is it to find? If you have had one… or two ... or three… you know how important they are.  They are instrumental in life.

What is an adventure buddy you ask?  Well first off - It’s Adventure Buddy.  Capitalize it - it’s important.

An Adventure Buddy says “yes” to your crazy ideas.

An Adventure Buddy has crazy ideas and wants you to come along.

Adventure Buddies mostly come and go, but some endure. They add SPICE to life. 

An Adventure Buddy operates at a compatible “pace”.  Now, “pace” is a complicated thing. It could mean literal actual speed while walking running biking hiking or whatever.  But, and perhaps more importantly, it also denotes an attitude while traveling or “adventuring”. You need similar comfort levels to danger, planning, exhaustion. If, for example, you are on a hike and one person is eagerly tromping up and the other is constantly doing the “are we there yet” whine without looking around - that is not compatibility.  That’s emotional exhausting and not very fun.  On the other hand, it is good to have one person that is a planner and another that is willing to just “do”. Two planners might just result in fights. Two doers might just result in nothing getting done.  There needs to be a mix.

An Adventure Buddy needs to have tolerable views. You may be spending hours or days with this person. If you have strong opposing views on politics, rights, morality or something… you’re not going to have very much fun. In the same vein, it’s good if you are of relatively equivalent intelligence. You’ll probably be talking a lot.

So, that’s my basic Adventure Buddy overview.  Of course they could also be a soul mate or lover or whatever… they are not exclusive. 

Part 2: Who?

Adventure Buddies can come in many shapes and sizes and durations. They can even overlap. A few from my past and present.

1. My mother really got it all going. She introduced me to hiking, backpacking, cross country skiing and really even the joy of long distance running. She was also fearless in her travels. I remember a conversation with her about travel. She said she’d heard people talking about how they want to go here or they want to go there, but they never do and they claim they don’t have the time or money. If you really want to do it, she said, you’ll make it happen.  She made it happen by making a special travel bank account. She was ready to go at a moment’s notice. She’s also the one that made my first trip to Europe happen when I was 17. 

2. TK later to include SK. TK and I grew up a block apart. We explored a lot of places together. As we got older we went to Europe together, backpacked, did the canyon lands in Utah and went on a massive sailing adventure. He’s a planner. I am not. It works. 

3. LD has drifted away but we were just highly compatible. Golf, gaming, etc. We even drove cross country together in a moving van with like… no arguments. Just a lot of laughter. 

4. NS, my first wife. Looking back… yeah, it didn’t work. She would want to do something and I would just go along. I went along too much, but overall it ended with a positive result. I left Seattle and ended up in the Monterey area because of her. Not a bad end. Also saw Scotland.

5. Katie was my main Adventure Buddy for 18 years. Hiking, camping, India, New Zealand, long driving trips all over. We were both pretty comfortable with minimal detailed planning. We’d just get a big idea and go for it.

6. The running group! Yes, a whole group. Every Saturday morning. Run through the woods. Get coffee. Talk. Run. Walk. Talk. Run. Learn. It’s a good group. Sometimes we get adventurous and go somewhere like the Old Coast Road or Pinnacles. This may not seem like a big deal having a running group, but I have now been running with the group for 15 years and some have been with the group for much longer. I never know how far we’re going to run when I show up on Saturdays. Somedays it may be 8 or 9… but it could just as easily be 18 or 20 miles. (well, now I’m limited because of my back, but you get the idea). It’s amazing to find a group with that kind of fitness and the flexibility required to just go out and do whatever. They’re always game and always supportive.

7. KS is the creator of the Adventure Buddy term… I think.  Pretty sure. If not it’s at least because of her. She’s a friend of Katie’s from way back and we know each other thanks to her. After Katie died we discovered that we hike and run at about the same speed. We discovered that we have similar tolerance for discomfort and both like to find new places out in the wilds. We’re also about the same level of wacky and have the same level of trust that things will just work out. She’s smart - so that keeps me engaged. I pretend to be smart. I imagine that keeps her entertained. Planning? Well, that may be a weakness but so far the adventure has been good due to inspiration and trust. 

Adventure Buddies might sometimes be mistaken for other things. See a guy and gal running? Are they a couple? Do you assume?  Maybe they are just running buddies. See a pair out to dinner? Maybe they are just foodies. Rock climbing? Hiking? Golfing? Whatever… You never know.  Mind your business. If you actually need to know, they’ll tell you.

Part 3: Maui Zowie

Last summer KS mentioned she was going to Hawaii during Christmas break. I was like… oh, I have a friend that moved to Hawaii and I promised to visit her. Can I tag along? We could run and hike!  And so it happened. 2 condos, 2 cars, me, KS, 3 of her daughters, and 2 others. Yup, crazy. The overall adventure was fantastic. We all got along. I saw my friend NG for 2 days. KS saw her uncle. It was relaxing. I didn’t get a burn. Lots of rainbows. Thumbs up all around.

Part 3a: The Maui running adventures.

Plan the running adventures? No, not really. Basically they ended up being places that were within a reasonable distance from the condos. We were the ones with cars. The others were all condo bound while we were away. So, we would get up early and do a running adventure before the rest of the crew would really get going. Then we would do bigger group adventures. It worked pretty well.

Running Adventure 1: Lahaina Pali Trail - from the east.

Yeah. Rocky.  Yeah. Steep. Yeah. Just as slow down as up.  4.9 miles. 1,404’ of elevation. Amazing views of Maalaea Bay, the wind turbines, the island of Kaho’olawe and Haleakala.  I would do this again. The trail was really difficult but there were enough parts that were runnable. I started too fast. All eager and excited to be running on Maui. Bouncing from rock to rock on the way up. Well, at least I felt like I was bouncing. Anyway, I pooped myself out. KS passed me about halfway and left me in the dust. Thankfully it was out and back so she had to wait for me. It felt like the only people we saw were locals. 

It begins

Turbines in sight

KS leaves me in the dust

Turbines are cool.  Seeing them is cool. Hearing them makes it a whole new experience.

Rain and a bow!

That’s the path down (we’d already gone up it)

Some fun info

Running Adventure 2:  Kihei Beach run.

I don’t actually know what the beach is named. I didn’t take my phone - so no “run” pictures for this one.  4 miles. 56 minutes. 118’ elevation. 

Basically, we left the condos barefoot and ran as far as we could south on the beach. Mostly, not a problem. I actually ran in the water a fair amount which was quite fun. The main issue was that it was nearly high tide and the beach disappeared a couple times. We had to go up and on normal ground. Barefoot. One section was a DG trail and we had to walk… really slowly. Oh, that was unpleasant. On the way back we just ran barefoot on the road to avoid the DG.  Interesting, the choices you sometimes have to make in life.

I was oddly sore after this one. And, I got a blister on the bottom of my big toe from the repeated rubbing of my foot on the sand. This is easily the most ground I have ever covered IN MY LIFE barefoot.

Running Adventure 3:  The Waihee Ridge Trail.

4.5 miles. 1,506’ elevation. 1 hr 42.  Note - it took us 45 minutes to go up and almost an hour down due to the mud and total slipperiness.

Falls in the distance

Some super cool forest

Stunning valley views. Waterfalls in the distance.  A tourist helicopter flew in under those clouds.

Bay views - note the muddy trail

That’s the trail up

The top?  ALL SOCKED IN!

Running Adventure 4: Hoapili Trail - The King’s Highway. 

4 miles. 161’ elevation. 1 hr 31 ft.  What? Why so long?  Rocks, dude. Rocks. Lots of Rocks. 

The drive to the trailhead was a bit surreal. Apparently south of Kihei is where the REALLY wealthy tourists go.  Fancy schmancy.  And then suddenly it turns into a sad little one lane road with limited sight distance over big bumps and curves galore. 

Then you get there. And it’s more surreal. Black lava rocks all over. Tough to run on. We ran pretty well for a while but failed to notice the hard left turn the “main” trail took.  Sure didn’t look main and I would beg to differ that it was a “well signed fork” as the website states. Nope. We just gallivanted on down the trail and it got tougher and tougher to run.  Gorgeous, but difficult. 

The red arrow on my little map indicates the way the actual trail goes.  The yellow arrow indicates the side trail we took (thinking it was the main trail). On the plus side - we had some fabulous views! Note that we ended up on the main trail but we were POOPED out at that point. Our ankles were worn and mine were a little bruised.  This is where KS said something like “I would not have done this without you here”.  I don’t think I would have either!  Oh my ankles!

The coastline:

The rocks

Yes, this is what it really looked like.

The less traveled trail.  The white rocks mark where to go.  The white rocks are necessary. I thought it felt like The Lord of the Rings and Mount Doom.  KS mentioned Sleestaks.  Perfect. 

Do you see the goat?

Ahh, there it is! And a baby!  Yes, I am talking to them. 

And so…. in conclusion.  Let’s hear it for Adventure Buddies!  WHOO HOOOO!

Without them we might just be sitting on the couch watching other people do things.