Hike with a view

For our last day of New Year's Break, we decided to take a hike in an area we hadn't explored yet. I won't lie, I really prefer the coasts, so it's really not surprising that we haven't explored the middle of the island yet, but I heard about this cool place where you could see both sides of the island from the top and it sounded like a fun little hike! Get out in nature, enjoy the amazing weather and get a little workout, not bad for a morning off :)

It started in a densely green shaded area with beautiful foliage everywhere you looked!

You come across this ancient stone bridge...we obviously couldn't read any of the signs about it, but it is called the Yamada stone bridge, but that's about all I know about it :)

There were amazing ferns and tree roots and all sorts of cool stuff. I was always on the lookout for habu snakes, but wasn't overly paranoid :)

Rowan looking very tired :) He slept about halfway up and then about half of the trip back down. He was a good little hiker, didn't complain at all! And my legs got a good workout carrying him with all the uphill :)

Bamboo forest near the top of the trail

And after about a 45-minute hike, we reached the top where there was an observatory tower...

 Panoramic view

Note the fact that you can see both the East China Sea (on the left) and the Pacific Ocean (on the right). This part of the island is only about 5 miles wide and is very near where we live. I love living in the skinny part of the island, making it very quick to hop on over to the west coast

 A little cookie and water break at the top :)

Gorgeous view. The water was such a pretty turquoise color (hard to tell) and the temperature was perfect.

The way back down was nice and easy, felt like we made it back to our car in no time. Among bike enthusiasts, this trail is called "the luge" and is apparently a pretty popular mountain bike trail which seemed really fun in some areas and rather scary in others. We saw 4 bikers on our way down who did a good job being cautious which I appreciated.

We got some tacos for lunch and then headed home to get ready for our fun little dinner party with awesome friends. Nights like this make me grateful we live here, just wish it was like this year round! Clean house, dinner on the patio and a fun day with my boys...I would say its been an excellent start to the new year :)