Last week camping down in Halape was wonderful and terrible if that's possible. The 9-mile hike down from Mau Loa O' Mauna Ulu to Keahou and then Halape was a lot more barren than I expected. Lots of lava and some bunchgrasses. No shade, just lots of black, hot rock. A couple of us got a little overheated on the first day, but I recovered ok by the next day.

Luckily we just had to carry daypacks as all our camping gear was flown in by helicopter.

Swimming in the fresh water "crack" just down the beach sure helped.

We worked the next few days in the vicinity of the beach, and late Wed afternoon, my knee started really hurting while hiking. That meant I was out of commission on Thursday as I tried to rest it. While it was nice to spend the day lounging at the beach, there wasn't much shade and sitting around gets a little boring after awhile. Friday we packed up our gear and got flown out. Thankfully the flight was already planned because there was no way my knee would survive the hike, especially laden with all the camping gear. The helicopter ride was pretty awesome. No doors, lots of lava (hardened), a few trees toward our landing spot.

After landing, my co-workers convinced me to go get my knee looked at. Turns out I pulled some stabilizing muscles. That means 10 days of rest and lots of office work. I see a sports medicine doctor on Monday. Hopefully it will be good news and easy rehab.

This was the view from the outhouse. It encapsulates the week: beautiful view with a poopy background.