Jason and I have traveled to a number of the Hawaiian Islands but we hadn’t journeyed to the mass from which that archipelago gets its name until our last big trip.

The island of Hawaii, commonly called the Big Island to avoid confusion, is, well, big. It’s larger than all of the other Hawaiian Islands put together and is a place of unexpected extremes. It boasts two peaks above 13,000 feet that accumulate snow but it also harbors scorching craters where the fire of new earth is continually smoldering.

Our first day on the island was all about relaxing or at least unwinding underwater. We snorkeled in King’s Pond, a pool carved out of natural lava rock that’s fed by subterranean channels and rises and sinks with the tide. King’s Pond holds 1.8 million gallons of water and 75 species of fish, including a spotted eagle ray. Its brackish alcoves weren’t the most pristine we’ve snorkeled in but its fish were abundant and they weren’t too shy around us human folk.

During our second day, we spent some time in Kailua Bay aboard a submarine. This vessel descended 111 feet below the surface to tour stretches of coral reef and skirt sunken ships. We saw countless fish, a huge eel, two shipwrecks, and even a shark while onboard. Not too bad for an undersea excursion that didn’t even require us to get our feet wet. Yup, it was basically scuba for the lazy man.

Before heading back to our hotel at Hualalai, we detoured to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, a national historic park. The ancient Hawaiians were governed by the kapu system. In this strict code of conduct, a commoner could be put to death, or become a human sacrifice, for breaking any of a long list of taboos. Their family might also share their fate. However, they had one hope for forgiveness. If they could make it to a pre-designated area of asylum before being caught or killed, all would be forgotten and they could return home in peace. Pu’uhonua o Honaunau served as such a place of refuge.

Although the kapu system disappeared nearly 200 years ago, the life-saving amnesty Honaunau once offered still permeated its quiet bay. With swaying coconut trees and lapping waves, this park was about as tranquil as it gets. We enjoyed the hush of the day slipping into twilight among its protective ki’i.

The following day we continued our therapeutic salting by visiting Hapuna Beach, which is consistently rated as one of the top ten beaches in the world. With fine golden sand that slopes gently into crystal waters, it’s no wonder. We boogie boarded for hours at Hapuna while sea turtles swam around our feet. Honestly, I highly doubt we will ever have a beach experience as nice as that again.

With visions of impeccable shores I leave you until next week’s sizzling recollections.

The next day we headed down to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park to hike to Druid Arch. Druid’s path followed a wash for almost half of its 11 miles. That wash bed was sandy and boring. Thus, our going required extra energy input and extra monotony seemed the only output. (Dun, dun, duuunnnnn.)

However, this outing wasn’t all sand-induced tedium. A ladder, metal rod, and some boulder scrambling were required to finally reach Druid Arch’s imposing position atop a ribboned plateau. Cool. Plus, the arch itself was magnificently massive and angular and the view from its perch was extraordinary. By the way, I wouldn’t take young children on this hike. The mileage alone would probably do them in but the ledges could literally finish them off.

Our last day in Moab we chose to check out a couple sections of the Klondike Bluffs Area Trails we’d never been on. We planned on pedaling up Jurassic, an easy 3-mile path, and then coming back on Dino-Flow, a moderately-difficult route. Jurassic turned out to be joyfully fast and curvy. It coiled through mounds of mauve and emerald clay left by a tidal area 150 million years ago. Its track occasionally even became a river of crimson dirt swimming through a land of jade pebbles. How bizarre.

When we neared the end of Jurassic, where we would be catching the junction to Dino-Flow, sand, like the coarsest of ninjas, launched a sneak scratch assault. The Moab desert is crisscrossed by washes you intersect constantly when biking, dips in the terrain caused by the rapid flow of water. These depressions are almost always dry, unless it has just rained, and they are consistently sandy. As I was traversing one such wash, I hit a patch of sand that was unexpectedly deep. That sand caused my front tire to halt abruptly and skid, which ultimately resulted in my bike summersaulting through the air as I flew over its handlebars.

It felt like this over-the-handlebars maneuver happened in slow motion but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I ended up thudding into the ground hard with my bike landing on top of me, still tangled amongst my limbs. My arm was scraped and bleeding and my hip was raw and sore but worse my confidence was unraveled.

Unfortunately, we were almost at the furthest point in our ride when this happened so I had to get back on my bike with shaky hands and unnatural caution and pedal the distance back to our car. At first we kept to our original plan of using Dino-Flow for our return journey but about a mile into that trail we both realized that I currently just didn’t have the brashness necessary to enjoy its bumpy terrain. So we rejoined Jurassic at the next intersection and resumed on it. We biked around 7 or 8 miles that day but our total will forever remain approximate because the crash shattered my odometer.

And that is the end of my tale of persistent grit. Incidentally, I developed blobs of bruises on my left side from my hip to my ankle due to my unrehearsed handlebar acrobatics. Plus, I ruined a shirt (Thanks a lot elbow for being so bloody leaky!) and some gear. However, no bike overturn could overturn my love for Moab. Sand, nice try but we’ll happily be back for some more of your grind again soon.

Moab makes me happy. The insignificance one feels amongst its enduring landscapes is both decompressing and peaceful. Ahhh…the dramatic cure for the ego-driven modern pace. This April Jason and I kept up our biannual Moab tradition. We had a delightful trip, save the sand, but I’ll get to that shortly.

Our first day in Moab we biked the Sovereign Singletrack. This 10-mile expedition involved a lot of uphill grunting and technical maneuvering. It was tremendous fun until we decided, per our guidebook’s suggestion, to take a jeep road as our route back. This ATV path was practically a sand dune…and thus the villain enters my tale. (Dun, dun, duuunnnnn.) Those blasted particles slowed our movement more than molasses on an arctic expedition and I repeatedly had to dump sand piles out of my shoes that were so massive they made my sneakers two sizes too small.

After Sovereign, we detoured to the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. We took a 1.8-mile trail to some viewpoints above Upheaval Dome, a 5-km circular impact crater of mysterious origin. This route was quick but the scenes it passed were pretty impressive.

And so ended our first day in Moab and the first part of my story. Next week our clash with sand continues.