As shown on the map below (blue line along the north west coast), the trail follows the coast of the island, from point a few kilometers north of the village all the way to Anakena Beach. In between there is nothing but island, waves and a lot of cows and horses. Oh yea, a bunch of ahu and moai as well. This was a 17 km hike and took us about 6-1/2 hours.
We were dropped off at the trail head by a friend of the innkeeper. I am glad we didn't try driving up the access road. Several very large "puddles" made the road almost impassable. This is also the road to Ahu Akiva. This one of the first ahu restored and is unique due to it's location far from the coast. Although the moai face the ocean in this instance, in reality they simply face the gathering place at the foot of the ahu.
This is also the road to the trail to Maunga Terevaka, the highest point on the island. Hiking up this volcano was the one thing we did not do that I had wanted to. But the following hike was more than fulfilling.
This was the condition of the trail. Apparently there is a low and a high trail. We tried wandering around to find a trail, but in most cases, this was as good as it gets.
This instance of ahu is fairly well preserved. There were many of these along the hike, but some were literally only a pile of rocks. Pictures are so-so here as the weather was overcast.
We saw a few moai like this, face up in the ground.
This another typical scene for the day. Beautiful coast, waves crashing on the black volcanic rock and ancient ruins.
This gives you a view of the magnificent coast line and some perspective on where we were hiking. Other than at the end, I don't think we ever got real close to the water.
The water from above. Unfortunately, without anything for reference, the height cannot be properly discerned from this image. The beautiful colour of the water also did not come through either.
These are a couple of pictures of the cattle pastures. They seemed wary of us at first, but then they simply ignored us.
These two pictures show how an older, earlier generation moai is incorporated in to a new ahu.
I was trying to show the scale of the landscape in this picture. The tree on the horizon is a full size tree.
One of many, albeit larger, moai strewn around the ground. This one is a few hundred meters from the shore and the nearest ahu. It was near what was believed to be a birthing place.
Still along the west coast of the island, we also ran in to horses.
Us at lunch.
Our view at lunch.
A wall in the middle of a field. Without a good guide book, and with no signage along the way, it was difficult the figure out what a lot of what you were seeing was.
Me, in hiker mode. It may look a little nerd like, but it all works to make the experience enjoyable. The pants are convertible, that is the legs zip off to become shorts when it is really hot. They are cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather. The shirt is synthetic, drys quickly, wicks away sweat and protects you from the sun. The hat shades my eyes, the sunglasses covers my eyes, the walking stick stabilizes you (2 versus 3 point contact) and the pack carries stuff (like water and lunch). The thing on my belt is the camera case, which is almost redundant as the camera is in my hand as much as it is in the case. There, get your laugh for the day.
This is the corner of the island, where you in a sense turn from the west coast on to the north coast. We are headed to the horizon, and beyond. Look for the picture later looking back to here. The large vertical wall on the right is the north side of Maunga Terevaka, the tallest volcano on the island (the one we didn't get to climb). I don't think the picture gives the sense of grandeur nor imensity.
Continuing along the north coast, we soon came across an outpost. I believe this is a seasonal place used for tending the many horses along the north coast. You can just barely make out the white cross in the left side of the picture.
The next couple of pictures show more of the wall as I think of it. In particular, the second shows the typical ground conditions you are walking in. This rock strewn terrain made up a least half of the 17 km.
This is the picture looking back where we came from.
Hiking along the north coast.
At this point we seemed to be following a higher trail, so we did not get too close to these three sites, right next to the water.
This picture captures a part of the island we didn't get to, Poike. This area at the east end of the island is off limits to all vehicles in order to protect the landscape. The three hills to the left were the sites of three crosses erected by the Spanish shortly after the island was discovered by the Europeans.
Another view of the three hills.
As we wandered along we often came across groups of horses. This young one seemed very interested in us and posed very nicely. The colors came out beautifully.
Another fantastic view of the ocean crashing in to the coast. The water was a beautiful teal, aquamarine green blue ..., can't describe it and of course the picture doesn't capture.
Our first glimpse of our destination, Anakena Beach. Just as our guide had stated, it is still a good half hour hike away. Even more when you get lost.
So even though we were already hiking the high trail, it appears that we should have gone even higher at some point. We ended up running in to a dead end of sorts, where we found a cave by the ocean. We climbed up some steep hills and tried to continue along the coast, but eventually we had to turn inland. At one point we traversed a gully leading down to the ocean and this is the result. You have to climb out the other side eventually.
We finally found the trail for the last km, and this was our next glimpse of Anakena, only a minute of two away now.
So that was our second last day on Easter Island. 17 km, 6-1/2 hours, hundreds of horses and cattle, countless breathtaking vistas, and dozens of historic sites and artifacts. No people. This was my favourite part of the trip.
We picked up are car again tonight, in anticipation of our last day on the island tomorrow.
