Poamoho to Manana Trail

by kenji SAITO on January 16, 2021

Hiking Poamoho to Manana Trail

It was another deja vu camping hike for me this weekend. Thanks to Bill for taking Art, Katie, Tessa and myself up the Poamoho Jeep Road and for wishing us a dry day on the trail.

Trailhead

Trailhead

Starting off on the wet foot. Have rain jacket, will hike.

Poamoho Trail

Poamoho Trail

Stepping foot on the mostly graded trail that was peppered with small landslides and blowdowns. Photo by Art Young.

Poamoho Trail

Poamoho Trail

Sloshing through the muddy trail. Setting the tone for the weekend. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Cline Memorial

Cline Memorial

Art trying to figure out the mileage to our destination. Hint: It’s not listed. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Poamoho Summit

Poamoho Summit

The views were noticeably absent on the wind blasted summit. Let’s take our photo anyway for posterity’s sake.

Ko'olau Summit Trail (KST)

Ko’olau Summit Trail (KST)

Making our way on the boardwalk, somebody probably wished the whole KST was laid out in this manner. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Poamoho Cabin

Poamoho Cabin

The reports of overcrowding were greatly exaggerated. Reservation place cards were on the four bunks. Honoring them was another question entirely.

KST

KST

Our bladders and bottles topped off, we pushed off from the cabin to resume our hike on the Leeward side. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Art on the exposed trail and exposed views. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

KST

KST

Preparing to hike on a trail that was blasted and dug out of the mountains back in the 1930s. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Tessa passing through one of many meadows on this side of the mountains. Photo by Art Young.

Schizaea robusta

Schizaea robusta

Art finally found his toothbrush fern in the wild after looking for many years. Now he just needed to find extremi longiores foris dentifricium to complete his search. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Hiking with views. Not a bad way to spend the weekend. Photo by Art Young.

Pauao Junction

Pauao Junction

Looking down into Kahana and her surrounding valleys.

KSRT

KSRT

Traversing on the trail pitted with false holes and landslides. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Wrap around views of the spectacular scenery. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Ko'olau Goose

Ko’olau Goose

No feeding or petting of wild animals allowed. Some people are just born rebels. Photo by Art Young.

Schofield-Waikane Junction

Schofield-Waikane Junction

At least we got views at this summit stop.

KST

KST

Heading towards the fork in the trail. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Waikane-Waiahole Junction

Waikane-Waiahole Junction

Tessa mistaking the marker for a resting pole. A common occurrence in the mountains. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Going uphill. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Katie traversing the well trodden landslide.

KST

KST

The trail interrupting a line of native loulu palm trees running down the mountain. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

If you look closely, you will find a couple gold earrings that was surrendered to the uluhell overgrowth. Finders keepers.

KST

KST

Meandering our way through the contour trails. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

One of many fence crossings that we went over on the trail. Photo by Art Young.

KST

KST

Somebody was asking why can’t the entire trail be like this section. You can ask. Just don’t expect an answer.

KST

KST

Dropping down towards the wind blasted meadows. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

To camp or not to camp? Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

Group photo with the horizontal leaning sugi pine tree. If we stayed any longer, we would be horizontal leaning as well.

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

We had no wish to camp here, so we picked up and pressed on.

KST

KST

Are we there yet?

KST

KST

We are home! Photo by Katie Bingham.

KST

KST

Is that somebody waving at us? Somebody that is 5’11” and orange?

Camp Rusty

Camp Rusty

Art demonstrating to Tessa that butane cans are our friends and not to be feared. What’s for dinner?

Camp Rusty

Camp Rusty

Our camp site for the night, nestled in the grove of sugi pine trees at the base of Waiahole. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Camp Rusty

Camp Rusty

The audio has been deleted to protect the innocent. Claims of partially obstructed breathing from the male side of the camp were dubiously made.

Camp Rusty

Camp Rusty

Cinja’s group came down from the mountains to crash our camp site. Group photo left to right: Art, Tessa, Katie, Tess, Somphet, myself, Cinja and Leslie.

Camp Rusty

Camp Rusty

The group heading towards Poamoho and an unfortunate date with rolling. And not rolling with laughter either.

KST

KST

Back on the ridge line to see … well nothing.

Kipapa Summit

Kipapa Summit

Art trying to be one with the sign. Lean more to the left. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Ko'olau Summit Ridge Trail (KSRT)

Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail (KSRT)

The cloudy start to our constant climbing for the day. Photo by Art Young.

Raindrops keep falling into my mouth

Raindrops keep falling into my mouth

Why wait for the water, when the water comes to you? Photo by Tessa Bugay.

KSRT

KSRT

The group making their way down to another meadow and one of my old camp sites.

KSRT

KSRT

Passing through a landslide area that seems to be slowly being taken over by clumps of white lichen?

KSRT

KSRT

The spiderwebs on the trail were catching nothing but dewdrops and our faces.

Waiawa Gap

Waiawa Gap

Low clearance trees.

Waiawa Gap

Waiawa Gap

Smile for the camera. Photo by Art Young.

Waiawa Gap

Waiawa Gap

We quickly passed through the once bee infested ridge line to start our soggy hike up the hill. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

KSRT

KSRT

High clearance trees. Somebody lost their Garmin GPS in the general vicinity. Need another Garmin to locate the missing Garmin.

Lunch break

Lunch break

Time for some hot food and a hot belly. Both inside and outside. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Hitchhiker

Hitchhiker

Sorry, no free rides here. Photo by Katie Bingham

KSRT

KSRT

The ridge line keeping the clouds at bay on the Windward side.

Allstate

Allstate

Need a helping hand or just a good hand? Photo by Art Young.

KSRT

KSRT

Katie crossing another meadow to stay on the ridge line.

KSRT

KSRT

It appeared the ridge line was slowly breaking up and dissipating the clouds back into the atmosphere. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Broken Spectre

Broken Spectre

Only seen by the three of us, the person in the front just got to hear stories about it. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

KSRT

KSRT

Looking back at the mountainous terrain we had covered this past weekend. Photo by Katie Bingham.

KSRT

KSRT

Going through the tree tunnel. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

KSRT

KSRT

Leaving the ridge line for the meadow with the running creek. Running did you say? Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Corner

Corner

Seeking water in stagnant pools.

Corner

Corner

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s our picture being taken!

Corner

Corner

Leaving the creek with our bags slightly heavier but content knowing we would not be dehydrated anytime soon.

KSRT

KSRT

Art on his throne of mossy ohia trees.

KSRT

KSRT

The group making their way around the tricky turn.

KSRT

KSRT

Going down the ridge line. And back up. We should be used to it by now. Photo by Art Young.

KSRT

KSRT

Reaching the summit of Manana. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

KSRT

KSRT

The group ascending the ridge to join me at the 2,660′ knob.

Manana Summit

Manana Summit

Katie tried to capture the steam coming off of Art’s overheated body, but only ended up photographing Tessa taking a selfie.

Manana Summit

Manana Summit

Our last group photo of the day.

Manana Trail

Manana Trail

Going up and down the 5.5 miles of roller coaster ridge line that can’t come to an end soon enough.

Manana Trail

Manana Trail

Enjoying the views from the helipad. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

Manana Trail

Manana Trail

A big shout out to Chris who met us at the picnic shelter with a bag of fried chicken and a cooler of cold carbonated Coke. Photo by Tessa Bugay.

All pau

All pau

Exiting the trail into the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and our ride home. Photo by Katie Bingham.

GPS Tracks

GPS Tracks

Our weekend camping hike covered 16.8 miles through rugged terrain and jaw dropping scenery when Mother Nature permitted them. Fun times with good friends. Thanks to Chris for taking us back to our cars. Post hike meal at Zippy’s. The nearby Popeyes was sorely tempting, but we just had chicken as our appetizer. Next stop was Zippy’s after all.

Note: I have been made aware that some hikers have been using my blog as a hiking guide and getting lost on the trails. Please note that this blog was made to document the hike for the crew(s) that did it. That is why some of my comments will seem to have no relevance or meaning to anybody outside of the crew(s) that hiked that trail. My blog was never meant as a hiking guide, so please do not treat it as such. If you find inspiration and entertainment from these hikes, that is more than enough. If you plan on replicating these hikes, do so in the knowledge that you should do your own research accordingly as trail conditions, access, legalities and so forth are constantly in flux. What was current today is most likely yesterdays news. Please be prepared to accept any risks and responsibilities on your own as you should know your own limitations, experience and abilities before you even set foot on a trail, as even the “simplest” or “easiest” of trails can present potential pitfalls for even the most “experienced” hikers.

Leave a Comment

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Wahinee01 February 12, 2021 at 4:47 pm

Awww, I miss camping. Always love this side of the KST, mud and all… Thank you Kenji for taking us!

Reply

kenji SAITO February 16, 2021 at 1:44 pm

Aloha Tessa,
Thanks for your yawyaw company!
Mahalo

Reply

Previous post:

Next post: