Red Hill to Kalihi Saddle (Powerlines)

Our last primer camping hike before the balloon goes up. Met up with Ben, Dale and Ethan at Moanalua Valley.

We followed other hikers going to the stairway. Different routes. Same end.

Greeting a steady stream of Korean hikers making their way out of the valley.

What? You can just drive into the trail and forego the walking? Sign me up for the next Hunter’s Education Class!

Yea, though we walk through the valley of the saddle, we will fear and respect her, malama ka aina.

Let’s not follow the arrow today.

The group going up through the sea of uluhe ferns. Uluhell.

Picking up the trail in the guava strawberry forest. Bread crumbs would help when ribbons will not.

We soon gained the ridge of Red Hill and huffed and puffed ourselves straight up to the summit.

Steve Lin bumped into our group resting at the summit as he had come up behind us and was on his lonesome way to Stairway to Hell.

Ben and Dale dropping down into the saddle.

Yielding to other hikers making their way up the ridge to keep Steve company in Hell.

Ben making his way down past the “shaky tree.”

Looking out towards the CCL building perched on top of the mountain. It was still looking clear at the top.

Ben coming down to join us at the summit.

Ben giving us running commentary on the other hikers progress to hell with his thousand yard stare.

Time to tackle the better half of the saddle. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

Dale climbing up one crumbly rock at a time.

Ben contouring his way around the ridge. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

Ben and Ethan scrambling their way up on the Windward side.

Heading to the Dirt Triangle.

Ben and Dale contouring around the triangle. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

Dale making his way up.

Just a couple crumbly sections between us and heaven.

Contouring around the Leeward side to gain the ridge line. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Dale scrambling up the rotten rocks.

Watch out for falling rocks. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Ethan making his way up.

Ben making his way up the five point of contact section with four points of contact. He did not honor the traditional way of climbing up.

All uphill from here.

Looking back at the saddle. One down, two more to go.

Landing on the first pad, that used to anchor antenna cables that stretched 7,200′ across the valley. Engineering marvel of the day.

Ethan with his one yard stare, noticed something was turned inside out. That’s how they roll in Virginia.

Ethan leaving the pad for the summit. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Ben and Dale walking up the back stairs to the CCL building. Mystery solved.

Almost to the top.

Group photo with views for days, left to right: myself, Dale, Ben and Ethan.

Seeking shelter from the crisp winds while knocking the rocks from my shoes. Photo by Ben Hinders.

We parted ways with Dale at the Moanalua Middle Ridge Junction. Good job on your first saddle, Dale! Thanks for the fun company!

Ben making his way down the ridge line.

Hello from the other side.

Hello back. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Making our way down to the abandoned relay station. VT call home. Photo by Ben Hinders.

Passing the power lines. No swings seen.

This would make a really, really good camp site. Photo by Ben Hinders.

Heading to the summit of Bowman. Just passing through.

Do you see Ethan?

Oh, there you are.

Ben approaching one of the cracked and crumbly sections.

Going over the boulder that’s still somehow hanging on.

Ben and Ethan making their way around the loosely packed overhang.

Approaching the dirty rope slide.

Ben making his way down the slippery slope.

The wave’s ride is over.

Ben barreling down the hill.

Looking for the porta-potty. Photo by Ben Hinders.

Climbing down the chossy rocks. Slowly.

Following the rope down to the Leeward side of the ridge line.

Ben and Ethan standing on an eroded section. Heck, the entire ridge was practically eroded.

Looking for the stirrups to climb down. What the heck?

Making our way down the skinny ridge. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

Ben preparing to descend down tabletop rock.

Bottoming out from the steep descent …

… then going back down.

Crossing over one of the more narrower sections of the ridge line.

Ben approaching the Witch’s Hat. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

Group photo on top of Witch’s Hat.

Making our way down the backside.

We had spotted three hikers earlier milling about the power lines, worried that our reservations might be usurped, Ethan surged ahead to secure our place for the night. It was all for naught as the group was intent on pressing to Haiku Stairs. Ben continued his running commentary on the hiker’s progress with his used to be better thousand yard stare.

Hunkering down for dinner that was rudely interrupted by a slithering venomous arthropod making a beeline for my tent. Didn’t bother to count if it had 100 legs. I was too busy smashing it with a rock that it had come under from. Photo by Ben Hinders.

Good night from the saddle. The rain came down hard during the night. Sleep tight and don’t let the centipedes bite. Tent zipped up tight. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

Good morning from the saddle. The rain had cleared up but left us with wet rocks. Gee, thanks. Photo by Ethan Clavecillas.

I came back from pooping and found the campsite being rolled up. Time to mosey on down to the power lines.

Shout out to Dale for dropping Chris and Khym at the power lines trail to join us for a meet and greet hike. Not a saddle hike. Sorry guys.

Ethan ending his abstinence from soda after two years. Thanks to Chris and Khym for hauling up the soda and water.

The rocks were wet from last night’s pounding and the weather looked gloomy. Somebody was doggedly trying to convince us it was going to be a beautiful day. Second opinion. Third opinion. Better safe than sorry.

We may as well take a group photo as this is far as we are going to get on the saddle today. Left to right: myself, Ben, Ethan, Chris and Khym.

Panoramic view from the power lines. There was a “trail” that looked promising for another exploration hike.

Dejected and disappointed, well maybe not everybody, we made our way down the trail and into Kalihi Valley.

Ben coming down the trail and detouring around the fenced building. Do not enter the open gate, it’s a trap. Mahalo to Ethan’s friend, Phil, for picking us up and shuttling us to our cars in Maunawili.

Even though our three saddles hike got abbreviated to one and half saddles, covering 10.05 miles through crumbly terrain and scenic sights with great company made it all worthwhile. Post hike meal at Lilihia Bakery. Not Lover’s Bakery. I never experienced standing room only at a restaurant until today.

Note: I have been made aware the 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.

Tagged as: bowman summit, godek-jaskulski trail, kalihi saddle, kamananui valley trail, koolau summit ridge trail, ksrt, kulana'ahane summit, moanalua saddle, moanalua valley, puu kahuauli, red hill, south haiku stairs, stairway to heaven, tripler summit