Needing to stretch out my sprained ankle from my last hike, I went with Chris, Andy, Ryan, Will, Kelly, Catherine and Bob to hike up Kaupo Cliffs #2 on Kamehameha Day. Nice to be off on a weekday! We staged some cars at the top of Kaluanui Road and met at the Tom-Tom trailhead.

Taller than the grass

Wading through chest high grass was not a problem for one of our hikers. Andy towered over the grass and some of the trees at 6’10”.

Heading up the hills

We soon left the grassy trail behind us as we started to make our way towards the easiest of the Kaupo Cliffs – #2.

Heading into the chute

This massive chute never ceases to amaze me due to its sheer size and depth. Photo by Chris Hiona.

Contouring

We descended into the chute and passed the trailhead for #3 to contour around the cliff base.

Root climbing

Climbing up the tree roots at the trailhead for #2, almost identical in appearance and roots to #3.

Enjoying the view

Taking a short break to enjoy the fruits of our hike – spectacular views of Waimanalo and beyond.

Kaupo 3

Looking to our right at Kaupo #3.

Rock climbing

Finally! Some rock faces to break up the monotony of the terrain. Photo by Will Lee.

Scenic point

 Group photo back to front: Will, Kelly, Ryan, Bob, Catherine, Chris, Andy and myself.

How’d I get up here?

That’s it for the rock scrambling? Photo by Will Lee.

Traffic jam

The rest of the crew making their way up.

Kaupo 1

Looking at Kaupo #1. There has been some debate if this cliff is even doable. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Will, you up for it?

Scrambling to the top

Earlier we had debated if we would take the ridge straight to the top, but decided that the difficulty was not worth it. We would make it to the traditional crossover from #2 to #3.

The crossover

Group photo back to front: Will, Ryan, Andy, Chris, Catherine, Kelly, Bob and myself.

Koolau Summit Ridge Trail

 It was a perfect day when we hit the top of the Koolau Summit Ridge Trail.

RIP Panasonic

It was also a little breezy. This is the last photo taken before the trade winds toppled my camera and tripod face down into some rocks. Ryan soon parted company with us and went down Kamehame Road.

Caveman Proving Grounds

Will and Chris check out Catherine down climbing some rocks while Kelly spots her. Bob was making bets that the tree wouldn’t survive a certain hiker coming down. The tree is still there!

doRito Tower

Looking down into the valley where doRito Tower sits from the top of the Tom-Tom trail. This gnarly rock formation was first free climbed by a hiker named doRito. Photo by Bob Tyson.

Tom-Tom trail

Chris going down the Tom-Tom trail. As the rest of us continued our way to Mariner’s Ridge, we came across four hikers who were almost finished with their three day hike from Manoa Falls to Makapuu. They had camped out at Mount Olympus and Kuliouou. Unfortunately, they were almost out of water. Fortunately, Kelly and Catherine had extra fluids to spare to the group.

Mariner’s Ridge Summit

Looking back from where we had come from. As usual, the summit was teeming with two-legged and four-legged hikers, some even wearing slippers. True hardcore hikers!

Heading back down

Nice views of Koko Crater and Koko Head going back down the trail. There has been some controversy swirling around this trail as Kamehameha Schools which owns the trail and not the summit, has reportedly placed it off limits. But you couldn’t tell that by the heavy traffic on the trail. I hope this doesn’t turn into another Haiku Stairs situation.

GPS Tracks

This short and fun hike was a little over 3.6 miles. After that, we fed our faces at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers.

Chris and Kevin joined me today on a short and fun exploratory hike around the affluent Portlock area. I picked them up from the small dirt lot by the Hanauma Bay bus stop and drove past McMansions to park on Hanapepe Loop.

China Walls

Walking down the grassy slope of Koko Kai Beach Park and making our way through the trees, revealed a scene of high tides lapping at the base of the rocks. I had mis-read the tide table and had should have started the hike several hours later instead of at 9:30am. Oh well, time to get our feet wet.

Cave exploring

Kevin and myself exploring one of the numerous caves that dotted the coastline. Photo by Chris Hiona.

The other side

We briefly considered trying going through the cave, but decided to contour around the rocks instead. There is even some kind of bizarre goat skulls lookout on top of these rocks!

Jumbled rocks

There was one rock formation jutting out into the ocean that forced us to time the waves so that we could safely pass around it. It would also help to have tabi’s or reef walkers while walking on these slippery slabs of rocks, we just had to take it slow and safe.

Wave action

The waves were pounding the rocks today. Never turn your back on the ocean as the waves and currents can drag you out in the blink of an eye. On top of that, we were hiking during high tide!

Hello there!

The waves over countless and repeated poundings gave this area it’s unique carved look.

Spitting Caves

No spitting today. Didn’t see any jumpers willing to take the plunge from where Chris and Kevin are standing at. I heard you have to time it just right. There have been drownings in this area and China Walls over the years.

Leaving civilization behind

Leaving behind the million dollar homes with the million dollar views as we ascended up Koko Head.

Headed up Koko Head

As we were climbing up, there was a commotion in the water behind us. It turned out to be several whales breaching the water, quite the show.

Paraglider

We saw several paragliders catching thermals off the rocky skin of Koko Head and circling and skimming above  our heads.

Circle of LIfe?

Top of Koko Head.

Makai bound

Walking down the clearly marked trail and leaving the communication towers behind us.

Honeycombed rocks

As we made our way down towards the ocean, we met a mountain biker who was coming up! Talk about making your own trails.

Land Bridge

Three of us sitting on this often photographed land bridge with the water churning like a washing machine below us. It seems to have become quite the spot to get your picture taken at lately. We were no different.

Koko Head Marker

Taking a pose next to this weather beaten obelisk with Koko Crater and Makapu’u in the background.

No charge for locals

Chris showing us the “back door” to get into Hanauma Bay.

Forgot our snorkels!

Here we are in the clear and cool waters of Hanauma Bay and no snorkels!

Coned off

As we walked up towards the parking lot, we noticed an Hawaiian monk seal sunbathing on the sand, oblivious to all the attention it was gathering from the beachgoers.

GPS Tracks

The 4.24 mile hike was a fun little excursion. Time well spent.

This was my third time hiking Koko Crater. The first time I walked up and down the tram tracks. The second time we had hiked up the side of Koko Crater and walked down the tram tracks. This time, the plan was to climb up the side of Koko Crater and go down the rim and end up in Koko Crater Botanical Gardens.

Fishing Shrine

We staged one car at the Koko Crater Botanical Gardens which is right off Kealahou Street by the Queen’s Gate neighborhood in Hawaii Kai and drove to the parking lot for the Halona Blowhole to start our hike. The trailhead is roughly across the Japanese fishing shrine that is now maintained by Vietnamese Buddhists. There are no colored ribbons to mark the way, but the trail itself is well traveled and hard to miss.

Going up the crater side

We started off on the relatively flat and rocky ridge that connects to the crater walls and then we started the gradual climb up Koko Crater.

The arch

The rock arch spans a gulch that is roughly in the middle of the climb up the crater. The easiest way to get over the arch is on the left hand side where there are some steps that look like they were carved into the tuff lava.

Hanauma Bay

The climb and our breathing got a little harder after the arch, as we neared the top, Hanauma Bay and Koko Head came into view. We also passed three hikers coming down from the top, other than that we had the trail all to ourselves. Besides Mount Olympus, going up the stairs at Koko Crater was the only other hike I’ve done that has so much foot traffic.

Makapu'u Point

Headed towards the summit, we could see the botanical garden inside the crater and Makapu’u Point in the distance.

View from the top

We made the summit at 1,208 feet in under an hour. As usual, the top was packed with people, attesting to it’s popularity with the local crowd. 

Going down the rim

Going down the crater rim was marked with a gradual descent punctuated by rocky formations that we either climbed or contoured around.

Crater rim wall

We came across part of the crater wall that looked like it was fractured or split apart. That’s what I love about ridge hikes, you get fantastic views and interesting scenery to boot. You also have to stay focused and keep that mental edge, otherwise you may fall off that edge.

Koko Crater Botanical Garden

We ended the two and a half hour hike amongst the sweet smell of plumeria trees in Koko Crater Botanical Garden.

This was my second hike to Mount Olympus, a trail that is a town favorite as evidenced by the abundance of hikers on the trail. The first hike was with the HTMC which was marked by rain, clouds and not making the summit. This time I was determined to reach the summit and hoped Mother Nature would cooperate and clear the clouds at the summit.

Trailhead

 We drove to the top of St.Louis Heights and parked at the Wa’ahila State Recreation Park which opens their gates at 7am daily. If you get there early, you can park outside and still walk inside.

Trail

The clearly marked trail goes up and down several times that are punctuated with rocky areas and the ever present strawberry guava trees whose fallen fruit had been trampled by countless hikers before us to release their strong, sweet smell.

Manoa Valley

We soon saw views of the city with Manoa valley taking center stage.

Up or down?

This marked the end of the lower trail, so we took the trail to the right to continue our hike to Mt. Olympus. The trail to the left continues down to Manoa Valley.

Palolo Valley

View of Palolo valley with Diamond Head in the background. Looking ahead we saw that the top of Mount Olympus was alternating between clouds and blue skies. We hoped to catch the latter when we made the summit.

Cloudy Mount Olympus

The last part of the trail is a somewhat steep hill that is mostly dirt, luckily there was a grassy trail to the left that we used to make the final push towards the summit. Clouds greeted us as we made the top of Mount Olympus at 2,486 feet. We stayed at the top for awhile hoping that the clouds would pass, we got several teasing glimpses of the windward side and then rain convinced us to turn back and go home.