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.