Weekday hike. Must be a holiday. Kamehameha Day. I found myself in the company of Rebecca at Laie Beach Park where we then walked to the trailhead.

Trailhead

Permits in hand, we walked down the jeep road to begin our hike.

Knock knock

The trail soon took a left up into the hills as we passed a pumping shack.

Dog

A hunting dog bolted from the scattered ironwood pine trees when he saw us on the trail. Where are the hunters?

Dirt hill

We followed the gently roller coasting ridge as we passed an eroded knob.

Pray for prey

Spotted a baby preying mantis perched on a plant. After this we dropped down into the gulch.

Stream crossing

The beginning of over two dozen stream crossings. Who’s counting?

Pots and pans

Rain showers sprinkled us in the gulch as we came across this camping site. No leftovers?

Rock hopping

The boulders seemed to get larger as made our way upstream.

Rock cairn

To topple or not to topple? Rocks arranged by man amongst rocks arranged by nature.

Koloa stream

We walked in the stream bed for the most part after the stream crossings ended. A lot easier than weaving in and out of the stream banks.

Forked junction

The stream eventually split. Rebecca recommended we take the right fork first, as it would set us up for the bigger waterfall on the left fork.

Slippery when wet

Spiked footing helped us to stay on the rocks and out of the water.

Swimming hole

A four foot plus deep pool of ice cold water lay between us and the waterfall that was around the corner. Time to take the plunge.

A rope away

We caught up with three other hikers on the trail. Rebecca giving them an impromptu climbing lesson.

Koloa Falls

The ribbon of flowing water was shredded halfway by the jumbled rocks as it fed the pool at the base.

Going back

We passed the numerous pools with darting fishes and invasive crayfish, as we made our way back down to…

Left fork

…the forked junction where we had a quick bite to eat.

Rock hopping

The stream depth was low enough so that we stayed dry for the most part of the hike.

Narrow

As we hiked deeper towards the Koolau Mountain Range, the gulch walls became claustrophobically closer.

Good flow

Running and standing water usually means swarms of mosquitoes. Today was no exception.

Twin falls

Assorted waterfalls of all shapes and sizes were found on the stream.

Boulder hopping

There were some good sized boulders scattered throughout the gulch.

Spider hole

Three spiders in a hole waiting for something to eat. Photo by Rebecca Riggins.

Kalo Falls

Got kalo?

Stay still

Vertical panoramic photo of the waterfalls. Photo by Rebecca Riggins.

Swimming

Who needs the beach?

Island in the stream

Talks of climbing quickly evaporated as we made our way back down.

Mountain apple

Throw it back. Not big enough.

Last stream crossing

Rebecca crossing the last stream and hiking back up.

Laie

The historical town of refuge filled the horizon as we crested back up the ridge.

Fern friend

A hitchhiker had latched itself onto my tabi.

Memorial

We passed the memorial dedicated to the 11 year old boy scout that tragically died in a flash flooding back in 1994 on our way out. A sober reminder when hiking gulches and waterfalls.

GPS Tracks

The ridge and gulch hike was filled with rock filled stream crossings and multiple waterfalls that covered 12 miles. Post hike meal at Seven Brothers. Shem Burger. Anything with bacon has to taste good.

Rain rain go away, come again another day. That childhood nursery rhyme was going through my head as I pulled in Wa’ahila Park at the top of St. Louis Heights to be greeted by morning showers. I met Jason there, as Glenn had bugged out due to the rain. We talked about it and hoped the rain would pass, so we got into my car and drove to Hawaii Loa to start our hike at 7:15am.

Going up Hawaii Loa Ridge

As we made our way up Hawaii Loa ridge, the clouds seemed to be settling lower and lower on the Koolau Mountain tops. The rain had not followed us, but what we got instead was clumps of dirty water drops.

Hawaii Loa Summit

We got to the top of Hawaii Loa Summit at 2,520 feet in whiteout conditions. The views of Waimanalo and the Windward side of the island were nowhere to be seen. Not having anything to keep us at the summit, we proceeded to follow the heavily vegetated trail on the left.

Wailupe Middle Ridge

We hiked the Koolau Summit Ridge in the clouds and at times, could barely see in front of us. The top of Wailupe Middle Ridge harbored the same whiteout conditions we had hoped we left behind at Hawaii Loa. There was a little sign on the ground that pointed in the direction of Wailupe Loop, didn’t seem too stable as somebody or something could easily move the marker.

Wiliwilinui Ridge

About an hour later, we still had no view at Wiliwilinui ridge. But we did see the communication tower appearing out of the clouds like a pirate ship. I was beginning to think the whole hike was going to be in these conditions, a total bummer.

Diamond Head

A funny thing happend coming down from Lanipo where we had our lunch, the clouds started to clear up. As we made our way down into this little valley and climbed back out of it, the views started opening up, which gave us renewed energy to push on.

Mount Olympus

We could finally see our goal ahead of us, which was Mount Olympus or Awaawaloa.

Panoramic view going toward Mount Olympus

Click here for the larger image which shows the split views of the Town and Windward side.

Ka'au Crater

As we passed the two powerlines on the ridge, we saw the marsh filled Ka’au crater nestled against the Koolau Mountains.

We're coming Zeus!

Little wisps of clouds started rolling in from the Windward side, threatening to cover the summit. That made me push harder to get to the top as I didn’t want to miss an opportunity for a clear view from the top, something which rarely happens. 

Olomana

Going up Mount Olympus, we had to climb a narrow and rocky ridge that was followed by a 10′ rockface and a somewhat steep hill. No ropes required.

Top of Mount Olympus

The top of Mount Olympus at a little over 2,400 feet was remarkably devoid of clouds, the last time I was here, there was zero visibility. The original plan was to continue until Manoa Middle Ridge and then double back. That would have completed the last part we needed to finish hiking the Eastern part of the Koolaus. But that idea was scratched due to lack of time and being plain tired on our parts. So we began the long descent down the Waahila Ridge trail towards our car.

Panoramic view of Manoa Valley and Town

Click here for the larger image of Palolo and Manoa Valleys.

The long trail home

Only twenty minutes until we get back to the trailhead (inside joke).

Need water!

We completed the hike in twelve hours, which was drawn out by being tuckered out and a tad dehydrated as we didn’t bring enough water. But how often, can you do three hikes all rolled into one?

The twin peaks of Konahuanui (K1 and K2) have beckoned to me for quite some time. All four of our previous attempts to climb them were either derailed by Mother Nature or Human Nature. Today was the day we were going to get to the top of the highest peak on the Koolau Mountains. It would have took a tsunami with hurricane winds to stop Glenn, Chance and myself from making this hike today. 

Koolau Mountains

I picked up Glenn from Alani Drive in Manoa, as that was where we were planning on coming out and we met Chance at the Pali Lookout. The climb going up towards the Pali Notches was steep off the bat and then we scrambled through a tangled thicket of hau tree branches. After that, we got to a flat clearing where we saw the sun painted fluted cliffs of the Koolau Mountains.

1st Pali Notch

Scrambling down the first Pali Notch was just a warm up for what lay ahead of us which was the second notch and the Chimney.

2nd Pali Notch

When we got to the second Pali Notch, we were pleasantly surprised to find that somebody had left ropes. The last time we did the notches, there were no ropes. The route we found that works best going down, is starting from the left and working your way to the right with or without ropes.

The Chimney

As we made our way to the nub or nipple right before the Chimney, the wind started to pick up again. This wouldn’t be the Pali Lookout without strong winds pushing you around. We had heard a lot about the Chimney and it’s near vertical face with limited handholds and footholds, so we had bought rock climbing shoes in preparation. Make that Glenn had brought his shoes, while I forgot mine’s in my car and Chance decided he could do without them.

Top of the Chimney

Much has been made about the Chimney, while it was a good climb, it was nowhere near the terrifying experience we were anticipating.  It was more a comedy of errors on our part, as the following story illustrates. We had decided it would be easier to climb without our backpacks, so I had brought along 550 parachute cord to haul the backpacks up the Chimney. I volunteered to go first and borrowed Glenn’s rock climbing shoes to scale the Chimney. Once at the top, the 550 cord got tangled and was too short to reach Glenn at the bottom. I wasted a lot of time trying to untangle the cord and then attached Glenn’s rock climbing shoes to the end to provide some weight as the wind was whipping the cord every which way but Glenn’s way. The cord was still too short as it was still partially tangled, so Glenn climbed up from the base of the Chimney and then tried to swing the cord to Chance at the bottom. During one of his swings, one of Glenn’s shoes flew off the cord and tumbled down the windward side. Goodbye $180 shoes. Chance finally snagged the cord and attached two of our backpacks and it was a bear hauling it up as it swung towards the town side where there were more branches and rocks for the cord to catch on. Glenn then made it up and Chance completed the climb with his backpack on. That little exercise probably added an extra hour plus to our hiking time.

Another rockface

After the Chimney, the path ahead lay strewn with narrow ridges and brittle rock. Buoyed by the confidence of completing the Chimney portion and ropes left behind by others, we made short work of the rockfaces. 

...and another...

As we started to climb higher, the rocky trail eventually turned into a narrow trail held together by dirt, grass and plants.

Windward view

Taking a break to soak in the bird’s eye view of the Windward side. This is what makes ridge hikes so worthwhile as the views knock it out of the park.

Town view

Looking towards Nuuanu Valley and town. You can see the top of Lanihuli on the right.

Can't see the top for the clouds

As we looked up trying to find the peak of Konahuanui, the clouds kept hiding it from us. More often than not, the top is usually covered in clouds. Today was no exception.

Slippery slope

We came across this section where it was straight going up 25+feet of mud. Luckily there were ropes again, you will need some upper body strength to pull yourselves up using tree branches, grass and ropes. Glenn actually took his shoes off to get a better grip going up.

Cloudy view

Here we are almost at the top. We were so high up, we actually saw an red bi-plane flying below us, which I think is the original Hawaiian Airlines plane. Pretty cool.

Top of Konahuanui

We arrived at the top of Konahuanui at 3,105 feet to be greeted by whiteout conditions. While it was disappointing not to have clear conditions, Mother Nature teased us every now and then as the clouds would partially open up to show us the Windward and Town views.

Headed to K2

After vainly waiting about 30 minutes hoping that the clouds would clear from the top, we decided to move on to the second highest peak of Konahuanui or K2. Here is where we made our second mistake of the day. Since we could barely see, we started going down the ridge on the town side. When the clouds partially lifted, we realized we were going the wrong way and had to backtrack back to the top and follow the ridge on the Windward side that would take us to K2. Another extra hour tacked on to the hike. 

Konahuanui 2 marker

The view from K2 was just as cloudy as K1. A big disappointment. The views were actually better getting to the peaks than when we actually got on top of the peaks.

Panoramic view of Windward and Town

Click here to see the larger image of the just stupendous views of the Windward and Town sides.

Koolau Mountains

The fact that we could see the Koolaus all the way to Makapu’u just made this hike even more breathtaking.

Headed down the Manoa Middle Trail

As we were walking along the spine of the Koolau’s, we were wondering if we had missed the turn to go down the Manoa Middle trail. We thought we were going to have to hike all the way to Mount Olympus and go down the Waahila Trail. Then as Glenn was hiking ahead of us, he came back with a shit eating grin on his face that said he found the clearing and the Manoa Middle pink ribbon. The hike down Manoa Middle is all downhill and the last part before the trail drops you into the Waiakeakua stream is almost vertical with strawberry guava trees and ropes to brake your descent, which reminded me of the Cemetery Ridge coming down Pu’u Manamana. After that, we just followed the stream all the way out until we found ourselve on Waaloa Place, a little off from our intended exit of Alani Drive. It took us over twelve hours to finish this hike, if we hadn’t gotten lost and spent wasted time untangling our cord, we would have completed the hike in a little over nine hours.

Olomana, in Hawaiian, means divided hill. Looking at the three peaks rising out of Maunawili Valley, you can see why it got that name. Called Oahu’s Matterhorn by Stuart Ball, there is a passing resemblance to the iconic mountain of the Alps. However, in true aloha fashion, you get three peaks for the price of one! We parked on the road before the Maunawili Bridge at the Luana Hills Country Club. Do not park after the bridge, as they will tow your car. We walked down the road for a quarter of a mile and found the sign pointing out the start of the Olomana trail.

Peak of Olomana

The beginning of the trail was marked with groves of bamboo, strawberry guava, Christmas berry plants and ironwood pine trees. There are also a couple of switchbacks going up the ridge. 

Are we hiking or climbing?

As we gradually made our way up the trail, we came across several areas that were quite steep and rocky. Fortunately, there are ropes that somebody left behind that helped us get up these steep areas.

Rock face

This 12 to 15 foot rockface was the last major obstacle we had to scale before reaching the top of the first peak known as Olomana. As with all ropes we came across the trail, we tested them and never fully relied on them, more as an assist to get us up.

View towards Kaawa

View from the first peak, known as Olomana, with an elevation of 1,643 feet. This is actually the highest of the three peaks and the one that affords the most scenic and 360 degree views of the Windward side, Maunawili Valley and the Koolau Range.

View of Mokapu Peninsula

Here you can see Mokapu Peninsula, home to the Kaneohe Marine Base and parts of Kailua and Enchanted Lakes. Today was also the day that the Blue Angels were supposed to put on a show, if the timing was right, we would have had the best seats in the house. Too bad, we were too early. The awesome views more than made up for missing the Blue Angels.

View of Waimanalo

Here you can see the sun washing over the town of Waimanalo, Bellows Beach, Manana (Rabbit) and Kaohikaipu (Turtle) islands. Both islands are now designated seabird sanctuaries.

View of Paku'i and Ahiki

From the first peak of Olomana, you can see the second peak, known as Paku’i, and the third peak, known as Ahiki in the background. A lot of hikers call it quits after making the first peak and return back. Not us, since we made it this far, we decided we might as well go all the way! No guts, no glory!

View of Olomana

Descending from the first peak to the saddle was somewhat steep but manageable. The climb to the second peak was over before we knew it, here we are looking at Olomana from the second peak.

View of Ahiki

Only one more peak to go! The ridge looks razor sharp from this vantage point, but that’s because we are far away!

Rapelling or hiking?

Coming down from the second peak to the saddle, we had to rappel down almost 300 feet.

Keyhole

This striking rock formation on the way to the third peak, is called the keyhole for obvious reasons. I read that around this area, a couple of hikers lost their footing and bounced down the mountain, but managed to scramble their way back up. Needless to say, we were extra careful around this area, as I didn’t want to be like a bad check.

Back in the saddle

Leaving the keyhole behind and climbing up the ridge with some noticeable dropoffs on both sides. If you are afraid of heights, this hike is not for you.

View of Olomana and Paku'i

Looking back towards the first two peaks. We were almost to the third and final peak! I heard that there is suppose to be a big bee hive between the second and third peaks. The only bee we came across, was one that decided to make itself at home in my glove. So for a short distance, I was buzzing until I realized it wasn’t alcohol!

View from Ahiki

The views from the summit of the third peak are almost anti-climatic, as compared to the first peak. But the feeling of making it to the third peak was awesome. The hike is difficult as there are extreme steep areas that must be carefully climbed and hiked. It took us roughly two hours to get to the third peak and about two and a half hours to make it back to our cars. I read that some hikers have made the scary descent from the third peak going down into Waimanalo. That’s for another day.