It was time to get muddy again. That’s why I found myself on the road headed to Kualoa Ranch to participate in the Makahiki Challenge, which is a mud run/obstacle course. Just coming off the Warrior Dash two weeks ago, I decided to check out this race on the Windward side of the island.

10:20am heat

$10 to park again, this time no option to park free on the outside road. There are no check-ins or timing chips to put on your shoes, just show up and go!

Obstacle #1 – Nothing but Net

The obstacles seemed to be evenly spaced out on this course, as compared to the Warrior Dash. Coming up a hill, we stooped and staggered underneath a net, best bet was to draft somebody from behind. My GoPro kept on getting stuck in the net and almost got ripped off my head a couple of times.

Obstacle #2 – Suicide Slide

This was the best obstacle in terms of fun value. Sliding down headfirst on 100′ of water lubricated plastic. Until my face met somebody’s feet at the bottom and then a couple of folks slammed into me from behind. It was still fun.

Obstacle #3 – Monkey Business

All upper body strength as you climbed the monkey bars going up and then going down. Probably the hardest obstacle on the course, in  terms of people actually completing it.

Obstacle #4 – Hawaiian Ice Bath

A nice icy cold dunk to wake up your lower extremities. It’s over before you know it.

Obstacle #5 – Tangled

Oh, what a tangled bungee web we weave.

Obstacle #6 – Mud Crawl

The planks got lower as you crawled into this one, forcing you to kiss the mud at the end.

Moo-ve it on

As we hit the middle of the course, we saw choke cows grazing and mooing at us. Choke is a relative term and comes from a city boy like myself.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Some runners stopped to get their picture taken with this left-over film set from the movie “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Didn’t see no Jurassic Park paw prints.

Looping back

We soon found ourselves looping back and making our way towards the ocean.

Flooding

This had to be lamest of the obstacles, as it was just a couple trails flooded with muddy water. Fail.

Obstacle #7 – Da Pig Pen

Today’s entertainment was provided by this character as he was flinging mud at us as we entered this mud filled pit to hear him yell “My grandmother is faster than you” and “My grandmother’s dog is faster than you.” I guess the classics never die.

Obstacle #8 – Balls to the Walls

This was probably the second hardest obstacle on the course. Grabbing a muddy rope with muddy hands and trying to climb up a muddy wall.

Obstacle #9 – Balance Beams

The hardest part of this obstacle was trying to get your muddy feet on these beams. Some runners used the staff as support as they made their way on the zig zag beams.

Obstacle #10 – Mastah Blastah

Rolling to the finish line through these hanging tires.

Don’t forget your cup holder!

No medals at this race, just a cup holder. T-Shirts will be in the mail. Huh?

Panoramic view of the grounds

Click here for the larger image. Would I do this race again? It was fun, but not $80 worth of fun.

Having hiked Pu’u Manamana back in February, I wanted to try a different connecting trail from Kahekili to Manamana . With that being said, we drove to Ka’awa on the Windward side and parked at Swanzy Beach Park.

Start of the trail

We walked up North on Kamehameha Highway and turned left into Huamalani Street right by the fire station. The trailhead is at the end of the street between two houses, can’t miss it, just try to ignore the sounds of the large dogs barking and hope they are leashed.

View towards the ocean

The beginning of the trail is flat with low hanging trees which quickly turned into an uphill climb as we pushed into Makaua valley. Within mere minutes, we had gained enough elevation to look into the valley below.

Pu'u Kahekili

The ridge trail to Pu’u Kahekili, which is the triangular peak looming over Ka’awa Valley, flattened out and we soon came across an old pillbox or military bunker left over from the war days. 

Near the peak

The flat part of the trail soon gave way to steep climbs up the mountain, that was partially assisted by ropes strategically placed by unknown hikers. Views of the Kualoa Mountains and the front part of Ka’awa Valley opened up to us as we neared the peak.

Peak of Pu'u Kahekili

We made the peak of Pu’u Kahekili in about an hour, we didn’t actually climb to the top of the peak as the trail contours to the right of the peak and down into Makaua or Hidden Valley.

Down to the valley

Scrambling down into the thicket of tangled tree branches and roots made for an interesting descent down into the valley.

Stream

We made it to the bottom of this stagnant streambed that was feeding a waterfall trickling into the valley below, but didn’t stay long as clouds of mosquitoes were feasting on us for lunch.

Pu'u Manamana

We pushed our way up though the heavily overgrown vegetated trail consisting mostly of uluhe ferns. Wearing long pants on this hike is highly recommended. From the top, we had a better view of the Kualoa Mountains and as far as the eye could see to Kaneohe. Looking at the Kualoa Mountains, I was wondering if it’s possible to climb them?

Going down the ridge

I believe there are three ways of going down the mountain. One of course is the way we came up from Kahekili. The other two are the trails going down Cemetery Ridge and Pu’u Manamana Ridge, we chose the latter which is the trail to the right as you face the ocean.

Kahana Valley and Bay

Going down the ridge is pretty much all downhill, affording us some great views from Kahana Valley stretching to Laie.

Up and down

Well, the ridge is not exactly all downhill as there are various rock formations we had to climb up and down. But that’s what makes ridge hikes fun!

Looking back

Here is a panoramic view of the Kahekili ridge and part of the Manamana ridge.

Still going down

As we came down closer to the ocean, we could see the knob to the right known as Crouching Lion which overlooks the restaurant bearing the same name. We had already climbed to the rock formation on our last hike, so we bypassed it going down.

Kamehameha Highway

Five hours later, we were on Kamehameha Highway walking South back to our car. We stopped at the 7-11 and had a quick lunch at the beach park. It’s amazing how a simple tuna sandwhich and a can of soda tastes after you’ve had a good hiking workout.