Every time I travel over the Pali Highway and get a clear view of the Pali Notches and Konahuanui, I sometimes develop an urge to hike that trail again. I scratched that itch today along with Glenn, Chance and David. But this time, we were going up the Pali Notches and down Piliwale Ridge. We had originally planned to do it this past Sunday, but the tsunami warning canceled those plans.

Wake up cardio

We pushed off a little bit before 7:00am and right off the bat, the going up was a steep and somewhat muddy climb interrupted by a thicket of hau trees.

First clearing

A brisk ten minutes later, we were already at the first clearing, strangely devoid of the powerful gusts that the Pali is famous for. However, vog conditions from the Big Island produced a hazy filter on our scenic viewing.

Coming down the second notch

We made our way to the first notch, where we found that somebody had installed rope, which was not really necessary. Coming down the second notch was also aided by rope, which did come in handy. Photo by David Theriot.

Going up the Nipple

As we made our way up the rock formation known as the “Nipple”, we had already decided to climb up the Chimney with our backpacks on and using our regular hiking shoes. Our last hike up the Chimney, we tried it without backpacks and wearing rock climbing shoes, as that was the going advice on the best way to get up the Chimney. But we found that it wasn’t necessary, as far as our hiking group went. Photo by Chance Viloria.

Climbing up the Chimney

Going up the Chimney was relatively easy going, as ropes anchored by several pitons, provided necessary assistance when needed. However, the bottom piton was noticeably looser from our last visit, I’m afraid it will eventually come loose from it’s anchored point. Photo by David Theriot.

Climbing down the Nipple to the Chimney

Chance, Glenn and David climbing down the Nipple to go up the Chimney. It’s always good to have eyes on each other, especially when climbing rockfaces and tricky parts.

Top of the Chimney

We all made it to the top of the Chimney at 8:00am.

Tricky section

The only real difficult or tricky section that we came across, was a section of rockface that we had to contour around on the Leeward side. The handholds were minimal and our feet had precious little purchase on the narrow ledge. I believe this is the spot where a fellow hiker fell over 300 feet back in September. Thankfully, she survived and I heard is doing quite well.

Looking back

Looking back towards Lanihuli and the Koolau Mountains. It was a gorgeous day to hike the Koolau’s, spectacular views to soak in all day.

Coming up the ridge

Picking our way through the heavily vegetated trail was a somewhat welcome change from the rockfaces that we had just passed.

Wall of Mud

The only difficult part going up the approximately 25′ wall of mud is the initial part. Once you pull yourself up with the installed rope and the low hanging tree, it’s just a little more scrambling using tree roots and vegetation to get past the muddier part and to less muddy parts. 

Panoramic view from the summit of Konahuanui or K1

Click here for the larger image. Photo by David Theriot.

Piliwale ridge

We had our lunch at the junction that goes down Piliwale Ridge. Best lunch spot on the island! The junction is a clump of trees and are marked with two ribbons, or what’s left of them. After eating our lunch, we headed down Piliwale around 11:30am. We also ran into three hikers that were coming up the ridge and going down to Lulumahu falls.

It’s all downhill

The initial part of the ridge was heavily vegetated, which helped us going down. Photo by David Theriot.

Rope and Rocks

There are several steep and crumbly sections going down the ridge, but they are for the most part, roped for assistance.

Looking back on how we came down

Eventually the ridge ran into Maunawili Demonstration Trail, where we then took a left to head back to the Pali Lookout.

Ice cold water, mountain apples and lilikoi’s

Walking along the trail, we were treated to ripe mountain apples and lilikoi’s courtesy of Chance and David who knocked and plucked them from where there were hanging. Leptospirosis was not even on Chance’s dehydrated mind when he refilled his empty water bottle with ice cold water flowing from a water catchment tank.

Piliwale Ridge

Nice view of the ridge we had just come down.

Nuuanu Pali Lookout

We got back to the lookout around 3:30pm, where we had cold Gatorade’s waiting for us, thanks to Chance’s girl. The entire hike was a little shy of four miles and it was an awesome hike with an awesome crew. Photo by Kaimana Augustiro.