It was that time to celebrate another friend’s birthday in the mountains.

Trailhead

Group photo left to right: Chico, Jason, Deborah, myself, Merrill, Aida, Scott, Groot, Tessa, Ryan, Amber, Chris, Dale and Akira.

Olomana Trail

Aida securing the birthday balloons to Chico’s pack. Will they make it to the top?

Olomana Trail

Does anybody have a sticker to add to the pole? Scott?

Olomana Trail

We must be on the right track.

Olomana Trail

Groot leading his pack through the pine forest section of the trail.

Olomana Trail

Chico watering Groot and Amber, the self-annointed #1 Olomana FANatic on top of the big f*cking rock.

Olomana Trail

Can you spot Groot for the root?

Olomana Trail

Merrill and Deborah climbing their way up the steep part of the trail.

Olomana Trail

I believe I can fly! Well, at least for approximately two seconds.

Olomana Trail

Jason yielding to a couple of descending hikers. Pop quiz. Who is practicing the correct mountain etiquette here?

Olomana Trail

Stretching my legs as I didn’t want to use the ropes.

Olomana Trail

Elevator service in the mountains.

Olomana Trail

The peak was keeping the clouds at bay on the Windward side as Amber scrambled her way up while Akira and Chris checked on the progress of the rest of the group.

Olomana Trail

Merrill and Akira on the “runway” leading to the first summit.

Olomana Trail

Tessa and Aida approaching the final climb to the first peak.

Ahiki

Looking at the knife-edged third 1,480′ peak of Ahiki seemingly letting off some steam.

Olomana

Happy Birthday Chico! You are one of the most energetic and positive people I have had the privilege of meeting on or off the trail. May your days always be healthy and filled with adventure.

Olomana

Group photo on the 1,643′ peak where Anne-Marie and Jenny also joined us at the top. You can see the second peak of Paku’i at 1,520′ elevation and the third peak of Ahiki in the background which fails to deliver on the views but not on the adrenaline for some. Olomana means forked hill or divided hill in Hawaiian for obvious reasons.

Olomana

I am not Simba and this is not the Pride Rock!

Olomana

The drone has landed.

Olomana

The summit was slowly being flooded with other hikers, which was our cue to depart the peak and head back down the trail.

Olomana Trail

Ryan always believe in stretching and carrying a ti leaf with him on hikes. Ti leaves are considered a symbol of good luck and protection in the islands. Chico lost one of his balloons on the way down. Maybe he should have carried a ti leaf as well.

Olomana Trail

Chris decided to take a different approach on the way down or he just didn’t want to wait for everybody else in the climbing queue.

Olomana Trail

Tessa climbing her way down the rockface.

Olomana Trail

Handle with care.

Olomana Trail

When you are Groot’s size, every step is a big step, every fern is over your heard. But his big heart overcomes all obstacles. Sometimes with a little help from his friends.

Trailhead

How many Falls does that make to date?

All pau

A man, his remaining balloon and his dog walking on the bridge where turtles dwelled below. Straight to DVD coming soon to a Blockbuster near you.

Casa de Cantu

We retired to the house by the bay and were joined by James and Destiny, Raul and Janny, Stefano and Val to continue the birthday celebration. Many thanks to Lilia for cooking up the birthday feast and everybody else that participated and chipped in for Chico’s gift. Mahalos!

Casa de Cantu

Stefano made more dollar bills playing Left-Center-Right than most strippers make at Hula’s. Slight exaggeration. Game well played and a birthday well played by all.

Photos taken by Aida Gordon, Akira Suzuki, Amber Fonte, Chico Cantu, Chris Bautista, Dale Yoshizu, Deborah Tom, Jason Murano, Merrill Kalopodes, Ryan Meyer, Scott Peterson, Tessa Bugay and yours truly. Not necessarily in order.

Note: I have been made aware that some hikers have been using my blog as a hiking guide and getting lost on the trails. Please note that this blog was made to document the hike for the crew(s) that did it. That is why some of my comments will seem to have no relevance or meaning to anybody outside of the crew(s) that hiked that trail. My blog was never meant as a hiking guide, so please do not treat it as such. If you find inspiration and entertainment from these hikes, that is more than enough. If you plan on replicating these hikes, do so in the knowledge that you should do your own research accordingly as trail conditions, access, legalities and so forth are constantly in flux. What was current today is most likely yesterdays news. Please be prepared to accept any risks and responsibilities on your own as you should know your own limitations, experience and abilities before you even set foot on a trail, as even the “simplest” or “easiest” of trails can present potential pitfalls for even the most “experienced” hikers. One should also always let somebody know of your hiking plans in case something doesn’t go as planned, better safe than sorry.

In search of a short hike to replace the aborted perimeter walk, I settled on what is commonly called Anamolo or Reverse Olomana.

Trailhead

Thanks to Lilia for dropping us off deep in Bumpy Kanahele’s Pu’uhonua o Waimanalo neighborhood.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Walking the trail that parallels the old Kailua Ditch that was built in the 1920s to carry water from Kawainui Swamp to the canefields of Waimanalo Sugar Company. No motorcycles are allowed, but horses are permitted on this trail.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Why are we climbing up this rooted hill when there is a perfectly good trail just a stone’s throw away? Character building.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Scrambling up the eroded hill.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Doing my part to keep the ‘aina clean. Hold the applause.

Olomana Ridge

I think I may have been unwittingly sucked into this bizarre finger pointing cult. Where is Scientology when you need them?

Olomana Ridge

One person on the rope at a time. Hold your horses.

Ahiki

We arrived at the base of the backdoor to Three Peaks to begin our ascent.

Ahiki

Chico climbing his way up between a rock and a tree. At least, it’s not a hard place.

Ahiki

Amber threading her way through the profusion of ropes and webbing that draped this cliff section.

Ahiki

Climbing my way up with the fluted ridges of the KST in the background.

Ahiki

Aileen making her way up.

Ahiki

Mona climbing up the cracked rocks.

Ahiki

Rose used her freakishly long arms to her climbing advantage.

Ahiki

Contouring our way around the gap in the rocks.

Ahiki

Climbing queue.

Ahiki

Chico left his heart in Olomana. OMG. The cult thing.

Ahiki

Eye in the sky.

Ahiki

Amber going up the notorious pipe ladder that unfortunately claimed a life back in April 2022. We met two kids at the top who had second thoughts about going down the ladder and wisely decided to turn around.

Ahiki

Ladders? I don’t need no stinkin’ ladders! Especially when I have these freakishly long arms.

Ahiki

Group picture at the top where one needs to keep their arms close to their sides and don’t be chasing after ball caps.

Ahiki

Leaving the third peak for the other two peaks. One can see why the Hawaiians called these three peaks “divided hill.”

Ahiki

I briefly entertained the foolish notion of scrambling down the side of the cliff to check out a puka, but retreated. Otherwise, I would have probably ended up with a puka in my head.

Ahiki

Dropping down to the iconic rock formation.

Keyhole

That’s one way of going through the hole.

Keyhole

Are we taking the scenic or climbing route? Rhetorical question.

Keyhole

Hey, this rock moves!

Keyhole

This other rock moves too!

Keyhole

Let’s make like a rock and roll!

Keyhole

Drone down! We scrambled down a bit in a futile attempt to recover Chico’s Skydio drone that crashed into the woods below us. We soon gave up just as how the company gave up on their consumer production line. Update: Chico was able to find and recover his drone several weeks later.

Paku’i

Climbing our way up to the second peak.

Paku’i

The knife edge view of the third peak behind us.

Paku’i

We ran into Andre and his friend coming from the opposite direction.

Paku’i

No hammock. No problem. Webbing is like duct tape in the hiking world. Flossing the cracks.

Paku’i

The rest of the group making their way down the sheeted and stepped rocks.

Paku’i

We ran into Aida and her friends also coming from the opposite direction. Small world.

Olomana

Decided to check out a side “trail.” Fools rush in where other hikers are smart not to tread. A paraphrase of a popular saying.

Olomana

Pushing myself up.

Olomana

I bet somebody was glad that I didn’t leave my webbing hammock behind.

Olomana

Mona with the background view of the second and third peaks.

Olomana

Group photo at the top of Olomana, the peak with the all around scenic views. Not to mention, crowds of people wanting to share that view with you.

Olomana

Mingling with other hikers as we dropped off the first peak.

Olomana

Everybody chose their own path down the rocks.

Olomana

Dealing with these pesky ropes as they could be potential tripping hazards. It would help if I had freakishly long arms.

Olomana

Mona climbing her way down the last rockface and then the group either walked, ran or got lost on the trail. Depends who you talked to.

All pau

If Rose falls, does it count? Or does it have to be capitalized? Thanks to Lilia for picking us up. Fun hike up and over the erosional remnant from within the caldera of the Ko’olau Shield Volcano.

Post hike meal at Genki Sushi, where the table talk was extra loud, extra spicy and extra special.

Photos taken by Aileen Agustin, Amber Fonte, Chico Cantu, Monaliza Guillermo, Rose Mathis and yours truly. Not necessarily in order.

Note: I have been made aware that some hikers have been using my blog as a hiking guide and getting lost on the trails. Please note that this blog was made to document the hike for the crew(s) that did it. That is why some of my comments will seem to have no relevance or meaning to anybody outside of the crew(s) that hiked that trail. My blog was never meant as a hiking guide, so please do not treat it as such. If you find inspiration and entertainment from these hikes, that is more than enough. If you plan on replicating these hikes, do so in the knowledge that you should do your own research accordingly as trail conditions, access, legalities and so forth are constantly in flux. What was current today is most likely yesterdays news. Please be prepared to accept any risks and responsibilities on your own as you should know your own limitations, experience and abilities before you even set foot on a trail, as even the “simplest” or “easiest” of trails can present potential pitfalls for even the most “experienced” hikers. One should also always let somebody know of your hiking plans in case something doesn’t go as planned, better safe than sorry.

Having done Olomana many times warmed over, I decided to just do the most challenging section with Katie today and skip the front part. Thanks to Lilyn for dropping us off deep in Waimanalo country. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Trailhead

Starting on the foothill hike that was carved out by Dick Davis and goes all the way to the Pali Lookout. We were doing the abbreviated version today.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Turning a right at the junction.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Katie poking for Groot.

Maunawili Ditch Trail

Climbing out of the trail to gain the ridge line.

Aniani Nui Ridge Trail

Katie pulling herself up on one of the steeper parts of the trail.

Aniani Nui Ridge Trail

Mother Nature wasn’t looking too inviting, but Katie wanted to crash the party. So off we went.

Aniani Nui Ridge Trail

If a hiker falls in a forest and no one is around to see it, did it happen? Photographic proof by Katie Bingham.

Aniani Nui Ridge Trail

Pulling ourselves to the base of the peak.

Ahiki

Katie bouncing on the elastic rope as she makes her way up the first climb.

Ahiki

Pulling myself up and getting temporarily stuck under the branch. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Ahiki

Katie trying her best not to get stuck as well.

Ahiki

Cliffs in the camera are steeper than they appear. Photo by Katie Bingham

Ahiki

Katie scrambling her way to the top of the rock pile.

Ahiki

Climbing up the steepest section. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Ahiki

Looking for that hand hold.

Ahiki

Taking in the cloudy views. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Ahiki

Contouring and climbing between the rocks.

Ahiki

Taking in the clear views of Waimanalo.

Ahiki

Stretching before the hike. Oh wait. A day late and a dollar short. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Ahiki Summit

Group pic on the summit that was named after Chief Olomana’s favorite headman.

Olomana

Traversing between the divided hill with the peaks of Paku’i and Olomana directly ahead of us.

Olomana

Climbing down from the third peak. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Keyhole

Somebody was blocking the hole.

Keyhole

Bottom views.

Keyhole

Top views.

Olomana

Going back to the third peak.

Ahiki

Katie coming down one wobbly step at a time.

Ahiki

Shaka for Sunday. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Ahiki

Katie stepping her way down.

Ahiki

Who’s going to retrieve the webbing?

Ahiki

Trying not to get stuck on the way down. Photo by Katie Bingham.

Ahiki

Katie making her way down the last climb of the day.

Aniani Nui Ridge

Following the barbed wire fence on our way out.

Aniani Nui Ridge

We came from there.

All pau

We ended our short and sweet hike right back where we started from. Thanks to Lilyn and Quan for picking us up. Post hike meal at Pampanga, can’t get enough of their Chicken Papaya. We also saw one of Jerry’s kids and witnessed a fleeing shoplifter who left part of their stolen loot on the sidewalk.

Note: I have been made aware that some hikers have been using my blog as a hiking guide and getting lost on the trails. Please note that this blog was made to document the hike for the crew(s) that did it. That is why some of my comments will seem to have no relevance or meaning to anybody outside of the crew(s) that hiked that trail. My blog was never meant as a hiking guide, so please do not treat it as such. If you find inspiration and entertainment from these hikes, that is more than enough. If you plan on replicating these hikes, do so in the knowledge that you should do your own research accordingly as trail conditions, access, legalities and so forth are constantly in flux. What was current today is most likely yesterdays news. Please be prepared to accept any risks and responsibilities on your own as you should know your own limitations, experience and abilities before you even set foot on a trail, as even the “simplest” or “easiest” of trails can present potential pitfalls for even the most “experienced” hikers.