Wahiawa Hills to Schofield-Waikane Trail

by kenji SAITO on October 10, 2015

Hiking Wahiawa Hills to Schofield-Waikane Trail

I found myself back in the rolling hills of Wahiawa with Gen, Jose, Katy, Matt and Rob.

Cardio Hill

Cardio Hill

Jose going down the steep tree rooted lined hill.

Stream crossing

Stream crossing

Matt looking back at our first little stream crossing. No tubing here.

Going down

Going down

Gen going down one of the steep ridges.

Kaukonahua Stream

Kaukonahua Stream

Gen and Matt crossing the longest stream in the islands. I heard it’s great for tubing when the stream levels are high enough.

Going up

Going up

Eucalyptus trees lined many of the ridges, throwing off their distinctive minty pine smell.

Hills for days

Hills for days

They don’t call this place Wahiawa Hills for nothing.

Well done

Well done

A brush fire back in August had scorched over 500 acres before finally being extinguished. Click here for the larger image.

Traveler's Palm

Traveler’s Palms

Flowering plants masquerading as trees marked a road that was not our path. We picked up the trail in the bushes and continued our merry way.

Rolling hills

Rolling hills

The vast expanse of the Ewa Forest Reserve.

Coming down

Coming down

Gen coming down one of the steep hills. Luckily the hills were amply rooted with sturdy trees.

Stream crossing

Stream crossing

Gen trying not to get her feet wet on our last stream crossing.

Going up

Going up

I lost count of all the hills that we went up and down.

Good morning

Good morning

Sun beams in the forest. Photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Lost in the woods

Lost in the woods

You guys are where? Hello? The many twists and turns and multiple hills of this area have given many hikers pause and even swallowed one without a trace. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Mountain Yoga

Mountain Yoga

We had a couple hours to kill since half of the crew went “exploring”, so Gen and Matt practiced their yoga skills.

Reunited

Reunited

Many intermittent calls, dropped calls, failed texts and hoarse hollering finally guided the rest of the crew back to us.

Hmmm

Hmmm

What are we looking for? Oh yeah, koa seeds.

Poamoho Hunting Area

Poamoho Hunting Area

Group photo left to right: Katy, Rob, myself, Matt, Gen and Jose.

Flagpole

Flagpole

Matt displaying his upper body strength. Photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Cleared

Cleared

HTMC had recently cleared the trail, so we thought it would be prudent to take advantage of it before the uluhe ferns reclaimed it back to Mother Nature.

West side

West side

Looking out at the Waianae Mountain Range, Helemano and Wahiawa.

Open fields

Open fields

The hills eventually gave way to open flat fields of flowing weeds.

Trail meets road

Trail meets road

We left the trail and hopped over the chain onto Poamoho road. Where’s a 4×4 truck when you need one?

Poamoho road

Poamoho road

That’s a huge koa tree. Wait. My bad. It’s just a big tree.

4x4 trucks

4×4 trucks

Oh there they are!

Poamoho trailhead

Poamoho trailhead

Group photo at the trailhead.

Poamoho trail

Poamoho trail

Just in case you missed it.

Barricade

Barricade

Group photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Graded trail

Graded trail

Hiking on a state sanctioned trail. Felt odd.

Panoramic view

Panoramic view

Click here for the larger image.

Hazard

Hazard

Don’t try this on a hike.

Meeting

Meeting

We bumped into Ryan Chang and Katie Ersbak and some politicians I’ve never voted for.

Hello

Hello

Looking back at the trail cut into the side of the mountain. Oh and there’s Matt.

End of maintained trail

End of maintained trail

Rough trails ahead. Not really. There are two hikers in this photo. Really.

Hunter check in station

Hunter check in station

Where is the hiker check in station?

Cline memorial

Cline memorial

The clouds had beat us to the summit. Lost views of Kahana and Punalu’u Valleys.

Staring into the sun

Staring into the sun

The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades. Or close my eyes.

Poamoho summit

Poamoho summit

Let’s all pretend there is a view behind us at the 2,520′ summit.

Follow the fence

Follow the fence

We pushed onto the cabin as once again we got robbed of the best views on the island.

Poamoho cabin

Poamoho cabin

The cabin was unlocked. I heard that the workers sometimes lock the cabin to protect their personal belongings. Luckily no work was being done on the mountain today.

Pumping

Pumping

Jose and Matt filtering the rain water for the rest of the crew that needed to replenish their camelbaks before resuming our hike.

Trail

Trail

Hiking on the KST. Wish we had a view.

Cloudy trail

Cloudy trail

Still wishing. Photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Loulou Palms

Loulou Palms

Katy and Rob passing through a clump of the only native palm trees to Hawaii.

Trail

Trail

Gave up wishing.

Schofield Waikane Junction

Schofield Waikane Junction

Group photo at the junction.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Time to beat a path down the mountain or have the mountain beat us up for the next seven miles.

A long trail

A long trail

Schofield-Waikane or Wahiawa trail is a long rugged hike through seemingly untamed country.

Rain

Rain

What would a hike in the mountains be without rain? Exactly.

Ridges for days

Ridges for days

We still had quite a way to hike. Nothing but open country. The smell of tiger balm also started to decorate the air.

Trail

Trail

The trail for the most part contoured on the Windward side below the ridgeline.

City lights

City lights

Phhhttt. Hear that? Must be a wild pig. Those sounds would follow us to the end. Inside joke.

Trailhead

Trailhead

All pau.

Zzzzzzz

Zzzzzzz

Not quite. We still had to walk out a stretch of military jeep roads to get out. And wake somebody up that was knocked out cold. Photo by Genesaret Balladares.

Deep thoughts

Deep thoughts

Facebook status check. Korean chicken. Chocolate milkshake. Shower. Sleep. We eventually roused ourselves from a semi-stupor and slumber and made our way out of the East Range, some through a gate and others over barbed wire.

GPS Tracks

GPS Tracks

The looping hike took us through the rolling hills of Wahiawa, the KST and down Schofield Waikane trail that covered 17.09 miles. Another grinder hike with a great crew. Major props to Katy for pushing through the pain to finish the trail. Post hike meal at Zippys. Miss my prime rib and clam chowder.

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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Rob J December 15, 2015 at 10:53 pm

Awesome photos as always. What was the final time again, 14hr?

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kenji SAITO December 16, 2015 at 10:30 am

Howzit Rob,
Thanks for joining as it was great hiking with you guys again. No with all the er “exploring” you guys did, it came out to more like 15 hours! Long night! Especially with all those wild pigs roaming the trails. See you on the next one!
Mahalo

Reply

Anites September 16, 2016 at 9:15 pm

17 miles (Wahiawa Hills/
Poamoho/KST/Schofield Waikane)? And 14-15 hrs to finish? Wow that’s a long hike. Is it a hard hike?

Reply

kenji SAITO September 16, 2016 at 10:22 pm

Aloha Ani,
There are really no technical sections per se, but the initial trail through the hills can be confusing if you don’t know the way and the overall loop trail is a grinder due to the length, duration and condition of some parts of the trail ( overgrown ). Plus it didn’t help that some of our group got separated and got lost, err, exploring that tacked on a couple hours before we finally got back together.
Mahalo

Reply

Anites September 16, 2016 at 10:32 pm

Ok. Thanks coz I’m hiking it on Sun, 9/25. Hopefully I can keep up with the group. We’re meeting at 5:30am.

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Anites September 16, 2016 at 10:33 pm

This would be my longest hike thus far :)

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kenji SAITO September 17, 2016 at 9:22 am

Just don’t get lost and the hike will not be as long! Stay safe and have fun!

Matt August 28, 2018 at 8:59 am

Great write up! Would you allow us to use your images here…

https://lookintohawaii.com/hawaii/48968/schofield-waikane-trail-activities-oahu-wahiawa-hi

…we will (of course) credit and link to your site.

Reply

kenji SAITO August 28, 2018 at 1:20 pm

Aloha Matt,
Thanks. Yes feel free to grab and credit what you like.
Mahalo

Reply

Matt August 28, 2018 at 1:52 pm

You’re awesome, many mahalos!

Reply

Barry February 18, 2019 at 3:24 am

Another great write up Kenji!
We just completed this loop yesterday and yes it was loooong.
Not going to lie. I view your write ups prior to a hike to see what I’m in store for.
Thanks again!!

Reply

kenji SAITO February 18, 2019 at 8:26 am

Aloha Barry,
Thanks. I saw your guys posts on FB, too bad the weather didn’t cooperate for your hike. I know the feeling as we were on the other side and it was just cold, rainy and windy as well. I think they call that character building or some other nonsense.
Mahalo

Reply

Barry February 18, 2019 at 9:54 am

Haha!
It was my first time to Poamoho so I definitely need to go back. When we were at the Schofield-Waikane summit the clouds partially broke so I know the views are amazing.

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