Kalihi Saddle (Powerlines) to Pali

Took a couple interested people to see the saddles firsthand, as seeing is believing as they say.

Mahalo to Ferlino for dropping Aida, Aileen, Akira, Chris, Haig, Tessa, and myself off the highway named after the last heir to the Hawaiian throne prior to its overthrow in 1893.

Stretching prior to the hike to avoid leg cramps or just carry mustard.

Pushing our way through the overgrown trail to the lowest point between the peaks of Bowman and Lanihuli.

Bathroom views.

Climbing out of the saddle.

Aida had to donate her gold earring to the mountains in return for safe passage.

Making our way to the first obstacle banned in Chinese restaurants.

Climbing and contouring our way around the top through a thicket of trees.

The Kona winds blowing today were not strong enough to push us off towards the Windward side versus the usual trade winds which blows towards the Leeward side.

Climbing our way down on the thin strip of trail in the mountains.

Everybody getting their photo opportunity.

The washer bringing up the rear with panoramic views of the Windward side. I never heard of the term washer before, must be an Armenian thing.

Akira thinking “high,high” was either referring to elevation change or mood change at this moment.

Traversing between the “silly names” of the pinnacles that Pete Clines gave to reference them on the saddle.

Chris standing on the top of the obstacle named after something that prevents a door from banging against the wall. Let’s not bang our heads going down, shall we.

Aida climbing her way down.

Akira keeping his head away from the rocks.

The group contouring their way around the spit of a rock.

Haig keeping high on the contour, referring to elevation and not mood change.

Chris guiding Aida on her climb down.

The rest of the group making their way down.

Scrambling to higher ground.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Popped.

Chris clearing the loose rocks at the top.

360 degree view at the top.

Photobombing Chris as he pops the pimple.

Making our way up to the lunch spot.

Group photo in the shadow of the “Fridge.”

Contouring our way around the “little hook” that would be quite nasty, if not downright suicidal to climb it.

Tessa and Haig climbing the lower tier.

The rest of the group moved out of harms way as an earlier dislodged rock narrowly missed Akira and would have given him a different type of high high.

Aida coming up the upper tier.

Akira watching the rest of the group making their climb up from his crumbly perch.

Climbing up the “rotten” ridge loosely held together by native woody vines, perspiration and faith.

This is after all, the Year of the Dragon. Take a seat Aida.

If there’s one constant on the saddles, it’s the crumbly character accentuated by constant erosion.

Leaving the saddle behind us as we hiked into the clouds.

Chris passing along nature’s Rorschach test. What do you see?

Group photo at the 2,700′ peak named “Swirling Heavens” in Hawaiian.

Traversing the ridgeline as passing rain showers moisturized our epidermis.

Going down the ridgeline as it seemingly keeps the clouds at bay on the Windward side.

We decided to go down the more crumbly route instead of the standard contour route. WTF?

Stay in your lane!

Standing on the 23rd letter of the alphabet.

Akira climbing down the fifteenth most used letter in the English language.

Haig contouring around the letter that was banned in Turkey from 1928 to 2013 due to the Kurdish population.

Moss don’t hit back.

Akira contouring around the steep flank of the ridge.

The rest of the group making their way down with what looks like more of a dentist’s nightmare than a letter in the background.

Losing elevation and gaining the muted views back.

Scooting on the narrow rocks.

Standing on the narrow rocks.

The rope guiding us down.

Yawning is contagious in the mountains.

Aida climbing down to the toothy rock.

When climbing down is infinitely preferably to contouring down.

Spotting the rest of the group down.

Tessa going down the narrow stretch of rocks.

Haig bridging the gap.

Hiking our way to the exit point off the ridge.

Descending down the flank of the ridge dotted with roots and loose rocks.

Our last group photo before dropping down to the lookout.

Hiking down with the illuminated Pali Tunnels and cloud sheathed mountains in the background.

Night hikers marching down the trail. However, if you run across us, you don’t have to strip naked and lie prostrate before us. Unless that floats your boat.

Where did all the tourists go? Perhaps it was the haunted spirits of over 700 Hawaiian warriors that were either pushed or fell to their death in the Battle of Nu’uanu in 1795 that scared them away. Thanks to Haig for parking his unmolested car outside the gates.

Our introductory saddle hike covered roughly 3.27 miles with a fun group. Congratulations to Tessa for completing her fifth KST completion with this hike. Good job done by Akira and Haig on their first of many saddle hikes. Post hike meal at Tasty Korean BBQ where the soda carbonation was flat and the wait long. Should’ve waited for the other restaurant. Post hike ice cream dessert at Ferlino’s house courtesy of Haig.

Photos taken by Aida Gordon, Aileen Agustin, Akira Suzuki, Chris Bautista, Haig Van Roubian, 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.

Tagged as: anvil, bunny ears, can opener, dirt dragon, doorstop, incisor rock, kalihi saddle, koolau summit ridge trail, ksrt, lanihuli summit, lanihuli wall, nuuanu saddle, pali lookout, pali puka, pimple, powerlines, shark fin, w