A gentle hill. That’s how Ryan described this little hike to Jose, Thessa and myself. A little something to get my hiking legs back in shape after a month hiatus nursing my bruised ribs from our last trail.

Trailhead

It was a late start in the day, as we started our hike tucked deep in Hahaione Valley.

Fenced off

Contoured around the water tank as we made our way up the spur ridge.

“New Mariner’s Trail”

Ryan dubbed this route the “new mariner’s trail” due to its close proximity to Mariner’s Ridge which has been shut down.

Hardest part

A small rock face presented the hardest “challenge” of the hike.

All uphill

A carpet of pine needles made for a somewhat slippery slope.

Hahaione Valley

Looking back into the valley. Short and steep hike to get to the top.

Are we at the top?

Almost to the top. Time to check out the views.

Panoramic view

Click here for the larger image.

Standing on the edge

It was a deep valley with a huge drop. Photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Summit view

Group photo left to right: Jose, myself, Thessa and Ryan.

Sitting on the edge

No seat belts here.

Coming down

The group making their way down to connect to the Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail (KSRT).

Windward view

Just a short cross over today. Photo by Thessa Bugay.

Mauna o ahi

Looking along the Ko’olau spine.

Home for the night

Jose, Ryan and Thessa’s home for the night. Campfire pit was already made. Just need the marshmallows. Not for me. Dinner was waiting at home.

Moon view

A rare glimpse of the “pale moon.” Photo by Jose Luis Delaki

Sunset

Time to break out the headlamp.

Hahaione trail

Going down the trail. Under cover of darkness.

Homeless camp

Anybody home?

Cosmic paintball

Crossed the pallets and trees that are the stomping grounds for paintballers.

All pau

Popped out at the end of Hahaione Street. My car was still where I left it. Intact.

GPS Tracks

The short and sweet loop was 2.63 miles. A brief hike with good company that continued the party on the mountains without me. Good night!

Wanting to catch a quick hike before the projected thunderstorms were set to soak the island, I decided to hike up Kuli’ou’ou West Ridge to Hahaione Trail by myself, as the last hike we did not got a single decent view due to cloudy and rainy conditions.

Koolau Mountains

Going up the still somewhat muddy trail, I could see that it was going to be a beautiful day, albeit with vog conditions thrown in for good measure.

Kuli’ou’ou Valley

Looking back into Kuli’ou’ou Valley, with the sunshine being filtered by vog and hazy sky conditions.

Small kine fun ahead

After working my way through the trail, I finally got to the part where minor scrambling was involved. The fun part. Everything else is a means to the end.

Pu’u O Kona

Pushing ahead to the 2,200′ summit of Pu’u O Kona.

Panoramic view of the Windward side from Pu’u O Kona

Click here for the larger image. The stellar views were a marked change from two weeks ago, when it was nothing but clouds hiding the views.

Eroded section

I always wonder when this section will finally give way. Hope nobody is even near this spot when it happens.

Koolau Spine

Looking back towards the Koolau spine as far as my camera can see. I never get tired of these views.

Bear Claw Ridge

Looking down into Waimanalo from the top of Bear Claw Ridge. Having come up the ridge from both left and right forks, I thought about trying to downclimb this ridge. One day.

Panoramic view from Kuli’ou’ou Summit

Click here for the larger image. Amazingly, when I reached the summit around 9:25am, not a single soul was in sight. Usually this place is teeming with hikers and dogs. As I left the summit, I heard a couple hikers making their way up from the Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail.

Power lines

My solitude existence on the trails was soon interrupted by a stream of hikers making their way up from Hahaione Valley, as I was making my way down.

Private property?

As I made my way down into the valley floor, I ran across a large group of paintballers getting ready to do their thing. It seems that this area is a frequent hangout for paintballers. Shortly after I popped out at the end of Hahaione Street, Chris was nice enough to pick me up and deposit me back on Kalaau Place to get my car.

GPS Tracks

The 3.8 mile hike took me a little over 3 hours to complete.