We picked up where we left off from a prior hike that was interrupted by the rain and strawberry season. Nice to be back in the islands.

Trailhead

Picked up Jose in Waimanalo and we started deep in an East Oahu Valley.

Popular trail

Short, sweet and steep. This trail has become more popular based on the numerous fluttering flags on the branches.

Panoramic view

Click here for the larger image of Hahaione Valley and her surrounding ridges.

Almost to the top

Jose within spitting distance of the summit.

Overhang

Hanging onto the views. Photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Pyramid Rock

Jose and myself at the 1,566′ summit. The winds were blowing today. Hard.

Cross over

Climbing down the pyramid rock.

Hike like an Egyptian

See the resemblance? The rock, not the hiker.

Wrong ridge

The ridge going down soon dropped off sharply. Is this the right ridge?

Right ridge

That ridge looks promising, never mind the steep drops. It has pine trees!

Back up

Jose climbing back up. Part of hiking, sometimes you get lost and have to backtrack.

Back on the cross over

Brief walk on the Ko’olaus.

Scouting

We over shot the ridge again due to all the overgrowth and spotted the ridge to our left. Got our bearings straight.

Hahaione Windward

Crawling and ducking underneath the low hanging branches. Any lower and we would have been with the slugs and snails.

Hang on

Jose contouring around a stand of pine trees that were blocking the ridge.

Look familiar?

Looking at the ridge with the steep drop off we had been on earlier.

Trees

Weaving in and out of the trunks and branches. Pays to be skinny sometimes.

Ridge line

Back on the exposed ridge.

Panoramic view

Click here for the larger image.

Looking back

I was mildly surprised at how relatively easy this Windward ridge was so far. Spoke too soon?

Pine needles

Slip and slide.

Beverage break

Replenishing my electrolytes before the hardest obstacle.

On belay?

Does the webbing reach to the bottom?

Belay on

Time to find out. Photo by Jose Luis Delaki.

Hug the rocks

A Go Pro view.

Come on down

Jose making his way down the 60′ cliff.

Mother Earth

The hard parts were over, time to go home.

Flagged trail

Beating the bushes, we made our way down.

Follow the power lines

We followed the cleared firebreak underneath the power lines to connect to the Tom-Tom trail.

Fore!

Stepping over and around to avoid the hundreds of golf balls that littered the ground, as we picked our way through the neighborhood’s private driving range. Half expected to duck an errant golf ball coming our way.

All pau

We popped out at the end of the Tom-Tom trail and saw no signs of loose dogs, only fenced dogs. Good boys and girls!

GPS Tracks

The welcome back to Hawaii hike covered 4.36 miles of mountains and ridges. Post hike meal at Greek Marina. Kali Oreksi! Did I say that right?