Our sandbar sailing got cancelled due to mechanical and physical breakdowns and so we pulled a magic trick. We turned a two hour hike into a full day. How? Read on impatient ones.

Ka’a’awa

We all met up despite the annoying church slut saying it was raining and perhaps a waterfall hike was in order. What rain? 100000000000%!

Ka’a’awa

Left the highway and scrambled up a trail less traveled. No signs.

Ka’a’awa

Mere minutes later, we arrived at the first bunker that was currently being occupied. No open bunker today?

Ka’a’awa

Can you see the lion for the bunker? Let me hear your primal roar! Keep it quiet up there, people are trying to sleep!

Ka’a’awa

Sunday Showing was canceled, so we popped over to the next bunker.

Ka’a’awa

The second bunker was open for showing that showcased ocean views and cross ventilation. This was the affordable section of town.

Ka’a’awa

The view from the rock, can you see the group for the distance?

Ka’a’awa

Follow the arrow if you can see it for the group.

Ka’a’awa

View from the studio sized bunker.

Ka’a’awa

Go back out there and catch the rainbow. Be quick about it.

Ka’a’awa

I couldn’t even taste the Skittles. Let alone that the bag of sugared candy are missing blue and violet colors, so it would have been an incomplete taste test as nonsensical arguments goes.

Ka’a’awa

Leaving the man-made structure for natural rock formations.

Ka’a’awa

The hard part was over per Allison. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Whew.

Ka’a’awa

Looking down at Huilua Fishpond located in Kahana Bay, believed by some to have been built by the legendary menehunes.

Ka’a’awa

Short climb to the top of the ridge.

Ka’a’awa

Akira should be DJing instead of dancing.

Ka’a’awa

We got the mountain views.

Ka’a’awa

Tessa perched high on the rock with her ocean views.

Ka’a’awa

Cristy with her coastal views.

Ka’a’awa

Group photo on the overlook rock. How many people can perch on this spit of a rock, safely?

Ka’a’awa

Aida wanted to show off her dance moves too.

Ka’a’awa

Making our way down to the saddle.

Ka’a’awa

Hugging the cliffs as we made our way to the crouching lion rock formation. Hawaiian legend has it that the formation is actually of the demigod Kauhi’?makaokalani, or large dog that was sent from Tahiti to guard the area. He was trapped by roots and turned into stone when trying to escape the goddess Hiiaka’s siren song.

Ka’a’awa

“What we have here is failure to communicate.” I thought Allison meant we were doing the loop trail to Kahekili, she meant the loop trail back down. Oh well, let’s take a group photo before going up towards the rock formation.

Ka’a’awa

Scrambling up the rear of the “lion.” Or shall we call it a dog now?

Ka’a’awa

The girls were not going any higher.

Ka’a’awa

We coaxed and cajoled Kenny into joining us for the views to no avail. The acrophobia is still strong with this one. Work in progress.

Ka’a’awa

Standing on the head of the “lion.”

Ka’a’awa

Akira climbing down the direct descent. No contouring.

Ka’a’awa

Step back from the edge.

Ka’a’awa

Look who’s talking.

Ka’a’awa

360 views of the four of us shoved into this faint resemblance of a cave.

Ka’a’awa

Leaving the eroded section for greener pastures.

Ka’a’awa

Allison walking down the “runway.”

Ka’a’awa

Fond farewell to the “large dog” or “crouching lion”, however historically accurate or not you want to be.

Ka’a’awa

Somebody was making the most of their anniversary gifted IPhone 17 Max. Tessa’s birthday is coming up.

Ka’a’awa

Descending back down to civilization.

Ka’a’awa

Over and under going down the trail.

Ka’a’awa

Back on the road again.

Ka’a’awa

Talks of further explorations and lunch were abruptly cut short when somebody locked their keys in the trunk. Don’t blame the duck either. Googling and YouTubing didn’t help matters much either. Let’s eat. Better to think on a full than empty stomach.

The Crouching Lion

What better place to eat than at a restaurant named after our hike? ‘Nuff said.

The Crouching Lion

Sampling the culinary creations of the restaurant that just reopened last year after a decade of being shuttered. The dishes were small, pricey and tasty. We also had the freshest rice we ever had in our life per our waiter. Say what? We are in Hawaii right? Just had to check.

The Crouching Lion

Raise your hands if you have the keys to your car. Tessa, put your hand down! Our bellies full, Akira and I drove to Pearl City to Kalihi and back to Ka’a’awa to get his spare key. Road trip. The rest of the group would go look for that plane wreckage that Allison had told us about.

Ka’a’awa

The group spent over an hour trying to find the plane wreckage. They had a lot of time on their hands.

Ka’a’awa

Success!

Ka’a’awa

Exploring the wrecked fuselage.

Ka’a’awa

Posing in front of the plane that turned out to be a former movie prop, likely a Bristol Britannia from the 1950s.

Ka’a’awa

Everybody wants to be a pilot until the crash.

Ka’a’awa

Reunited!

All pau

Walking back to our cars, keys in hand, our day was finally over. That is how we turned a two-hour hike into a full day filled with fun, food, and good company that turned a bad situation into a good one. Now you know the rest of the story.

Photos taken by Aida Gordon, Akira Suzuki, Allison Banks, Cristy CM, Kenny Lui, Mari Saito, 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.

After a three-week hiatus from hiking, I hooked up with Marcus again, along with Scott, Francis, KiLei, and Pete. Having hiked Pu’u Manamana and Pu’u Kahekili, I jumped at the chance to hike True Manamana with an experienced guide like Marcus. I had heard a lot about this hike, how it was quite challenging and that it was no joke. We all met at Swanzy Beach Park at 7:45am and piled into Scott’s truck, who then drove us to Trout Farm Road where we parked.

Kahana Bay

We pushed off at 8:05am and made our way up Cemetery Ridge from the old graveyard that sits at the foot of the trail. Right off the bat, the going up is a slow and steep climb up  a ridge that alternated between dirt, green moss and tree roots holding everything together. Within 20 minutes, we already had commanding views of Kahana Bay and Kahana Valley.

Ka'a'awa Valley

We reached Turnover, which is the highest point on Manamana at an elevation of 2,027 feet, at 10:10am. Mother Nature was graciously giving us excellent weather as we could see spectacular views of Ka’a’awa Valley and the Kualoa Mountains. Despite the sunny weather, the trail near the top of Turnover to the Lookout was extremely muddy, the type of mud that can suck your shoe(s) off your foot if not careful.

Lookout

Twenty minutes later, we found ourselves at the 1,900 foot point known as Lookout. We could clearly see our objective dead ahead, True Manamana, with Pu’u Ohulehule squarely behind it. To lighten our loads a bit, we stashed our extra water at this point. It was best to carry light as possible hiking this narrow and crumbly ridge.

Rockface

Half and hour later, we climbed down what is probably the hardest part of the trail, an approximately 50′ rockface. If you’re confident in your climbing skills, you can “no rope” it going down, I elected to use the ropes to help me going down. Better safe than sorry.

Narrow ridge

We dropped nearly 600 feet going into the saddle between the Lookout and True Manamana. In between, the ridge was a combination of up and down climbs that provided crumbly and rocky footing and trees that would provide support as often as blocking the ridge, where we would have to swing to the side to get back on the ridge.

Approaching the Puka

Scattered on the ridge, were also numerous rockfaces and formations that we either climbed around, over or simply contoured around them.

Puka shot

Marcus suggested we all take a group photo in this puka (hole) formation. But most of the group had already passed this on the way to the summit. We were supposed to have taken it on the way back, but I guess everybody forget except Scott and myself.

More narrow ridge

The ridge seemed to get a little more narrower and crumblier as we approached the summit. It could have been my imagination.

Scramble to the summit

Making the final uphill push to reach the summit. I was already winded, and we had still had to reverse hike going back. Time to hit those elliptical machines to build up my cardio!

True Manamana Summit

We reached the summit of True Manamana at 1,650 feet at 12:30pm. The views were outstanding as we could see Pu’u Manamana, Ka’a’awa Valley, Kualoa Mountains, Pu’u Ohulehule, Waimanalo to Kahana.

Panoramic view from the top of True Manamana

Click here to see the larger image.

Going back down

No rest for the weary, after a short break, we all headed back down the same way we came up.

Headed back to the Lookout

Took us exactly 8 hours to finish this four mile hike. But what a four mile hike it was! We called it a day by having something to eat at Uncle Bobo’s, which is right across Swanzy Beach Park, BYOB!

Having hiked Pu’u Manamana back in February, I wanted to try a different connecting trail from Kahekili to Manamana . With that being said, we drove to Ka’awa on the Windward side and parked at Swanzy Beach Park.

Start of the trail

We walked up North on Kamehameha Highway and turned left into Huamalani Street right by the fire station. The trailhead is at the end of the street between two houses, can’t miss it, just try to ignore the sounds of the large dogs barking and hope they are leashed.

View towards the ocean

The beginning of the trail is flat with low hanging trees which quickly turned into an uphill climb as we pushed into Makaua valley. Within mere minutes, we had gained enough elevation to look into the valley below.

Pu'u Kahekili

The ridge trail to Pu’u Kahekili, which is the triangular peak looming over Ka’awa Valley, flattened out and we soon came across an old pillbox or military bunker left over from the war days. 

Near the peak

The flat part of the trail soon gave way to steep climbs up the mountain, that was partially assisted by ropes strategically placed by unknown hikers. Views of the Kualoa Mountains and the front part of Ka’awa Valley opened up to us as we neared the peak.

Peak of Pu'u Kahekili

We made the peak of Pu’u Kahekili in about an hour, we didn’t actually climb to the top of the peak as the trail contours to the right of the peak and down into Makaua or Hidden Valley.

Down to the valley

Scrambling down into the thicket of tangled tree branches and roots made for an interesting descent down into the valley.

Stream

We made it to the bottom of this stagnant streambed that was feeding a waterfall trickling into the valley below, but didn’t stay long as clouds of mosquitoes were feasting on us for lunch.

Pu'u Manamana

We pushed our way up though the heavily overgrown vegetated trail consisting mostly of uluhe ferns. Wearing long pants on this hike is highly recommended. From the top, we had a better view of the Kualoa Mountains and as far as the eye could see to Kaneohe. Looking at the Kualoa Mountains, I was wondering if it’s possible to climb them?

Going down the ridge

I believe there are three ways of going down the mountain. One of course is the way we came up from Kahekili. The other two are the trails going down Cemetery Ridge and Pu’u Manamana Ridge, we chose the latter which is the trail to the right as you face the ocean.

Kahana Valley and Bay

Going down the ridge is pretty much all downhill, affording us some great views from Kahana Valley stretching to Laie.

Up and down

Well, the ridge is not exactly all downhill as there are various rock formations we had to climb up and down. But that’s what makes ridge hikes fun!

Looking back

Here is a panoramic view of the Kahekili ridge and part of the Manamana ridge.

Still going down

As we came down closer to the ocean, we could see the knob to the right known as Crouching Lion which overlooks the restaurant bearing the same name. We had already climbed to the rock formation on our last hike, so we bypassed it going down.

Kamehameha Highway

Five hours later, we were on Kamehameha Highway walking South back to our car. We stopped at the 7-11 and had a quick lunch at the beach park. It’s amazing how a simple tuna sandwhich and a can of soda tastes after you’ve had a good hiking workout.

We were looking for a challenging hike this weekend, and we found it in the Pu’u Manamana trail. We drove towards the Crouching Lion Inn in Ka’a’awa and parked on Trout Farm Road. We walked back towards the Crouching Lion Inn and right after the Route 83 sign, we saw the pink ribbons on the trees to the right that marked the trailhead.

Kahana Bay

We made our way through ti plants and Christmas Berry shrubs and eventually broke out onto an open grassy area, where we had a commanding view of Kahana Bay. To our left was the Crouching Lion rock formation. If you’re going to do this hike, you have got to make the short detour to climb to the top of the Crouching Lion!

Crouching Lion

Once I made it to the top, stunning views from Laie Point to Kaneohe Bay were just fantastic and gorgeous.

Slippahs

We resumed our steep climbing along the ridge, when we noticed somebody had left a pair of slippers on the trail. That must have been a better man than me that can do this hike in slippers!

Makua Beach

After climbing several steep rock faces, we made it to the main ridgeline, with sweeping views of Makua Beach to Kaneohe Bay.

Ridge view

We continued our push up the ridge, passing a Christmas Berry grove and a couple of eroded spots on the trail. Looking back down the ridge we had come up, the sun bouncing off the mountains and ocean gave it some cool colors.

Another ridge view

At this point, the ridge started to level off a bit, allowing us to catch our breath.

Rock face

After we went around this rock face, looking back, it looked as if some menehune hands had put this together.

Steep rock face

We then descended this pretty steep rock face, with the assistance of ropes. The trail then became quite narrow, at one section, it was about a foot wide. The ridge eventually widened and was covered with native plants such as ohia trees and uluhe ferns and other sorts of plant life. We then tackled at least five rollercoasting knobs before we finally made it to the top, known as Turnover, elevation of 2,027 feet.

Kualoa Ranch Mountains

Looking towards Kaneohe, we saw the Jurassic-looking mountains that were by Kualoa Ranch. The side trail to go back down is marked with a pink ribbon, but I can see how others have missed it as the vegetation is quite thick up there. We passed it on our right as we made our way to the clearing, for good measure, my friend stuck his water bottle in the tree to plainly mark the trail.

Kahana Valley

Coming down or sliding down, as the downward trail starts off muddy and steep, we had a nice view of Kahana Valley, which is Hawaii’s only public ahupua’a, it stretches from Kahana Bay to Pu’u Pauao at 2,670 feet. I believe that about 30+ Hawaiian families live in the valley today.

Cemetery Ridge

The trail then became quite narrow, as the ridge seemed to be held together with rocks and tree roots, carpeted with moss. At least, there were a lot of trees to brake our descent, as we lost elevation in a hurry.

Rock croppings

The ridge eventually widened but the descent didn’t slack up. We passed these rock croppings that reminded me of silent stone sentinels. After passing through a hala grove, we ended up in a graveyard, which explains how Cemetery ridge got its name. Making sure we didn’t step on anybody’s grave, we emerged onto a lawn on Trout Farm Road and our truck was parked right in front of it. The entire hike took us about five hours and while many say this is one of the most dangerous hikes, I would say it was difficult and challenging.