We hiked a ridge that may be under threat from urban development. Hike today. Gone tomorrow. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

No peeping

Glenn, Matt, Ryan, Thessa, and Tom joined me today. A friendly owner let us through his property to gain access to the ridge.

Good Morning Hawaii Kai

Henry Kaiser’s swamp to suburban vision. Build it and they will live here.

Kuli’ou’ou Ridge

Most people take the State ridge trail to get to the summit, we took the ridge trail.

Baby cacti

Passed a bunch of budding cacti.

Selfie rock

The moai of Kuli’ou’ou. Rain showers passed over the valley. We dug out our raingear. Rain showers stopped.

Loose rocks

We soon left the exposed ridge to head into a grove of ironwood pine trees.

Pine needle slide

Let your butts do the walking.

Kuli’ou’ou shortcut

Thessa pointing to the trail that bypasses the switchbacks from the bottom.

Hat junction

Passing the lost and found trail.

Selfie tree

A tree with multiple branches favored itself to our collective photo. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

State trail

The ridge soon connected to the bustling State trail.

Outdoor gym

Pull up versus chin up contest.

Who’s next?

Push. Oh. Pull.

Looking back

Tom coming up the trail.

Kuli’ou’ou summit

Group photo at the windy 2,028′ summit left to right: Tom, Glenn, myself, Thessa, Ryan and Matt. Photo by Tom Engle.

Panoramic view

Click here for the larger image.

Solitary view

Matt wishing he had a parachute.

Passing the sign

Leaving the crowded summit.

KSRT

We left the ridge for a short crossover on the Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail.

Dirt scramble

One step forward. Two steps back. Nobody gets too far like that. This kind of hike can never last.

Bear claw ridge

The right claw needs to come out of hibernation.

Lunch break

We dropped down below the ridgeline to get a little relief from the winds. Like trade lunch? Photo by Ryan Meyer.

Back on the trail

Resuming our windy hike to Pu’u o Kona.

Eroded section

Carefully making our way across. Photo by Tom Engle.

Scenic lookout

Views of Waimanalo and a particular Windward ridge of interest. Photo by Ryan Meyer.

Puu o Kona

Group photo at the 2,200′ summit. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Going down

It’s all downhill from here.

Looking back

Leaving the summit behind.

Crumbly rocks

Tom making his way down with the help of a *gasp* rope.

Ridging

Up a ridge. Down a ridge.

Uluhe slide

Letting gravity do all the work. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

Kalapa o maua ridge

Bushwhacking ahead.

Shoelace tying lesson

Double slip knot. It really works. No, I’m not buying dinner.

Sea of uluhe

A month earlier, Ryan and I had bushwhacked up from the bottom of the ridge to just shy of the summit. Never start late, never fight gravity and never underestimate Mother Nature.

Break time

Checking out the views of Kuli’ou’ou Valley.

Contouring

We skirted the pockets of thick trees that blocked our forward progress.

Moku boundary wall

Old Hawaiian property line that once ran from the Ko’olau summit to the edge of the reef in the ocean.

Bailout trail

Anybody see a black Sony camera? Anybody?

Rock chair

Sometimes you have to just sit down and enjoy the view.

Winding down

The group following the ridge down. Photo by Tom Engle.

See anything?

The lower part of the ridge was particularly thick with loose rocks and small hardy trees that forced us to stay to the left of the rock wall.

Future development?

Looking at the possible future site of another high-end luxury gated community. Another affordable housing project that Hawaii so desperately needs.

Paiko lagoon

A breach in the rock wall allowed us passage to the other side of the ridge.

Water tank

The end of our hot journey was in sight. It felt like we were hiking in Waianae.

Got water?

Fun hike with a fun crew. Photo by Matt Vidaurri.

All pau

The crew walking out the paved road.

GPS Tracks

The windy, hot and rocky hike covered 6.92 miles. Post hike meal at Outback. Same booth. Sniff?

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.

I tagged along with Marcus and another extreme hiker crew consisting of Scott, Wendy, Toney, Russell and Tess to complete Bear Claw by hiking up the Right Fork. We parked at the same place in Waimanalo when we did Left Fork last week, but had to do a quick and dirty “ninja” move to get to the trailhead of the right fork by climbing over a fence and rushing into the bushes to avoid detection. Talk about getting your heart beating in a hurry!

Toney and Scott going up

As Marcus mentioned before, the right fork is a tad steeper and harder going up than the left fork.

Hardest rockface

There was one major rockface that was considerably harder than the others coming up. Scott took the lead and threw down webbing for those that didn’t feel comfortable free climbing the rockface. Surprisingly, I didn’t need to use it going up.

Pays to be flexible

While the presence of the inter-locking formosan koa trees was not as prevalent on the right fork as it was on the left fork, there were more rockfaces that had to be climbed.

No flat ground here

Right fork is basically a steady uphill climb consisting of numerous rockfaces punctuated by the formosan koa trees.

Left and Right Forks, the twain shall meet - Photo by Tess Cochran

We took a short break in the grove of ironwood trees, right after the junction where the two forks meet. There is also a geocache located here, but it was ruined by exposure to the elements.

Mushroom Rock

As we made our way over the formation known as “Mushroom Rock”, the clouds started to spill over from the Koolau’s.

Everybody stand up - Photo by Marcus Griego

We took a group photo going up the ridge, but obviously I missed the message to stand up.

Island in the Sky - Photo by Scott Bowling

Looking back as we climbed up the ridge, we had a great view of Waimanalo and Bellows Field.

Caveman or contour?

As with most hikes, there are always the “easy” way and the “hard” way. Marcus aka Caveman climbed over the rock formation while the rest of us elected to take the easier way by contouring around to the left of the rock formation.

No HFD helicopter this time

I was half expecting to see the HFD helicopter hovering above our heads again as they did last weekend when we were almost at the summit. This time, I had my camera ready, but no show for the helicopter.

Bear Claw Summit

We all got to use our “right claw” at the top of Bear Claw, as clouds masked most of the view of Waimanalo in the background.

Kuli'ou'ou Trail

After another short break, we took a left and then proceeded down the Kuli’ou’ou Trail.

All pau

Thanks to Marcus taking the lead and using the “shortcuts” that bypassed most of the switchbacks, we made it down to Kuli’ou’ou Valley in less than an hour from the summit.

Instead of carving pumpkins or going trick or treating, we hiked the Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail and Pu’u o Kona on Halloween Day. We were hoping to be treated to stunning views and not tricked into getting lost! After parking at the end of Kala’au Place in Kuli’ou’ou, we started off by signing our names in the log that kept’s in the hunter’s mailbox at the beginning of the hike.

Trail Marker

The beginining of the trail consists of a lot of switchbacks as you start climbing the ridge. Early on in the hike, we came across this trail marker which clearly points to the right going up the ridge. If you miss the marker and proceed straight ahead, you will walk into Kuli’ou’ou Valley instead of Kuli’ou’ou Ridge.

Tree Formation

About half-way to the top, we ran across this bunch of tangled trees that almost looks like a doorway. That’s another great benefit to hiking, you always run across something you don’t see everyday or that’s eye catching.

Hawaii Kai

Looking back at Koko Crater, Kuapa Pond, and Koko Head. Kuapa Pond was at one time the largest fish pond on Oahu, until urban development shrank the pond to what you see now. Almost to the top!

Stairs to the top

More stairs to climb, similiar to the ones found on the Hawaii Loa Ridge hike. Keep in mind that these are not regular stairs, but plastic slats built into the side of the mountain, so expect erosion at certain spots, sometimes it was like walking over minature hurdles.

Top of the summit

Getting to the top of the summit at 2,080 feet. It took us little over an hour to make it to this point. Those stairs at the end gave us a good cardio workout.

Looking towards Manana Island

After catching our breath and taking a short break, we decided to go past the end of trail sign that tells you to turn back. If you continue past the sign to the left, it will take you to Pu’u o Kona and eventually loop around Kuli’ou’ou valley.

Looking back towards the summit

As we pressed on, the trail became more noticeably eroded and drop-offs on the sides became more pronounced. Looking back, we saw the clouds rolling in and hoped Mother Nature wouldn’t shower us with her tears.

Clouds rolling in

The cool part I love about ridge hikes, is the fantastic views afforded to you. Another thing, is you can be walking in dazzling sunshine, and the next minute, you are enveloped in cool clouds.

Kuli'ou'ou Valley

Looking back towards Kuli’ou’ou Valley, as I mentioned before, the views are just fantastic on these ridge hikes.

Landslide

We came across this old landslide that took part of the trail down the mountain. I wonder in time, if another landslide, will eventually make this trail unpassable.

Going up

I have got to thank whomever installed these ropes, shaky as they may be at some points, on these hikes. Otherwise, it would make these hikes that much harder, as even with the ropes, sometimes we were scrambling for any solidly rooted plants for support to help pull us up.

Pu'u o Kona

It took almost us another hour to reach the summit of Pu’u o Kona at an elevation of 2,200 feet. You can see Diamond Head and Waikiki in the background.

The trail home

Heading back down towards the valley, our knees started to get a tad wobbly. Maybe that’s where the Hawaiian meaning for Kuli’ou’ou came from, “Sound of the Knee.” The way going down was more difficult than coming up the other way due to more narrow ridgelines and steep descents. It took us another 90 minutes or so to finally get back down to our cars. This hike is difficult as there are steep ascents/descents and narrow ridgelines that must be carefully climbed and hiked. If you just hike to the top of Kuli’ou’ou and return back, then the hike would be easier. Keep in mind that these are just my opinions, other hikers may find it duck soup or hard as heck. It all depends on the individual.