Met up with Dale and Jasmin in Kuli’ou’ou Valley to piggyback on HTMC‘s hike. The club no longer congregates near the top of the street, but further down the trail road due to numerous neighbor complaints about the collective noise.

Trailhead

Hike coordinator, Barb, explaining the two different route options available to the group. Plan A was go up to Puu O Kona and come back down the same way. Plan B was go up to Puu O Kona and come down Kuli’ou’ou Ridge. We were going with Plan C.

Kuli’ou’ou Valley

Rich Bailey, the club’s unofficial videographer, making sure I am framing my picture correctly or just wants to be in the picture?

Kuli’ou’ou Valley

Jasmin making her way up through the carpet of matted pine needles.

West Kuli’ou’ou Ridge

Sweeping rain showers splattered our progress on the ridge.

West Kuli’ou’ou Ridge

Going up the wide path that the HTMC trail crew had cleared weeks earlier. Kudos to these hard working men and women that keep the trails alive and well in the mountains.

West Kuli’ou’ou Ridge

Working our way up the eroded section of the trail.

West Kuli’ou’ou Ridge

Rich showing exemplary dexterity by using his walking stick and the rope at the same time to pull himself up.

West Kuli’ou’ou Ridge

Almost to the 2,200′ summit.

Puu O Kona

Group photo left to right: Stuart, Rich, myself, Don and Janice.

Puu O Kona

The group leaving me at the summit to continue the hike towards Kuli’ou’ou. I ate my lunch in solitude on the summit, waiting for Dale and Jasmin.

Puu O Kona

Reunited, group photo left to right: Jasmin, Dale, myself and Ralph, who swept Jasmin to the top.

Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail (KSRT)

Perfect timing as we left the summit, the clouds blew over the mountains. Stunning views all around.

KSRT

Taking a breather in between the ups and downs.

KSRT

Dale standing by the scalloped sections of the ridge.

KSRT

Jasmin and myself coming down the well-known eroded section of the ridge. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

KSRT

We soon ran into hikers coming from Kuli’ou’ou and most of them knew Dale. Time to talk story.

KSRT

Jasmin standing on one of the most photographed and camped spots on the Southern Ko’olaus.

KSRT

We caught up with the group from Puu O Kona who had lunched further down on the ridge.

KSRT

Looking back at the hikers making their way to Puu O Kona.

Go with the wind

Be the tree. Lean like the tree. Zen hiking.

Whole Foods Market

Fresh pickings. Thimble berry and mushroom flavored flowers. Party in your mouth.

KSRT

Dale and Jasmin on the exposed section of the ridge line.

KSRT

Oahu’s answer to the sliding sands trail in Haleakala.

Kuli’ou’ou

Dale and Jasmin approaching the 2,028′ summit.

Kuli’ou’ou

Group photo left to right: unidentified hiker, Rich, myself, Janice, Don, Jasmin, Dale, unidentified dog, Stuart and Ralph. The dog knew which way to look.

Kuli’ou’ou

We took our leave of the group that headed down Kuli’ou’ou Ridge and continued on the KSRT. Are you coming with us buddy?

KSRT

The trail alternated between exposed and forested sections.

KSRT

Where Leeward meets Windward at the power lines.

KSRT

Popping out of the vegetation and looking ahead to the second set of power lines straddling the mountains.

KSRT

Great scenic spot to soak in the mountain, coastal and ocean views. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

KSRT

Contouring through the heavily wooded trail section.

Hahaione Pyramid

The profile of the pyramid is hard to pick out from this side. So is the hiker’s profile. Photo by Dale Yoshizu.

Hahaione Pyramid

Jasmin climbing her way up.

Hahaione Pyramid

Dale hiking like an Egyptian. Photo by Jasmin Nepomuceno.

Hahaione Pyramid

Top of the pyramid. Photo by Jasmin Nepomuceno.

Hahaione Pyramid

Last look around before leaving the top.

New Mariner’s Ridge

Making our way down the ridge into Hahaione Valley.

Goodwill in the Mountains

Replace hike with work and Dale would have the perfect shirt.

New Mariner’s Ridge

If there were less trees and we had cardboard boxes, it would have been the perfect ride down.

All pau

Walking down the paved road back to our staged car, that would take us back to the other valley.

GPS Tracks

The fun loop hike through the lush valleys and ridges covered only 3.93 miles. Great hike with old and new friends. Post hike meal at Zippy’s. You could cut the silence with a chopstick as somebody was bone tired.

Note: I have been made aware the 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.

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?

Met up with Glenn, Ryan and Thessa in the backyards of Waimanalo to explore a new Windward ridge. Many thanks to Nalo Bob for letting us park at his place.

Bears, cats and horses

Only two are animals, the other is a mineral.

Open field

Walking across the open fields under sunny skies. It was going to be a beautiful day. Or at least that’s what somebody said. It wasn’t Guy Hagi.

Got Milk?

Lani Moo left the ranch in 2001. The University of Hawaii is slated to acquire all 360 acres.

Stay to the right

Ryan heading into the forest. Stay to the right of the gully. One of many gullies.

Nice ferns

Surprisingly we picked up a path through the ferns. Hunter’s trail?

Bushwhacking

The trail ended at the base of the steep ridge. No faded ribbons. No signs of civilization detritus.

Steady climb

Where’s that uki grass when you need it? What’s that noise? Rain.

Whichever way works

We clawed our way up with the help of deep rooted plants and sheer upper body strength.

Break spot

Pausing at the “flattest” spot we found on the steep ridge. Photo by Thessa Bugay.

Back to climbing

Climbing and slipping on the wet carpet of pine needles as we made our way up.

Swing

Short webbing and a tall reach helped us past this tricky spot, which lead us to…

One branch at a time

…another crumbly rock face. Three of us climbed and perched on a shaky tree for a better look. A sapling marked the route up. Flashbacks. Was that lightning? Glenn took off his shoes for traction and slowly climbed to the top, mindful of dropping rocks on us. More rain. Glenn lashed webbing at the top for the rest of us to follow.

Falling rocks

Ryan making his way up. Two good sized rocks in rapid succession tumbled down the cliff. The first missed. The second exploded. Near his head. Strawberry season. Time to get a helmet.

Climb or contour

We alternated between climbing on the crumbly rocks until thick clumps of trees forced us to contour to the side and then back again on the slick rocks, mindful of the drops masked by the heavy growth.

Tree ridge

Thessa threading her way through the trees.

One sock at a time

Some people use spikes. Others use wet socks. To each their own.

Hug that tree

We thought the worst was behind us. Until we saw another steep rock face. Then we discovered a contour trail to the summit. We took the easy option.

Summit

Group photo at the 1,513′ summit left to right: Glenn, Thessa, myself and Ryan. The original plan was to go down Hahaione Windward, but strawberries and weather dictated otherwise. We recalibrated our plans to head down the Leeward side.

One Shoe Ridge

And now you know the rest of the story. If anybody knows the name of this ridge, please enlighten me, until then we’re calling it “One Shoe Ridge” in memory of our collective experience.

Windward view

The clouds started to clear. The rain stopped. The cruel irony.

Pyramid Rock

A short rocky climb.

Running on empty

Wet, cold and exhausted. Not necessarily in that order.

Enjoy the view

Enjoy the company.

Dike crossing

Watch your step.

Hahaione Valley

Now we have a view!

New Mariner’s Ridge

We noticed a lot more ribbons on the trail from last time.

Photo bomber

We skirted the water tank fence to make our way down to the road.

All pau

The crew walking back to civilization. Shout out to Jasmin for picking us up. She even had piping hot nilagang baboy in the trunk for us.

GPS Tracks

The crumbly, overgrown and steep hike covered a paltry 2.36 miles. Pouring rain magnified the difficulty of the ridge. Post hike meal at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers. Wrong burger. Free burger. One side of staples to go.