Lacking any direction or motivation for hiking this weekend, I was invited by Daryl to join his group for a loop hike starting in Palolo. Photo by Mark Carinoso.

Trailhead

It was a full house in the back of the valley. Outside of organized club hikes, this was the biggest group I have hiked with to date.

Trailhead

We started down the trail at our own risk. Where do we sign the liability waivers?

Palolo Valley

Making our way down through fallen trees and moss slicked boulders.

Wai’oma’o Stream

Rock hopping the stream that feds the lush valley.

Palolo Valley

Following the water pipe into the forested valley.

Palolo Valley

Pushing deeper into the valley with dreams of mountain apples hanging from low hanging branches dancing in my head.

Palolo Valley

Switching from the new pipe to the old pipe, where somebody in the group had to be administered lite first aid. Hike on.

Palolo Valley

We dropped down to see the first waterfall after some deliberation at the top.

Waterfall #1

Group photo with the mosquitoes. Didn’t get their names. But they got ours.

Palolo Valley

We contoured and climbed up to the left of the first waterfall.

Waterfall #2

Sitting and standing in front of the second and slightly larger waterfall.

Palolo Valley

Climbing up the rocky trail to the right of the waterfall. Photo by Cristy CM.

Palolo Valley

Making our way on the rooted trail that leads to the top.

Waterfall #2

Looking down at some of the group still snapping pictures from the base. We didn’t get too close, as the edge has claimed a couple of victims in the past. Photo by Harold Viloan.

Palolo Valley

We followed the stream to the base of the last waterfall where preparation for the flag photo shoot was underway.

Waterfall #3

Celebrating Independence Day a little early.

Waterfall #3

Making our way up the trickling multi-tiered waterfall. Photo by Terrance Manuel.

Waterfall #3

The group staggering their climb up.

Waterfall #3

Crossing over to the dry side.

Waterfall #3

Almost to the top of the waterfall where we would connect to the crater rim. Photo by Harold Viloan.

Crater rim

Group photo with the marsh filled reservoir behind us. I cracked open my semi-frozen bottle of Coca-Cola that I had brought along, something I had been longing to do, but always forgetting. Not today. I think I will start doing this on every hike. Refreshing.

Crater rim

Cardio climb through the fern covered rim.

Crater rim

Waiting for the wind to flutter the flag.

Crater rim

Some chose to take the higher road and others the lower one.

Crater rim

Huffing and puffing our way to the top.

Close shave

Mark and Harold demonstrating the proper execution of a dry shave in the mountains.

Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail (KSRT)

Setting foot on the Ko’olau Mountain Range. Photo by Cristy CM.

KSRT

The group coming down the mountain.

Panoramic view

Power lines to Power lines.

Swingers

Build it and they will swing it.

KSRT

Just missing the fireworks for our group flag photo.

KSRT

Leaving the crater behind as we enjoyed Windward views on our way down the ridge.

KSRT

Wading through the overgrowth on the ridge as we approached the notch.

KSRT

Climbing up the pock marked hill.

KSRT

Following in the footsteps of others before us. Photo by Daryl Cacatian.

Mount Olympus

Group photo at the top of Awaawaloa Summit.

KSRT

Leaving the summit behind us.

KSRT

It was unusually clear on the ridges, especially in the vicinity of Mount Olympus.

KSRT

We saw what looked like a fresh cut trail ahead of us that contoured below the KSRT.

Waahila Ridge Trail

Looking back. Still clear. Amazing.

Waahila Ridge Trail

Making our way down the deeply rutted trail. Photo by Cristy CM.

Junction

We took a short break and then headed down the trail into Manoa Valley.

Kolowalu Trail

Kevin sitting in a tree … missing somebody … and the nursery rhyme would be complete.

Kolowalu Trail

Scenic dead tree spot overlooking Manoa Valley.

Kolowalu Trail

Passing another fallen tree in the forest.

All pau

We got everybody? Let’s see. 1, 2, 3 … 14. Missing one. Kay couldn’t wait for the rest of the group. Call off the search party.

GPS Tracks

The hike covered 5.27 miles through waterfalls, tuff cone and ridge trails. Fun hike with new and old friends. Post hike meal at Happy Days. Made it in time for the dim sum carts. Make sure you double down on those chicken feet.

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.

Met up with Alex, Gary and Gen deep in Palolo Valley to loop a hidden crater nestled against the Ko’olau Range. Early hikers gets the limited parking spaces.

Trailhead

Going down the rabbit hole. Last time we took the wrong road and ran into two large dogs. Protective dogs. They are still around.

Going down

Making our way down the flagged trail.

Ginger Shampoo

Abundant awapuhi growing on the stream banks. Forget Paul Mitchell. Straight from the source.

Wai’oma’o stream

Morning yoga.

Water follows the arrow

We soon left the stream and followed the water pipe as it snaked through the lush forest.

Human picker

Catch! Alex tossing out mountain apples like they were free or something.

Landslide

The black pipe’s continuity was interrupted by white PVC piping, a testament to the power of Mother Nature.

Which one carries the water?

Crossing the new pipe to get over the old pipe.

Waterfall #1

We dropped down into the first waterfall.

Seeking the magic mushroom

Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head.

Going up

We climbed out of the waterfall and made our way up the rocky trail to the left.

Looking down

Water plunging down the 40′ fall.

Waterfall #2

Group photo left to right: Alex, myself, Gen and Gary.

Contour

We climbed the trail to the right and walked on tree branches to make our way up the cliff.

Memorial rock

Alex making his way around the bronze plaque dedicated to Heidi Marie Page.

Close to the edge

Water gushing over the 50′ fall and trickling down the valley stream.

Follow the stream

We followed the stream that lead us to…

Waterfall #3

…the longest and gradual of the waterfalls.

Kalo patch

Got poi?

Synchronized hiking

Gary and Gen crossing the waterfall.

Slippery when wet

Need rope? Maybe not.

End of the waterfalls

We soon crested the cascading falls and took the trail to the right to gain the ridge.

Ridgeline

Straight shot to the Ko’olaus.

Steep climb

The trail became steeper, muddier and sparsely vegetated as we neared the top.

Ko’olau Range

Looking towards Mount Olympus and points beyond.

Ka’au crater

The marsh filled crater that constantly feeds the waterfalls. One day I would like to paddle a small boat in there.

Cloudy Olomana

Checked out a couple windward ridges for future hikes.

2,395′ summit of Palikea

Afternoon siesta and yoga at the top.

KSRT

Traversing the Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail.

Another view

Peeking into the crater and the sprawling city of Honolulu beyond.

On the edge

Soaking in the cloudy views.

Zip line

If you build it, they will come. In droves.

Ridge hike

Hiking in the clouds towards the second power lines. Always a surreal experience.

Going down

Gary and Gen making their way down the ridgeline.

Connecting powerline

The trail soon leveled out. Easy peasy.

Barefoot hiking

Alex shed his shoes due to festering blisters as we took the ridge down that bypassed the waterfalls.

Rope vs branch

Whatever it takes to make your way down.

Pipe going down

The ridge dropped us back down into the stream trail.

Follow the arrow

Signs and ribbons sprinkled the trail like bread crumbs.

All pau

We came out of the canopy filtered trail and walked back to our cars.

GPS Tracks

The waterfalls, crater and ridge hike covered 5.33 miles. Post hike meal at Big City Diners. Side of Pad Thai.

Having never done a night hike, well intentionally, we decided that this month’s full moon or blue moon was too good to pass up a chance to hike the entire crater rim of Diamond Head at night. I met up with Chris, Chance “Shoeless”, Kaimi and Sina at 9:30pm. Thanks to Dave for the directions! We skirted the guardrail at the end of the street and made our way up to the crater rim. The full moon was very bright, making it quite easy to see where we were going, we didn’t even need flashlights.

Military Bunker

Once we got to the rim, I attached a chemlight to one of the Kiawe tree branches to mark our return spot and then we headed left to the lookout. We soon came upon this half buried bunker with the roof partially open, as we peered inside with the assistance of our cell phone flashlights, we could see flags and pictures inside the bunker. There are actually stairs that lead down to this bunker, but it was locked. With no way of getting inside, short of climbing in from the top; which Chance was vigorously trying to persuade us to do, we continued our way on the rim. I also didn’t realize that there are roads inside the crater that are actually quite close to the rim in some areas.

Waikiki at Night

We soon passed two more pillbox bunkers and then ran across the remnants of barbed wire on the ocean side, probably dating back from World War 2. The rim gradually became steeper as we headed towards the lookout.

Panoramic night view from the lookout

Click here to see the larger panoramic image taken by Chris with his phone.

Where’s the moon?

Clouds started to hide the moon from us for a couple hours and gently pelted us with light showers. We got to the lookout around midnight just in time to take shelter from the light drizzle.

Diamond Head Lookout

The showers soon stopped out and the moon came back out. The night views of the city lights from the top at 761′ were just amazing, unfortunately most of my pictures came out either blurry or dark. So much for night mode on my camera. We then left the lookout and passed the last bunker on the rim and made our way down. Some parts of the rim narrowed considerably and there were a couple rock faces we had to climb down, all in the moonlit darkness. Sina soon ran out of gas around 3:10am and couldn’t go further; so we agreed that Chris, Kaimi and Sina would head down in the crater and camp out until the park opened at 6am. Chance and I would return back to where we had started from and pick them up at the bus stop inside the crater when they opened. We continued on the now flat rim trail, an irony that we passed on to the rest of the group when we saw them in the morning, passed the communications tower and headed back down the crater and got to our cars around 4:45am.

Panoramic view of Diamond Head

We drove to the lookout point that is right before the Diamond Head Kahala Tunnel and took a power nap. At around 5:45am, we woke up to hordes of tourists milling around and waiting for the gates to open. After the long stream of tour buses made their way into the tunnel and gave us a chance to get in, we picked up the rest of the group and headed home to a well deserved sleep. Click here to see the larger image of Diamond Head Crater Rim from inside the park.

The signs saying “kapu”, “keep out”, “private road”, and “no entry” all seemed to deter hikers from entering Ka’au Crater. What really gave us pause, after driving into Palolo Valley and parking at the end of Waiomao Road, was the two large barking dogs that sat in the middle of the road. After debating if we should hike another trail, my friend picked up a large stick and grabbed my can of bug spray, in case the dogs turned out to be more bite than bark. We took the left road which leads to the trailhead and the dogs left us alone.

First waterfall

We edged our way around to the left of the watershed fence, walked down a short paved road which eventually turned into the trail that took us to Waiomao stream and deep into the lush green Palolo valley. There is also a metal water pipe that runs along most of the trail and leads you straight to the first waterfall. We climbed down to the pool of the first waterfall from the trail and foolishly tried to blaze on our own trail to the top on the right of the waterfall, we did not succeed. Needless to say, the trail continues up the left side of the waterfall, after you climb back up from the pool and get away from all the mosquitoes.

Top of the first waterfall

We crossed the top of the first waterfall and peered over the edge to get a look, not too close, as we didn’t want to be doing a swan dive 40 feet down.

Second waterfall

The second waterfall looked just as nice as the first one, and for some reason had less mosquitoes. We followed the trail to the right to get to the top of the waterfall, there is a narrow ledge we had to walk across but we had tree roots and ropes to help us out.

Top of second waterfall

At the top of the second waterfall is a good sized boulder that has a memorial plaque for Heidi Marie Page, whose life seemed tragically cut short.

Third waterfall

We hit the third and final waterfall, which stretched the longest as the water cascaded from the crater down the side of the mountain. We started from the left hand side and eventually crossed over to the right hand side with the assistance of ropes and made our way up to the crater rim.

Lanipo Trail

We saw the still visible scars from the small plane crash off Lanipo Trail that happened back in January of 2010.

Ka'au Crater

When we reached the crater rim, we had our first good look inside the crater. Ka’au crater is a bowl shaped crater that collects water in a marshy environment that in turn feeds the three waterfalls. It looked surreal and out of place in a volcanic crater.

Windward view

We made it to the summit of the ridge and was treated to an amazing view of the Windward side complete with rolling clouds. After taking a break, we went back down the rim. There is another trail at the top of the third waterfall that took us down into the valley, so we didn’t have to climb back down the waterfalls. The entire hike took us about six hours and when we got back to the trailhead, the two dogs were still there and one of them actually chased us for a short distance. We took the hint and piled into our cars and went home for the day.