The mountains were calling. The weather was close to picture perfect. We must go hiking.

Poamoho Road

Permit and 4×4 ride in hand, I met up with Agnes, Chris, Glenn and Ryan in Wahiawa. Shout out to Zack for picking us up and driving up the road. Mini-van would not have cut it.

Poamoho Road

Enjoying the bumpy ride and fresh air. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Trailhead

Group photo left to right: Ryan, Glenn, myself, Chris and Agnes.

Poamoho Trail

The group making their way on the mostly graded trail. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Trail

Looking down into Helemano Stream?

Poamoho Trail

We are here. Photo by Chris Bautista.

Poamoho Trail

Hiking into unmaintained territory. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Trail

Following the fence. A more and more common theme hiking in the mountains as of late. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Trail

Ryan passing over the landslide area.

Poamoho Trail

Scenic view. One of many more to come. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Trail

Heading into a small gulch. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Trail

Stream crossing and jumping.

Poamoho Trail

Ryan and Glenn approaching the Clines Memorial.

Poamoho Summit

Group photo at one of the best summit views on the island.

Poamoho Summit

Jurassic.

Poamoho Summit

Fun with air bag …

Poamoho Summit

… and umbrella. Props supplied by Agnes. Photo by Chris Bautista.

KSRT

Fun and games were over. Time to head to the cabin.

KSRT

Cabin spotted. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

KSRT

Ryan soaking in the views. Jurassic.

Poamoho Cabin

The cabin, built in 1998, is still holding up remarkably well. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Cabin

Lunch time, straight from OCCC. Shoyu chicken, hard boiled eggs and rice. Salamat. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Poamoho Cabin

Cabin life. Photos by Agnes Bryant and Chris Bautista.

KST

We took our leave of the cabin as another group of hikers, two legged and four legged, arrived at the fence. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

KST

Back on the fence line. Not for long.

KST

Chris on the Ko’olau Summit Trail. It was so blue blue.

KSRT

Heading towards the notch.

KST

We all had to stop every now and then on the trail and take home photographic memories. It was so clear.

KST

Ryan at the last fence gate on the KST. For now.

KST

Panoramic view. Just stunning scenery all around.

KST

Chris and Glenn making their way on the trail.

KST

Agnes “slow my butt” Bryant in the front of the pack.

KST

Glenn and Agnes brushing past a clump of loulu palm trees.

Pauao Ridge Junction

Long ungraded five mile trail down into Kahana Valley.

KST

The trail that was dynamited and dug out by the Civilian Conservations Corps (CCC) back in the 1930s.

KST

Agnes and Glenn making their way up and over the landslide section of the trail.

KST

Don’t look back. Think we picked up a hitch hiker.

KST

I’m not even on Facebook. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

KST

Ryan working out a cramp or practicing his kung fu kick. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

KST

Ryan closing the distance to the junction.

Junction

Group photo at the Schofield-Waikane Junction.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Chris leaving behind the scenic Windward views. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

False summit with stunning views of the entire Waianae Mountain Range.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Ryan and Glenn making their way down the six mile trail …

Schofield-Waikane Trail

… which was recently cleared by the HTMC trail clearing crew.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Following the fence line down while dodging errant pick axes.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Camp life. Pounding fence stakes is hard work. Just ask Ryan.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Stump hopper.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

The trail switched to the right …

Schofield-Waikane Trail

… and then back to the left.

Stream Junction

What stream? Let’s keep moving. We have water.

Schofield-Waikane Trail

Ryan going up the steps and out to …

Trailhead

… the trail sign. Group photo by Agnes Bryant.

Jeep road

Auto pilot going down the numbing road. One foot in front of the other. Repeat. Photo by Agnes Bryant.

Jeep road

What birds?

Jeep road

Ryan transitioning from shoes to slippers. Why didn’t we think of that? Group photo by Agnes Bryant.

East Range

Let’s double time it out of here.

All pau

The sun was still out. Our cars were still where we left them. Life was good.

GPS Tracks

Our superbly stunning hike covered 12.51 miles through spectacular scenery. Great time with good friends. Post hike meal at Pho King. I should have had the phoking pho instead.

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 visited Schofield Barracks to climb the 2,883 foot mountain of Pu’u Hapapa, a trail that is reportedly rarely hiked and maintained. The last time we were here, we had hiked Pu’u Kalena, which ended with us on top of Oahu’s second highest mountain.

Kolekole Pass Rock

The trailhead is clearly marked by signs that say “Warning Dangerous Trails Ahead.” We went down the dirt path which led us up wooden steps and arrived at the Kolekole Pass Rock or Pohaku Hupeloa, which was supposedly used as a chopping block for some unfortunate Hawaiians. After one of our hiking group, Lianne, demonstrated how the rock was used, we continued around a communications tower and took the next two left forks.

The notched ridge

We came to this open meadow, where views of Lualualei valley awaited us at the edge and then we saw the ridge that we had to climb in order to get to the top, we would start from the left going to the right, until we made the summit of Pu’u Hapapa.

Paper bark trees

We walked past more danger signs on the far left of the meadow to get back on the trail which soon entered a grove of paper bark trees, that we followed to get to the top of the ridge.

First notch

We used the dirt and grass trail that is on the left hand side of the first notch to make the climb.  To mix things up, when we came back down, we climbed down the rockface of the first notch which made it a tad more challenging.

Looking back

Looking back, we saw the rock formation that juts out right before the first notch.

Second notch

When we started going up the second notch, the wind really started gusting and we actually started to feel a little chilly.

Ridge

After we climbed the two notches, it was pretty much straight forward ridge hiking to the top of Pu’u Hapapa. You know you are almost to the summit, when you come across the fence that is supposed to keep the goats and pigs out.

Top of Pu'u Hapapa

It took us about two hours to reach the top of Pu’u Hapapa, with great views of Lualualei valley and the Waianae coast below us.

Mount Ka'ala and Pu'u Kalena

Looking to our right, we saw Kolekole Pass and the Waianae mountain range. We also noticed that some hikers had stapled toy soldiers to the slats that marked the top of the mountain.

Central Oahu

A view of Schofield Barracks, which is where the toy soldiers came from real soldiers?

That's the ridge we're supposed to be on!

On our way down, we took a right turn by mistake, which would have made our hike into a loop except we didn’t know how far off we would end up at. So we ended up backtracking up the ridge to go back down the correct ridge. Nothing like a little extra cardio exercise to spice up one’s hike!

Bunny ears

Going back down the trail, we noticed that the Easter Bunny had left his/her ears on one of the trees. We didn’t find any Easter eggs waiting for us at our cars after 4 1/2 hours hiking, so we had lunch at Dot’s in Wahiawa and called it a day.

Originally we had a group of three to hike Pu’u Kalena, Oahu’s second highest mountain at 3,504 feet located on Schofield Barracks. One bailed to go kayaking instead, on that scorcher of a day, I’m not sure who made the better choice. We drove through Lyman Gate after showing our papers and were given a day’s pass to roam Schofield Barracks at our leisure. We drove straight down Lyman road and turned left on KoleKole Road passing housing, motorpools and military ranges. We parked at a small clearing to the left just before the KoleKole Pass gate and walked across to road and passed two concrete blocks that marked the start of the trailhead.

What trail?

We made our way up the dirt road and came across this rocky and crumbly section of the mountain. We just followed the path of least crumbly rock resistance.

Good morning Wahiawa!

After only 15 minutes of huffing and puffing, we saw the sun warming up Central Oahu.

No ropes here

Climbing up the mountain, we noticed that Pu’u Kalena is one of the few hikes that ropes are noticeably absent on the trail. Also with today being Memorial Day, the military’s guns were deafeningly silent.

The first peak

After passing a narrow dike section, we made the first peak in about an hour. There are two false peaks that must be climbed, before starting to tackle the last peak of Kalena.

Break area

Climbing down from the first peak into a saddle that goes into a valley, we took a short breather on somebody’s home made bench. Must have been an Eagle Scout.

Second peak

After getting our second wind, we climbed out of the saddle to a small hill and went back down another saddle before going up the second peak.

Mount Ka'ala

Pushing up to the final peak of Kalena, we saw one of the few ropes on the trail. The heavy vegetation seemed to mask the steepness of the climb, as it didn’t seem all that bad. We made the top in a little over three hours.

Waianae coast

The views from the top were stupendous, with sweeping views of the Waianae coast and Mount Ka’ala. We signed our names in the guest log that was hanging from the moss covered ohia tree. The log is actually just a Post-It pad in a thermos.

Going back down the dike

After soaking in the views and grabbing a bite to eat and drinking warm water, the hardest part of the hike lay ahead. The trail going back down to me is the hardest part of any ridge hike.

Kolekole Pass Road

After making our way back down the trail on wobbly legs, we came across the rocky and crumbly section, where sliding on our feet and okoles was the fastest and safest way to get down back to our cars.