Hiking Trails on Oahu

  Aiea Ridge to Red Hill Ridge – December 28, 2011  This hike was super long, over 16 miles long. It will take you all day to do this hike - from sunrise to sunset. The goal today was to hike up Aiea Ridge to its summit, turn right and make the long transverse along the KST to the Josh S. dubbed, Stairway to Hell. After that we would continue on traversing the KST to the Halawa ridge terminus before more traversing to the Red Hill summit. Then from Red Hill ridge, we would go down for about 2 miles then turn left on a side ridge known as the Godek-Jaskulski return trek loop until we hit Kamananui Valley Road. Sounds like a long hike, it was. I drove to Moanalua Community Park to meet Marvin and Nate. From there we staged one car at Moanalua and drove to the Aiea Loop Trail. As we entered the gate, Nate thought it would be a good idea to park outside of the gate because park caretakers close the gate at around 7p. In hindsight, that was the best idea. However, I felt that we wo...

  Laie 18 – December 26, 2011 Pioneered by Pete C., Laie 18 is one hike that offers expert hiking in a unique way. As the name states, you have to swim to and climb up almost 18 waterfalls. You need good climbing skills and good gear to tackle this hike. I didn’t have either today, but I did join one great crew headed by The Red Baron. The crew today included, Baron, Jeremy, Laura, Marga, Randy, and Ronda. These hikers I tell you have a solid resume and have attempted and succeeded doing Oahu’s most notorious trails. We all met each other at Laie field at around 8:15 am, there I met the crew and had a chance to talk story. These short discussion really peak my interest as I gain an immense amount of knowledge about hiking. Off we went on the Laie trail. We hiked for about an hour before going down to Laie stream. From this point you follow the streambed to and up the 17 falls until you hit Laie’s twin falls which would be number 18. Today’s goal was to complete all 18 waterfalls, t...

Aiea Loop Bi-sectional – December 24, 2011 I tried this trail once before in secrecy, one of those after work hikes. But I have fallen short. Last month, the HTMC did the trail on a Saturday. Having something to do that day, I failed to make it out for the outing. A month has past. Being that today was December 24 th  and with the hustle and bustle going on, I decided to try find the Aiea Loop Bisectional trail.  The Aiea Loop Bisectional trail is said to be a HECO powerline trail. It makes you wonder who the coordinator for HECO is. He must know all the hiking routes created by HECO. The Aiea Loop Bisectional trail is only 3 miles long, and literally cuts the Aiea Loop trail in half. My goal today was to hike onto Aiea Loop for about 25 minutes, then I would look for a ribbon or a ridge heading down the mountain to the right. I would take the ridge before rejoining the Aiea Loop trail. I put my plan to execution. At about the 25 minute mark, a trail appeared to the right lead...

  Wailupe Loop – December 19, 2011 What I thought would be a simple loop, turned out to be a difficult jaunt up to the Koolau summit involving many difficult nature made elements. Wailupe Loop is not an advance hike, but its a hard intermediate hike. As you read on you'll know why. The day started off at 6am, I got my stuff ready and headed towards Hawaii Kai. I arrived at the trailhead at about 7:45am, meeting up with some HTMC members. Wailupe is one of many Hawaii Kai valleys. The plan today was to walk through the valley before hitting up a ridge to gain the summit. We then would cross the KST to the Wiliwilinui summit, walk down Wiliwilinui before making a left and taking a connector trail to Wailupe valley. The turnout was solid. I’d say there were at least 25 hikers that made their way out to hike today. As we were waiting for hiker’s to arrive, it started to rain. Everyone took out their jacket, then we started to proceed. The stroll through the valley was nice. There is pr...

Pu’u O Kona – December 16, 2011 One of Oahu’s great hiking routes. Today Nate and I hiked onto the Kuliouou West ridge to Pu’u O Kona. Then, we traversed the Koolau Summit Trail (KST) to the Kuliouou lookout. Finally, we went down the Kuliouou State trail (which is the East ridge). What a hike! I started the day by getting the kids ready for school, dropping them off, then heading towards Mililani McDonald’s to meet Nate. Nate dropped his truck off at my mom’s house, hopped in my car, and off we were to Hawaii Kai. There was traffic, but not too much since most schools are out for break, except my kids who are on multi-track. We parked on Kala'au street and walked up to the trailhead. To do Kuliouou West, you have to past the state trailhead sign and continue up the road till you reach the Board of Water Supply pumping station. The Kuliouou West trail starts before the pumping station to the right. The initial hike is all uphill. Doing the Honolulu Marathon the week before wore me ...

  Pali Notches - December 5, 2011 After Pali Puka, it would be a good idea to do Pali Notches. Pali Notches is way more difficult than Pali Puka. And by that I mean there was no doubt what category I would put it in. It is definitely an expert hike. The Pali Puka trailhead is located to the left by the buses parking lot. The Pali Notches trailhead is located right near the lookout. Right before the lookout, look up to the right and you’ll see the trail. This trail is longer and steeper than the puka trail. The gain in elevation is substantial. If you are a novice or intermediate hiker and gain this much elevation with this much exposure, you will begin to have doubts in your head and panic may enter your body. Nate led the way. The initial section is steep which was fine for me. The problem was the foot and hand holds. Don’t get me wrong, there were roots and tree trunks. But that was all. It was upward scrambling. I had some difficulty as I always do with either slippery mud ...

  Luakaha Falls – December 4, 2011 After the Puka and Notches, Nate and I decided to hike the Luakaha falls trail on Nuuanu Pali Drive.    Luakaha    falls is on private property. I never heard of anyone getting busted, but the falls is literally in someone’s backyard. Luakaha  falls is a 50 foot waterfall that spills into a shallow pool. Near the pool is a huge yard which is manicured to perfection. The trail starts on Nuuanu Pali Drive. It is a short 5-7 minute hike to the top of the falls. top of falls Luakaha Falls There is one problem however, there was no define trail that lead down towards the base of the falls. Nate and I exhausted all possible options and came up empty. We decided to go down the mountain via a bamboo grove. It was just straight bushwhacking. It wasn’t hard though. In about 10 minutes we jumped into the pool and admired the falls. The falls is majestic. After 10 minutes, paranoia set in because we were standing in someone’s backyard...

  Pali Puka - December 4, 2011 I’ve heard that hiking up to Pali Puka was short. I also heard that it was dangerous. Sounds like an fun. I wasn’t sure whether or not to put this hike in the advanced or difficult category. This hike is not really on the difficult level, but it contradicts the description for the advanced category as well because the hike is so short. After carefully examining what I went through, I decided to put the Pali Puka hike in the advanced category as it is not dangerous enough to be considered a difficult hike. I woke up super early and met Nate at the Pali Safeway. I left my car at Safeway and Nate drove us to the Pali lookout. We were the first ones there. The trailhead to Pali Puka starts near the bus parking lot or to the left of the lookout. As you look left you can see the vertical Pali that looks intimidating to say the least. The Puka is right before that vertical Pali. There is a concrete wall which is broken indicating the start of the t...