Kea'au Middle Ridge Hike
Kea'au Middle Ridge – March 18, 2012
On the quarterly Hawaii Trail & Mountain Club (HTMC) schedule today was Kea'au Ridge. The HTMC route today was to hike up Kea'au’s Middle Ridge to its summit, and then go back. As much as I wanted to do this hike, I did prefer to do the Kea'au-Ohikilolo rectangle. That route consist of taking you up Kea'au’s Middle Ridge, then making a left to Pu’u Ohikilolo, taking Ohikilolo Ridge down to a junction before returning to a dirt road. If I could compare it to another classic route, I would compare it to the Keahi a Kahoe hike which is similar hike.
The real Kea'au Ridge is located to the east side of Ohikilolo Valley, and of course the ridge on the left side is Ohikilolo Ridge.
The meeting place was at Makaha beach at 8:30am. I drove to Makaha in plenty of time, but as I passed Makaha Beach, there was no one there. Perplexed, I drove further until I hit Kaena Point. Oops, not the right way so made a decision to call Ralph (the coordinator) to see where the meeting place was. He told me that they just left Makaha Beach and was heading towards Our Lady of Kea'au. As I was driving, I seen a convoy of cars heading Kaena Point bound, I made an illegal U-turn to join up with them. Laura was opening the gate. One good thing, at least we weren’t parking our cars near all the homeless people. I mean, I know some homeless people work and make money, but to leave our cars there for an extended period of time, well you come to your own conclusion.
There were about 20 of us. I parked my car behind everyone and started in the back. I joined up with Rich Bailey who is a coordinator for the Sierra Club and HTMC member. Rich has knowledge like no tomorrow and it would be a good idea to pick his brain, which I did.
Ohikilolo Valley was hot, super hot. What made it worst was that I partied hard last night and slept late. So with a hangover and only 4 hours of sleep, I made an attempt to do this hike which is stupid, refer to my Wailupe hike to see what I felt like after a hangover and lacked sleep. As we started going uphill on the dirt road my legs were tight, I feared cramping. I couldn’t regulate my sweating and was drenched in perspiration.
I hiked further leaving Rich and meeting up with Ralph. He talked about the amazing waterfall chutes going off from Ohikilolo Ridge a few weeks earlier while doing trail maintenance. They cleared Kea'au Middle Ridge during the flash flood.
After passing Ralph, I met up with Will and Kelly. I tried doing some catching up with Will; he wanted to know how Nate was doing. I told him, probably still at boot camp. I talked with Kelly who actually did the Kea'au-Ohikilolo rectangle loop a month earlier. Her crew ran out of time and had to pull an overnighter. Kelly mentioned in great detail what happen that night. I’m always amazed at Kelly’s recall memory.
I eventually passed them and headed up the mountain. I met Nate whom I met at Kawai’iki about one month ago. I also had a chance to meet his friends and cousins. They are new to the HTMC, but have already become advanced hikers, completing a few advanced hikes already. I would pace with them the rest of the way to Kea'au.
The climb was steep, my muscle were tight as hell. I had to take so many breaks. I knew my cardio already checked out and was done for the day. I was left to quick recoup and recovery. However, after a night of drinking recovery wouldn’t happen today. Eventually, there appeared some narrow dikes with some nice drop offs. I made sure I focused as one slip is automatic disaster. There was another false peak with some minor scrambling. The rocks were slippery and I lost my grip a few times. Rope was there to assist, but not needed. After finishing the false, peak, the final climb to Kea'au was all out scrambling. I was tired already, but just sucked it up and made my way to the summit.
I took out a granola bar and scarfed it down. To my surprise, there were a lot of people at the summit. I talked with Laredo about some hiking stuff. Laredo was going with Gwen to Ka’ala. Talk about a long ass hike. I said my hellos to the rabbits and Bob and Jennie. I also had a chance to meet Patrick Rorie. He was an original of the group Oahu Hiking Enthusiast. There write ups are just outstanding and is what we in the hiking community uses for accurate information. I was glad to meet Patrick in the flesh, he is a nice guy. As much as I wanted to enjoy the summit, I had to get to the waterpark to meet Michelle and the kids.
I booked it down the mountain. I followed ribbons and must have missed a critical junction because the vegetation became think and almost impassible. Shit I told myself. I’m on the wrong frickin’ ridge. I took out my GPS (I should attach to my bag so I can check it from time to time) and saw that indeed I was on the wrong ridge. The thick vegetation opened up somewhat and I could plow my way through. Panic did not set it, but since it was so hot and I was rushing, sweat was pouring down my forehead. I made a decision to take the ridge down as far as it would go; I just hoped that there wouldn’t be a cliff that I could not pass. I also decided to try meet up with my GPS markings of the Ka'eau Middle Ridge trail. Thank god this valley is so small. If it was wide like Nuuanu or Kahana, I would be lost for the entire day. After about 1 hour of trying to find my way back, I rejoined the dirt road and got back to the gate. I even beat Bob and Jennie who left before me.
After a long hot day, I went to the waterpark to cool off. We have the gold card annual pass which is a must if you want to go to the waterpark, that or get entry for free. I took my son and daughter on a bunch of rides, letting the water take off all the dirt from a day of hiking.
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