Going to Upper Makua Cave

-

Upper & Lower Makua Cave – July 13, 2012

I’ve known that there was a Makua Cave. You can see it from the road. However, ever since Nate Yuen’s posts a few months back, Oahu hikers now know that there is another cave further up the mountain.

There is also a trail that goes up to the Upper Cave, but it is over loose rock and you must know how to scramble pretty well.

Inviting me today was Christian and Marvin. They came to my house at 7 am and I drove us to Makaha. We got ready and started on the trail to the Upper Makua Cave. It took us about 20 minutes. We scrambled up the mountain, which was somewhat steep. There were two caves. The caves were pretty big, nothing spectacular though. But the view from the caves were spectacular.

Christian thought the cave was bigger and didn’t think that these two caves were the ones. So we went more up the mountain negotiating this steep rock face. It was like Kawiwi because the rocks were really loose and the climb was steep. I took a while because I didn’t like any of the holds that were in front of me. But I can’t stay on the mountain forever, so I chose the holds that I thought were the best and got up. After looking around for 10 minutes, we came up empty. As we started coming down, Christian grabbed a massive boulder which dislodged. He went sliding down the mountain. The incident happen so fast that Marvin and I couldn’t react. Christian regrouped albeit some big scrapes and cuts.

Going down the rock face was difficult for me, especially after Christian’s incident. I regrouped mentally and made it down. While going down, Christian got stung by a wasp. It was not his day.

After getting back to my car, we explored the Lower Makua Cave. It is massive. The ceiling is at least 150 feet high. The width is about 75 feet wide. We went in, but nothing there was great. After a short discussion, we came to the conclusion that we saw all the caves in the area and that there was no massive cave further up the mountain.

One day, I would love to take my kids to the Makua Cave. I’d think they would enjoy it.  

trailhead

Upper Makua Cave, Marvin pictured

lower cave

Christian scratched up

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring a hike in Mililani

-
Image
Waikakalaua Stream – November 23, 2012 We didn’t find the tunnels today, but that’s okay. A few months back, I scouted possible access points to get down towards Waikakalaua Stream. Today, along with Erik, we would find what we were looking for. Erik has lived in Wahiawa his whole life and I have lived in Mililani most of my life. This hike, albeit an exploration hike would make a lot of sense. Waikakalaua stream separates Wahiawa from Mililani. The hike is described in Stuart Ball’s original book, though I don’t have that book, it wouldn’t matter today as we were going to explore a different route.        Our goal was to find the pool and tunnels. We would allot ourselves 2 hours in and 2 hours out, for a total of 4 hours. Erik and I met at the Park & Ride, and immediately we drove up the road. We took a left on the road across Mililani Ike and followed it till its end. After getting out of our vehicles, we immediately tried to find a trail going ...
Read more

Kipapa Trail to Schofield-Waikane

-
Image
  Kipapa to Schofield-Waikane – June 14,15 2013 First of all, the initial plan was to get to Papali-Uka, but that didn’t happen. It is apparent that this route was for the grinders. Knowing what we know now, starting from Manana and getting to Papali would have been a three day thing or a two full day excursion. What we experienced was two 10+ hour hiking days and it was a hard 10+ hours for both days.  The plan today was to start on Manana drop into the valley towards Iliahi ridge, then drop into the valley towards Waiawa, and drop into the valley again towards Kipapa. From Kipapa, we would make the long hike up to the Ko’olau Summit, then to Waiahole Uka, crossover to Waikane, and then all the way to the Poamoho Cabin where we would set up camp. In the morning, we would make the long traverse to Papali Uka. The plan seemed ambitious, it was. But with ambition comes character building and gained experience which makes us into better hikers. To be a good hiker, you have to pus...
Read more

Getting to the Waimalu Meadow

-
Image
Waimano-Meadow - February 4, 2017 This hike was going to be a grinder no matter what way you cut it up. The overall goal was to hike Waimano-Aiea with backup plan #1 Waimano-Meadow back to Waimano or backup plan #2 Waimano-Waimalu Middle. After doing Waimalu Ditch last week, I had a feeling that the Middle Ridge trail would be in bad condition to hike. This led me to the assumption that going down Waimalu Middle would be a bad idea and we would only  go down as a last resort.  I predicted a 12-13 hour hike. Sarah wanted to invite her boyfriend Uhi and friend from Japan Jena. I said ok, but they probably wouldn't be her friend after the hike. Going on the hike today was the overnight crew; Darren, Erik, Aprille, Bernice, and Sarah. Also Darren's girlfriend Jana would be coming.  I met Erik & Aprille in front of the Aiea gate at about 4:30am to stage a car. From there, I drove us to the Waimano trailhead. A lot of hunting trucks were in the area. We started the hike a l...
Read more