Hiking Trails on Oahu

Olympus to Hawaii Loa – September 30, 2012 We set off to Makapu’u, but realized that it was not meant to be on this day. Preparation was good, but time was the ultimate killer of this hiking excursion. Marvin has always criticized me for not finishing the Ko'olau Summit section known as K1 to Makapu’u. Really, I didn’t care about this section all too much. Apparently it is a big thing in the Oahu hiking community. It is actually one of the merit badges that a good hiker on Oahu must obtain to be considered…??? Not sure about that one, but doing K1 to Makapu’u is a great accomplishment. I’ve just never put too much thought into it, mainly because the initial goals I set for myself was to 1) chase waterfalls 2) finish Stuart Ball’s book. But while hiking with Marvin, it comes down to summit crossings. He has done 96% of the Ko’olau Summit already and a good amount of the Waianae Summit. Since I’ve been hiking with Marvin over the past year, I’ve been joining him on some great crossov...

Kuaokala – September 22, 2012 I’ve never fully understood the Northern part of the Waianae Summit trail. There are a number of trails that connect which makes it confusing. At the northern end, there is a military tracking station and trails. Access becomes a problem. But don’t get me wrong, I have some experience on these trails. Last year, I’ve done the Kealia trail to the Makua Overlook. Today, I was going to take Michelle and the kids on the Kuaokala trail which accesses the crest of the Waianae summit from the Waianae side. tracking station trailhead Earlier in the week, I applied for the permit for access to the Kaena Point Tracking Station. We had a late start, 12:00 pm. After checking into the tracking station, we drove up the steep road to the top of the Waianae Summit passing a few more manned stations. We parked in a lot and started the trail. The trail stays on top of the crest initially, but contours the left side for a bit, before opening up. The first major benchmark is ...

Pohakea Pass – September 16, 2012 Believe me this was Marvin’s idea. The hike itself is not too bad; the only problem was a massive 80 foot rock face/cliff at the Palikea end of the Pohakea Pass. That one obstacle scared the shit out of me. While preparing for the hike, Marvin felt that Laredo could solo that cliff without rope. I didn't think the climb was possible, but Marvin’s friend Ahnate solo’d the cliff last week and did the entire hike by himself. The plan today was to go up Kaua, make a left on the Waianae summit, problem solve the cliff at the Pohakea Pass, make our way to Palikea, finally go down the Palehua-Palikea road. We met at the golf course on Kunia road. From there, we drove on a dirt road through some farmlands in Kunia. This paranoid me like hell because I thought we would get turned back, but we didn’t. We took the road till its end and parked in some dirt. From there we encountered some construction workers doing some work, they said hi to us. I even heard on...