Hiking Trails on Oahu

C-Rider & Ka’ala Falls - February 1, 2014 This weekend had lots of rain which meant one thing… Earlier in the week, The Red Baron was monitoring the weather and planned a hike in Waianae Valley called C-Rider falls. This falls got its name from Waianae Steve who has been hiking in the valley for 30+ years. He created and has maintained many of the trails back there in what is now an elaborate network of trails. This group was suppose to be big 10+, but with rain comes cancellations. In the end, it was just Baron, Darren, and I. I came a bit early, Baron and Darren were there, so we must have started before the projected start time of 8am. I was excited because I had a chance to try out my new North Face jacket which claims to be waterproof. I bought the jacket in the Philippines, most of the products are fakes which makes me think this one is a fake. As we walked up the valley road, Baron found the junction marked by pink paint. From there, we entered a forest and went through the ...

  Malaekahana Pools - January 18, 2014 Three years ago, I didn’t get to the 40 ft. waterfall. Three years went by... Daniel wanted to do this hike and invited whoever, but in the end it would just be me and him. Daniel can be considered one of the experts anywhere from Kahuku to Hau’ula. That is pretty much his neighborhood. He has also hiked many of the trails back there. Not sure if Daniel did any prep for the hike, but I didn’t. I just knew that Malaekahana had a lot of ups and downs. It is not an easy ridge. Today, we would not be going to the summit. Instead, we would veer right at the junction and head down to the pools. I’ve been to these pools once before, but only explored very little.  Daniel met me at the community park at around 8am. From there we hiked at a blistering pace up and down Malaekahana ridge until we hit the junction. The walk down towards the gulch does take a while, I’d say at least 20 minutes. At the stream, we could either go right or left. I knew w...

Kaupo #2-1-2 - January 5, 2014 I was invited via a meeting at Tita’s Grill by a crazy bastid named Baron last Thursday. He invited me on Kaupo 1. I never did any of the Kaupo’s. Today I would have the opportunity to do 2 of them. The Kaupo Cliffs are ridges that appear vertical. After Sea Life Park is where the cliffs start. I think there are 8 or 9 of them. As far as I know, hikers have done 1,2,3,4..maybe 7. The easiest one is Kaupo #2. There’s a section on Kaupo #1 that is not climbable without gear, so to get to Kaupo 1, one must crossover at a certain point from Kaupo #2. That is what we did today. We met on a street in Waimanalo near the Tom Tom trailhead. Joining the hike today would be Baron, Cory, Reanne, Troy #2, & “Judge” Darren. I would be in excellent company as these guys blazed trails which cleared the way for the rest of us. We started at the end of the cul de sac, the trail splits and we went left. We hiked for about 30 minutes until we got to what I think was Kaup...

Kawela Bay - January 2, 2014 First hike of the New Year got me doing a shoreline hike. Daniel did this hike multiple times and invited me on this day to do something I’ve always wanted to do, a shoreline hike. I don’t remember doing a shoreline hike before. I think the closest I’ve done is the Rock Bridge. Today was a real shoreline hike in the Kahuku area at Turtle Bay. I picked Daniel up at his house and drove to the Turtle Bay parking lot, we took a path that led us to the beach just left of the hotel. I wanted to take some nice pictures, but was struggling to get things going. Things weren’t going right today. Its a beautiful area! It also provides a different type of hiking experience. Walking on the sand and rocks, listening to the waves. No wonder a lot of relaxation music has sounds of the waves, running water, and singing birds. The human race has been conditioned to relax under those sounds. After about 40 minute leisurely walking, we arrived at a pillbox and took a break adm...