Finally, I get to hike the Wahiawa Hills

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Wahiawa Hills - July 9, 2014


The Wahiawa Hills have eluded me for quite sometime. Its a relatively short intermediate level hike. That's not to say all intermediate hikers can do this trail. It can get very confusing with the many ridges and gulches the route traverses. 

Since Daniel was going to Japan in a few days, he wanted to do a hike before he left. The OAG's know that I've never done the Wahiawa Hills, so it was a great gesture to offer to do it. Joining the group today was Erik, DJ, Daniel, Aprille and her friend Lyann. 

We met at Erik's house which seems to be the meeting place for any hike in the Wahiawa area. From there we drove to the end of Wahiawa Heights Drive and parked near two big ass water tanks. 

The beginning of the hike is somewhat special going through a forest of paperbark trees, a picture in this area would look fantastic. We went down a hill and to a small waterfall maybe 10 feet high. The trail is muddy, just like all trails on this part of the island. Kahana and Waikane on the Windward side get a ton of rain and it seems to travel over the Koolaus to this side of the island.


After a stream crossing, we went up the mountain and meandered for a bit encountering a nursery. Erik and Daniel seem to know this section well as they call it Center Street. We took a side trail that we believe would take us to the Poamoho Tunnel. Miraculously a trail was cut leading down towards the Poamoho tunnel. I asked Daniel to go down, but he stopped and turned around because he didn't want to see greatness and spend all day down there. Daniel seems to have will power that many people don't have. After checking out the side trail, we went back on the Wahiawa Hills trail meandered until we got to a brush fire area. This part of the trail became somewhat confusing because of the many ridges in the area. This is also the section called Tamura Ridge where Erik and Daniel bushwhacked and came up one of these ridges. We proceeded down to the stream to take a break; this is also the Original HTMC break spot. Aprille and Lyann had to dig, so Erik went with them. DJ, Daniel, and I stayed to get some pictures. 

pool

After our break, we crossed the stream again and had to climb steeply up a ridge. Mixed with the humidity, the climb up the ridge was uncomfortable. We continued on encountering more hills. One thing I notice and I'm getting better at this, is that the forest changed its appearance. There were more lehua, koa, and eucalyptus trees, also a few mountainous naupaka trees. 

stream

We got to the loop junction, this part of the hike was also confusing as there appeared a trail coming in from the left. Perplexed for a bit, I figured it out after a minute, the trail on the left was how we got to the loop portion of the hike. Yikes! Not too easy!

Our Post Hike Meal was at Lum's. The food there is good and price was affordable. It was Tuesday, specials were Beef Cutlet, Ahi, and Roast Pork ~ all looked good. 

I'm glad I did the Wahiawa Hills with the OAG's. I've hiked with 100s of hikers in the community, but the OAG's are probably the best group of collective individuals I've hiked with. Hopefully we can stay together for many years. I think as long as everyone is selfless and respect everyone's ideals, we should be okay for the meantime. We do have Aprille and Sarah who have huge potential to become great leaders for our group, but will see where life takes them. 

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