The Talk of the Town Type of Hike

True Kea'au - September 1, 2014 (Labor Day)

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Since I've been focusing on marathon training, hiking and even doing research for hikes have gone by the waste side. Will L. usually hikes on holidays, probably something him and his wife worked out a while back. I know I can only hike twice and month and get frowned upon by my wife if I go back to back weekends, so I completely understand the married couple hiking thing.

I've done Kea'au Middle twice, one time I even connected to Ohikilolo. But I haven't done True Kea'au. I got word of a route a few years ago from hiking icon Baron Y., but I didn't pay too much attention to him. On that hike he took Darren and Ahnate on the switchback trail. Before the hike, like weeks ago doing Kawiwi, Darren shared some info on the True Kea'au route with me which I apparently didn't listen too carefully. I remember telling him that looks ridiculously steep and I would never do something like that. Little did I know we were going to do it today.

The meeting time was 8am at the Makaha Beach Parking Lot. HTMC meets here when they do Kea'au Middle. I had no idea there were some switchbacks that takes you up the crest of Kea'au Ridge. This is the real Kea'au Ridge, not middle. There were 9 hikers on the hike today, Marvin, Will, Nani, Jasmin, Khym, Ron, Mike, and Tess. The bad thing was that nobody in attendance had done the hike before. Of course that is always a big problem, taking a group of hikers who don't hike together up an unknown ridge. It spells disaster. But the group overall had enough experience and maybe that would carry us through. 

To make things more interesting, Marvin and Will said I would lead the hike. I  laughed at the notion, but they were serious. They felt since I was in marathon shape, I should have no problem. Little did they know I just ran 10 miles yesterday. But my body wasn't sore for some reason, it may have been that 1/2 bottle of Cabernet I drank yesterday that cured my aches and pains.

I asked Marvin where the trailhead was? He wasn't sure, but got a tip that it started at the bottom near a service road. There we searched. I usually look for the path of least resistance. In no time albeit some light bushwhacking we hit the base. It was very hot today!!! The goal was to do the donkey trail (switchback Z trail). But these switchbacks were long. Since it was so hot today, I just went up the mountain, eff the switchbacks. We took a very long time to hit the crest. According to my watch, it took us 1 1/2 hours. We were way behind schedule. At the crest, was an amazing view of the Waianae Coast on both sides. There was also a pillbox. We took a long break. Jasmin baked some amazing muffins for us the day before giving each hiker two each in a ziploc back. I took the two she gave me and ate them. She can absolutely bake some muffins.

Nani & Tess eating Jasmin's muffins

Tess in one of the pillboxes

At this point, Nani and Jasmin decided to turn around. Marvin and Ron went with them. I eyeballed the ridge and saw we had a lot of the ridge left. Personally, I was like...I would rather go back down with Marvin them. But since the rest of the group felt like getting to True Kea'au, I just had to. Tess looked at me to lead. Although I drank last night, I did feel good. Since it was so hot, I perspired all the alcohol. Here we went up and down the ridge line. There are two major ups and downs which is exhausting. I hiked at a fast speed for about 60 minutes with minimal breaks. Tess said we should only take 5 minutes or less on our breaks. Will and Mike were way behind, but they seemed strong and no doubt they were going to make Kea'au. The strong effort by Khym, Tess, and I got great results as we hit the Kea'au geo marker and the water tank bailout ridge in a little over an hour. I asked Tess and Khym to leave their bags at the bailout while we tackled the rest of the hike up to True Kea'au. Tess said her bag was light and decided to carry it with her. On the Backcountry Navigator caltopo map, it says Pu'u Kea'au. Just like Manamana, the topo says Pu'u Manamana. People call it True so they don't get mixed up with the true summit and the geo marker on the trail. The trek up to True Kea'au went up one notch as the scrambling got a little harder and the ridge exposed. The rocks were tall and jagged creating what appeared to be a difficult situation. However, contours to the left and right made the hike seem easy. When we felt like it, we traversed on the uneven rocks. We summited a socked in True Kea'au. At the top to the left is this beautiful hidden valley, green as anything, so lush. 

Ready to descend water tank ridge

After a picture, we went back and found Will and Mike waiting for us on water tank ridge. The hike down water tank ridge was gradual and we thought we would get down to the water tank in no time. But like life, things got harder and we encountered a down climb obstacle. Since I was anointed the hike leader, I had to go down first. The down climb was somewhat sketchy, but not too hard. It was about 10 feet of down climbing. Problem was if you fell, well...it would be bad. Will seemed to handle it well. Everyone in general did well. With the heat pounding on us, I charged down the ridge with reckless abandon and got down to the water tank. My body felt good and my legs were ok. Mike's knees were killing him as Tess gave him support on the way down. 

perilous downclimb

We finally got to the water tank and walked around the fence. I decided to bushwhack towards the road. Will seemed a little tired already. The heat played a big factor. Since I've been running in the sun so much, I guess it didn't bother me all too much. Nani, Ron, and Marvin were waiting in an air conditioned car as they made the great gesture of picking us up saving the 1 1/2 mile walk back to the Makaha Beach. Ron bought us Gatorade, another great gesture. 

Group pic on Exploration Hawaii

This was a good hike, hot, but good. HTMC should do this hike, it would be rated as advanced. The down climb on the water tank trail isn't too easy, but the rest of the ridge is manageable. I think Kea'au Middle might be just as hard. It was good to see Will and Marvin again as well as Nani, Tess, and Jasmin. They are all respectable hikers in the community. The hiking community in general gets a bad rap, but we are all good people and contribute well to the community. It was also good to meet new ambitious hikers like Khym. He has a lot to learn, but will be up there soon. Marvin says we as in (he and I) are the elder statesman in the community, he might actually be right in some weird way. But though our knowledge is good, we have so much more to explore and find out.