Hiking up Waiahole Uka
Waiahole Uka – June 9, 2012
I’ve been waiting for a chance to summit Kipapa, today was my opportunity. The Kipapa trail was built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was last hiked in 2003 by the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC). Now days the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) oversees part of the land the Kipapa trail is on and only grants access for conservation efforts. The lower and upper parts are passable, but the middle section of the trail maybe overgrown.
To summit Kipapa, hikers have to find alternate routes. One route is up a windward ridge in Waiahole, referenced as Waiahole Uka. There are many ridges coming down in the Waiahole area, at least 6, maybe more. However, only 3 appear doable. The route on the north end looks the most doable, but there is a notch near the top and HTMC trailblazer Dayle Turner couldn’t figure the problem out and deemed it undoable. There is another ridge on the south end that looks doable, but no information on the web is available for that ridge. And then there one is of the ridges in the middle, the one Dayle T. pioneered in 2003. This ridge is very steep and appears un-climbable from afar, but it can be done.
Mad Marvin, he is mad you know, wanted to do a super crossover. This crossover will take us up the middle ridge in Waiahole, then take a left at the summit, towards Kipapa, and make the long ass traverse to Manana making the trip at least 13 hours, if not more. However, with my wife working early the next day, I couldn’t risk an overnighter, so I was just up for the summit. Meanwhile, the other members of 7D doing the hike today (Marvin, Ted, Ikaika, & Steve) would make long crossover to Manana.
The prep work felt intense. For some reason everyone was prepping like crazy, I guess since none of us have done Waiahole Uka. I researched the trail online. Marvin mapped out some points on his GPS. Steve mapped out the coordinates and printed out directions. Ikaika had like 5 days of stuff packed in his backpack. Ted, well Ted just wanted to finish in one day, so he amped himself up like most of the hikes he does.
Since I was going to the summit and return, Steve thought it would be a good idea for me to meet the crew at the Manana trailhead, that way I can drive the crew to the Waiahole trailhead, summit and leave, while they can make the crossover and all drive home when they reach Manana, Good idea!
We met each other a little before 5 am at the end of Komo Mai drive and the Manana trailhead. For some reason, I was so tired. I drove everyone to the Waiahole Uka trailhead, we got ready and started hiking at 6 am.
This starting point is also the trail for Kuolani-Waianu, in fact to get to base of Waiahole Uka’s Middle Ridge; we had to hike on the Kuolani-Waianu trail. This was great I thought. I never would have expected to cross this hike off my list on top of summiting Kipapa.
The Kuolani-Waianu trail is a complicated loop. We took a dirt road, but needed to make a right before a chain link fence. Of course, we didn’t make the right and continued straight on the road ending up at a fenced off area with barbed wire. Understanding our crews mentality, we all hopped the barbed wire fence and ended up on some private property, the kind of private property where there is angry barking dogs and probably someone with a shotgun. Steve was like, lets get the fuck out of here in a very quiet manner. So we hopped over the barbed wire fence and went back to look for the junction. After about 20 minutes we found the junction and continued on going through a bamboo forest until eventually hitting Waianu stream. The stream was running well considered how hot it was during the past weeks, must be a strong natural spring.
After the stream crossing, the road went left or right. We went right, either way is fine but the directions Steve had were meant for us to go left, though it wasn’t explicitly stated. We hiked until we got to a ditch were water was being pumped through an underground tunnel. It was loud, which meant the water was rushing through the tunnel vigorously. From this area is where the written directions and the points of reference on the trail did not make sense. We were supposed to look for a waterfall, none was in the area. Then contour a trail through some gullies. The trail appeared to end. We looked up the ridge trying to find ribbons, but none were in the area. There were ribbons near a ditch, so we followed those ribbons which made sense because it led us to a contour trail and in and out of gullies.
While meandering throughout the valley, we were supposed to find a tree with choke ribbons and a faint trail with uluhe ferns. Instead we looked at Marvin’s GPS to see where the ridge was located. We took an educated guess and bushwhacked a trail up some ridge. Ikaika and Ted took the steep route, while Steve, Marvin, and looked for the easiest point of access. After about 30 minutes of bushwhacking, we eventually met Ikaika and Ted, but we all chose to go back down and try finding the tree with choke ribbons. We continued on the contour trail and found the choke ribbons and another ridge. Now we needed to find a faint trail with uluhe. We couldn’t find the access point, so we bushwhacked the mutherfucker. Ikaika led the charge, Ted and Steve took turns being the ox. Marvin and I were in back following their swath. This ridge appeared doable but it was apparent that no human has been in contact with this portion of the ridge for a while. The initial climb was okay, we made progress, and then the head high uluhe and heavy vegetation started. This made the going slow. At this point, we were only doing 100 feet per 20 minutes. In about 1 hour we only did went up about 300 feet. We took a well deserved break and I noticed orange ribbons to the left. WTF we thought! We looked around the area. Now we saw orange ribbons everywhere!!! Then we saw a defined trail going up the mountain. Shit, we found it!
The climb up the mountain was unrelenting. It was steep, there were ropes to assist. We finally topped out at the summit a little after 12:30 pm, over 5 hours already. The windy summit was wide. Not wanting to waste time, we continued on towards the sugi pines and an old army shelter. These pine trees were introduce to Hawaii in the 1880s and are plentiful on the big island. After the pines was this steep eroded section. We had some problems trying to find the trail leading towards the Kipapa summit, but found a route up the mountain doing some trailblazing. At Kipapa, it was socked in. We took a quick picture and the 7D crew continued towards Manana, while I went back. It was so peaceful up there, I didn’t want to leave.
As I headed the down the mountain, I realized how steep it was. I knew my knees were going to take a pounding. Also, I only had a quarter liter of water left. My pace slowed, but I was methodical. I got to a vertical section. Going down wasn’t bad because there were ropes to assist. But if I slipped and fell, that would be it. Eventually I hit the route we were looking for and took the trail down the mountain towards the base of the ridge. The uluhe was low, but became head high near the contour trail. Once on the contour trail, I wanted to go right instead of heading back the way we came. On the contour trail, I hit Waianu stream and a 30 foot waterfall. Crossing the stream right above the waterfall was a little nerve racking as the water was flowing well. I cross without incident and continued on the trail. After a while, I rejoined the dirt road, crossed the stream, and went through the bamboo forest to the other dirt road and to my car.
I finished at 9 hours. It was a long hike. I text the others and found out that they were going at a good pace. They reached the Manana trail before sun down and continued hiking into the night before finishing at around 10 pm. AN AMAZING FEAT!!!
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