Hiking Trails on Oahu

Waialae Nui Gulch - May 25, 2016 I knew this hike existed. Erik has been here, but not to the waterfall. It was gonna happen sooner or later...it happened today. I took a personal day from work and set up this hike with Erik. We were hoping for rain and rain was in the forecast. Meet up was at the Kahala Mall parking lot near Ross at 9:15am. Erik met me at my house and he drove us to Aprille's house to pick her up. We got to the Kahala Mall parking lot before 9:00am. David was waiting. We were supposed to wait for David's friend Mark, but he did another hike. From Kahala Mall, we drove onto Kilauea Ave to the end of the road. The neighborhood appeared rich. One house had an outdoor lanai with a ceiling fan.  trailhead, cali grass cut down Erik mentioned that someone cut the cali grass which consumed the trailhead. It was wide open and we could see where the entrance was. I was tired because I woke up at 2am and stayed up since. The trail paralleled the stream and went thr...

Kamiloiki - May 14, 2016 Jared's birthday was today, but since I woke up so early and wanting to alleviate stress from work, I decided to do a short hike.  I wanted to do something in Manoa, but chose to drive further to Hawaii Kai and do Kamioliki. I felt that I could do this hike in 2 hours.  I parked in the residential area and got ready. The hike up Kamiloiki was easy and there were some ups and downs. Kiawe trees introduced itself and I thought how great it would be to cut these trees and BBQ some steak tonight for Jared's party.  Before I summited, there was a washout and the switchback part of the trail has been cut off. It took about 1 hour to summit. I felt so good to break a sweat. I ate starburst and stretched at the top, seeing Waimanalo.  Going back was about 1 hour and I headed towards the Pearlridge Farmer's market to eat Hawaiian food, it was from Haili's. Surprisingly it was amazing Hawaiian food.  I gotta do more of the...

Koko Crater Arch - December 18, 2015 I wanted to do a sunrise hike, so I messaged Marvin earlier in the week. We chose to do Koko Crater Arch early to see the sunrise. Robin who is visiting from England came to join us as well. We met at the windy blowhole parking lot at 6:15am. Sunrise was at 7:00am. Two police cars were parked there making sure thieves wouldn't break into cars. It was nerve racking walking on the road in the dark. We eventually made our way to the fish shrine and the trailhead. We took the wrong trail, but merged with the correct trail in 5 minutes.  It was somewhat difficult to make our way up to the arch in the dark, but we managed it. We took some pictures and went back down. I didn't realize how steep the arch was. We could see our cars from there as the police cars left.  We took a break before heading back to the road. From afar, I seen a car pull up right beside another car. The car was there for only like 10 seconds, and then pull out ...

Rock Bridge – July 12, 2013   My second time to the rock bridge had one simple mission: to photograph the bridge. Last time, the waves pounded the rock bridge making a photo opt. anywhere near the bridge dangerous. I hoped today we would get a better opportunity. The small crew consisted of us OAG members, Erik, Aprille, as we tried to meet up at the Hanauma Bay parking lot. Erik and Aprille got in, however, I got turned away because the parking lot was full. I parked at Kokohead Park and walked up to the bus stop meeting Erik and Aprille. Even in the hot sun, we hiked at a blistering pace, getting to the rock bridge in under 45 minutes. There, the waves sporadically crashed over the bridge making it easier to get a good shot this time. Erik seemed to want to walk on top the bridge. He took a bunch of pictures, but in his mind, he was going to find a way onto the bridge. I didn’t want to because I knew if I fell, that would be it. Believe me a fall into the water and the prospects ...

Spitting Cave – October 4, 2012 Deep in Hawaii Kai within the Portlock Community is a short trail that leads to these beautiful rock formations overlooking the spitting cave. The name is called the spitting cave because when waves crash into the cave, it appears to spit the water back out. What really intrigued me about the area were these smooth curvature rock formations. A beautiful sight! I’ve seen people on youtube jump off the rocks into the water which appears to be very dangerous. You can apparently hike the shoreline as hiking friend Baron did this year.      80 ft. drop below After the hike, Michelle and I went to Kickin' Kajun where we ate good, but I had bad sodium over dose creating some major hypertension. OD on sodium

  Koko Crater - June 19, 2011      An Elliptical machine cost around $500. Walking for 30 minutes on an Elliptical machine will burn you 350 calories. Not a bad workout.    Koko Head stairs is a man made Elliptical machine times two. It takes the average p erson 30 minutes to get to the summit. You burn over 500 calories going up. Your heart beats so fast, it feels that its going to jump out of your body.    Which is a better 30 minute workout?  The first time I did this hike was a few years ago. I remember having to stop frequently and breathing extremely hard. It took me a little over 30 minutes to get to the top. I also remember getting sick the next day because of physical and heat exhaustion.    Now its June 19, 2011. My resume includes; many intermediate hikes, a marathon, two half marathons, and a consistent dose of exercising over the past two years. The only downfall is my drinking. For some reason, I've been drinking a lot...

Hawaii Loa Ridge – March 2, 2011 The Hawaii Loa Ridge community is known for its multi-million dollar homes. It also means  a perfect intermediate trail. Hikers categorize hikes using 3 major categories 1) Novice/Beginner 2) Intermediate 3) Expert/Advanced. If you don’t know the difference between the 3, then hike Hawaii Loa Ridge! It’s the perfect in every sense of the word, an intermediate hike, especially towards the end. You need to be in good cardio condition to do this hike or you'll be making frequent rest stops and it will take forever to get to the summit. Once you experience it, you’ll know what an Intermediate hike feels and looks like. In addition, Intermediate hikes are generally safe. Experts hikes are the ones you have to really focus and watch out for your safety. On this day I dropped the kids off at school, then ventured to Hawaii Kai. I was stuck in traffic for over an hour. The residents of Hawaii Loa graciously grants visitors access to the trailhead and  ...