Hiking Trails on Oahu

Laie-Papali - June 18, 2014 Initially this was suppose to be Laie to Kawailoa. The goal was to hike the Kawailoa trail to the spot where Erik and I turned around in April 2014. By doing this, we could connect the blue lines on our gpx file. However since Erik had the whole day off and I'm in summer mode, we decided to tackle Laie-Papali. If I remembered correctly, I did this route with DGC and hiking crew and it took us 16 hours to complete, albeit we did get lost multiple times. Erik asked me during the week if we could do it faster. I hesitated, but threw out a number of 12 hours. What made this more crazy was that we started late 8am and we were going to go down Kawailoa to the spot.  To do this hike within 12 hours, I told Erik we have to be efficient which means minimal breaks and quickly problem solve the difficult twist and turns of the KST. We staged a car at Daniel's house. He has always been helpful when we plan these hikes and should very well be appreciated for his ...

Papali/Castle-Laie – May 5, 2013 I was invited by DGC (David C.) to his last Ko’olau Summit hike. DGC has done nearly the entire Ko’olau Summit, in segments of course. And this, was his last hurrah. DGC tried this hike a few months ago, but lost the trail at the helipad at Kawailoa. He decided to backtrack and go to Pupukea, which was a good thing because he was able to complete that portion of the KST, which he needed.   The week before, I asked fellow hiking partner Marvin for the gps track of this hike. He did Papali Uka/Castle-Laie a while back. Marvin got lost too during that time, but found his way, an accomplishment that should be commended. Today’s hike consisted of some experienced hikers. We had Ted, Randy, Thomas, Jay, Yoshi, Chenay, DGC, Gerwin, Kenji, Francis, and me. We met at the Temple Valley McDonald’s at 4:30am. There, we all ate breakfast, then talked about the pre-hike plan. The plan was to stage cars at the Hau’ula 7-11 and Laie Community Park. It was early in ...

  July 15, 2011 - Papali Loop Trail About 1 month ago, the kids and I  did the Hau'ula Loop Trail. I asked them at that time if they wanted to do the Papali Loop as well. The answer was a resounding, "no". So I told them we will have to come back. I finally got a week day off during summer work and told the kids that we were going to do Papali. Surprisingly, they agreed. The plan was to do Papali, then go to Malaekahana Beach.  We started from Kapolei at 8:45 am, but while I was in Wahiawa, I realized that I forgot my wallet. Crap! I needed my wallet and decided to turn around. Well 40 minutes wasted. We got to Hau'ula Homestead Road at 10:45 am, got out of the car and walked up the road. To the right was the Hau'ula trail, I figured Papali was just a little more up the road. Just then we seen a trail: Ma'akua Ridge Trail? Perplexed, I thought that's not it, and we should go more up the road. Malia said that we should go onto the trail we just passed. I to...

  Hau'ula Loop Trail - June 10, 2011 I could be on to something today. I wanted to take the kids out for a hike, and of course they resisted. But I added an incentive this time.  We would go on a hike first. There would be no complaining. If they could follow through, then we would go to the beach. Agreement made (The kids had no choice). If all went well, both parties would be happy . We got to Hau'ula Homestead Road at about 11 am. The Hau'ula Loop trail is about 2.5 miles. There is also a longer sister trail to the left of the Hau'ula Loop trail called the Papali Loop trail. Good hiker's usually do both hikes during the same day, therefore most hiker's on Oahu call it Hau'ula-Papali Loop trail.  My kids at the trailhead sign     The Hau'ula Loop trail ascends up the mountain via lazy switchbacks. Its a gradual ascent, so there is some huffing and puffing, but not too difficult. When you get to the top of the hill, a view of Laie comes into view, but...