Hiking Trails on Oahu

Three Corners to King Kong - February 24, 2018 Back at it today! Baron wanted to find the correct ridge to King Kong. We expected an easier hike than last week.  It was deja vu all over as we met at Darren's house at 6am where Bernice was waiting to take Darren and I to Makaha. The only difference is that Kellie was going to catch ride with us. We waited for her to arrive.  Bernice drove us to Makaha quickly, as we got there in under 50 minutes. We checked in and met up with Baron. In Baron car was Marilou and Ryan. Gene came walking up from the street again and was going to join us only to the icy pond. Just like last week, Gene walked at a brisk pace and we got to the icy pond in under 1 hour just like last week. From there, it was some exploring to find the correct ridge today. We did some searching, eventually finding a mango tree which indicated the start of the trail (there are a lot of mango trees in Makaha, so a gps mark would help). The faint trail started about 5 min...

Pohakea to Palikea - January 7, 2018 Baron invited OAG with him on this hike. He wanted to do a route from Pohakea to Palikea and make a loop out of it. Seemed a little ambitious, but he gave a 10 hour window for it, so there would be time to complete it.  I was excited as this would be an opportunity to do this section of the WST again and get a chance to see more native plants which is rejuvenating my passion for hiking.  Erik and Aprille picked Michelle and I at 6:15am and drove us to Walmart Kunia where we met with Baron, Darren, Kellie, Bernice, and Marilou. There would be 9 of us on today's trek. We would carpool in 2 trucks through the Kunia farmlands to the trailhead.  Baron has mastered this area and so has Darren and Erik, they easily made their way through a maze of dirt roads to the trailhead. We started hiking at about 7:15am. The initial part of the hike was on a jeep road up a steep incline. The grade was like 40%, although that is my estimate, it coul...

Moanalua Middle to Stairway to Heaven - December 18, 2017 Erik mentioned that he wanted to take his friends to the Haiku Stairs. I kinda was on the fence, but knew I wanted to hike. Also Michelle didn't really want to go, but she needed it for the exercise. Darren was going to go rappelling, but he didn't want to get sick again. Stairway to Heaven by default.  The week's weather was perfect. It was clear and cool, no doubt that today would be more of the same. I've eating terrible the last 2 weeks or so. I needed a diet change. Hiking hopefully would trigger a change or at least get my body out of this rut. Joining the hike today would be Erik, Darren, Michelle and I also Erik's friends Bree and Dana. We started at 8am to what seems like a packed house, but it wasn't too much groups going.  The road walk was fast. It took us 1 hour and 10 minutes, along the way we saw the state doing concrete work. Wow, they might be paving the road. I think that would be a grea...

East Honolulu Waterfalls - November 26, 2017 With rain in the forecast, we decided to hike the lesser known Ka'au Crater Right Fork. This is also known as the East Honolulu Waterfalls. Only Darren and Aprille have done this hike before, so most of us didn't know what to expect.  Darren invited Ryan, he only told us the day of, so we were someone surprised, but it made sense since Ryan has scouted it and have taken a number of groups up. Darren felt sick when he woke up, so he bailed in the morning. We were trying to figure out if we would like to do the back up. In the end it was on towards Palolo to do the East Honolulu Waterfalls.  Joining the hike today would be Ryan, Erik, Aprille, Bernice and Ryan's friend Matt. We started around 7:15am. The hike to the first waterfall was someone slow about 1 1/2 hours. We took a break there, and then headed up to the second waterfall. It was really windy today. It was cold AF.  Going up to the third waterfall was quick and we quick...

Poamoho-Schofield Waikane - November 11, 2017 Even though rain was in the forecast, Erik wanted to do his birthday hike up Poamoho and exit Schofield-Waikane. I was thinking about bailing not because I didn't want to hike, but because I had the Van Nolasco Half Marathon on Sunday. Darren was thinking the same thing, but he had it more difficult. He would need to be out by 3:30pm go work the UH game, and get ready for Van Nolasco.  I arrived at Erik's house at 5:45am. Erik was meeting Darren at the top of Wahiawa Heights to stage cars. I took my backpack out of my car. It was heavy, about 38 lbs. Erik's brother arrived at the house to take us to the Poamoho trailhead. He was suppose to drive the truck back to Wahiawa after dropping us off.  On the trip today was Erik, Aprille, Darren, Kellie, and I. This was Darren's first backpacking experience in a while I guess. The weather was pretty good considering it said rain in the forecast, however it was really socked in. I ha...

  Stairway to Heaven - May 29, 2017 Michelle wanted to do the Stairway to Heaven for a while now. She wanted to go from the bottom, but with a possible $1,000 fine I decided that it wouldn't be the best place to start. Darren wanted to take his friends up the stairs. Even though Darren and I did the Hibiscus Half Marathon the previous day, good weather was in the forecast. With good weather looming ahead, it was a go.  I picked up Darren at his house about 5:30 am. I drove down to Moanalua Valley park to meet up with everyone. Jana was coming from work so Darren had to wait about 1 1/2 hours for her. Joining us were Bernice and Darren's friends Brent and Aaron. They are athletes, so they wouldn't have any problems. We started hiking a little after 6 am. Clear skies were in the distance. The road walk felt short, but it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. From there we hit the middle ridge right away. Going up was all cardio. I was surprise how much cardio needed. We went up at l...

Ka'au Crater Loop - April 15, 2017 Its been years since I've done Ka'au Crater. Aprille wanted to do it for her birthday. We had the perfect storm. It poured cats and dogs on Thursday and Friday. But on Saturday, it was forecast to be sunny. The day had promise.  We met at 7:15am at the end of Waiomao Road. I got lost like I always do trying to find the trailhead. But I was still on time. Joining the hike would be Erik, Aprille, Darren, Jana, Bernice, Michelle, and David. We started at exactly 7:26am.  The stream had good flow. We got to the first waterfall in one hour. We had to share it with a group of hikers. It sucks sharing it, so it was onto the next waterfall. The second waterfall is just as nice as the first. Another waterfall with good flow. We got to the third waterfall, it was pumping. We had a blast going up it. We took picture after picture. Erik got slow shutter with his filters.  wf #1 good flow At about 2 hours we hit the crater. Still till this day, I fee...