Hiking Trails on Oahu

Ka'ala to Hobbs - June 10, 2018 My website is on hiatus for now since I'm all into native plants. However, this hike is worth mentioning. So I'll take the time to do a write up.  I've never done the WST from Ka'ala to Kalena. Today was important in gaining experience on this section of the WST. Baron who was getting ready for his hike to Mount Kilimanjaro needed some cardio burn. He invited me along with a number of other peeps throughout the week. The group swelled into 11 by Sunday. Joining the hike was Baron, Renee, Cat, Bernice, Darren, Katie, Patricio, Matt, Kellie, Marilou, and I.  View on Waianae Kai Trail I drove to Baron's house at 5:50am, he carpooled Cat, Marilou, Darren, and I to Waianae Valley Road. We started hiking around that 7:15 time. Kellie and Renee led a strong pace up Ka'ala. It was a cool day, so we could hike fast. In about 3 hours we topped out at Ka'ala. It got cold at the top, but wasn't socked in for some reason. The group...

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...

  Three Corners to King Kong - February 18, 2018 This hike can be considered under multiple categories. Other than a super hike, it can be under a storied hike, difficult hike, and secret hike.  This hike had all of the obstacles you'd want for exploration.  Baron initially cancelled this hike earlier in the week, but put it back on. We were to explore Makaha Valley, Baron's annual February thru March hiking schedule. His plan was to go up an unnamed ridge to Three Corners and crossover to King Kong and loop it. We were unsure what we were in for, could be overgrown terrain, sketchy rock faces, bad weather.  We met at Makaha Towers at 7am. Bernice drove Darren and I. Baron drove Ted and Denise. It would be 6 of us today. We were all prepared for a long day. As we said our hellos, we saw Gene walk uphill towards the parking lot. Baron said Gene will show us the junction to the unnamed ridge. I thought sweet, we won't have to spend the time looking for trail leading up...

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...

Video from Erik  Laie 18 - March 4, 2017 After 5 years, I got to do Laie 18 again. Baron considers this hike his baby and has taken over hundreds of hikers on this hike. He has led many groups up these waterfalls. With rain pounding the island all week, it was time to do Laie 18!!!  I made sure I had spikes for this one since the last time I didn't have spikes. Darren picked me up at my house at about 6:45am. We went to Erik's house to pick him up and Darren shuttled us over to Laie. There we met the hikers for the day. The turn out was 12 strong and impressive hikers starting with Baron, Denise, Jena, Justin, James, Ryan, Kellie, and then the OAGs Erik, Bernice, Darren, Jana, and I.  Ryan led a furious charge up Laie. We hit the cook pines in 1 hour. Baron found the ridge going down to the hau tangle. Going down, it appeared only pig trails or not even. However, it was fast and we got to the hau tangle in about 20 minutes. We progressed through the hau and eventually got...

Pohakea - January 22, 2017 Baron was able to get access into Kunia Farms. I guess he has always longed to go back to the Pohakea Pass. As it stands, it probably is the most scariest hike I've been on and he admits that it was scary for him too. Maybe he wanted to see it in all of its glory, again? Who knows what the motivation was?  Baron was going to do recon of the area. He usually only invites his most trusted hikers, which is us, the OAG's. Mainly we are down for whatever and won't complain in the process. The goal today was to get to the base of the Pohakea Pass via an old Jeep Road. Then, we would contour and head up a ridge up to the summit and get to the top of the pass. Simple enough. But Baron didn't know if we would have to bushwhack any part of the trail.  Baron predicted an 8 hour day, so we were all ready for an 8 hour day. We started by taking a dirt road to a gate. We parked near the gate which was locked and got ready to enter. The road went uphill for ...