Hiking Trails on Oahu

Razor Ridge-Kumaipo - January 21, 2019 Starting off the new year gets us to Makaha and Baron. We have a slowed down recently and I haven't been documenting too many of my hikes due to my interest in native Hawaiian plants. With that being said, I got a chance to do a hike that I haven't done before.  Razor Ridge is a difficult hike in Makaha. The ridge branches off Kaimaileunu near the Tiki Summit. Joining the group today was all guys: Baron, Darren, Erik, Matt and Ted.  We met at Baron's house at 6am and took 2 cars to Makaha Towers. Gene met us at the front and walked with us on the H4 trail to the junction of Razor Ridge. The time was about 7am or later. It took us over an hour to get to the Razor Junction. It was about midway into the valley. We started going uphill in a cardio lung busting incline which took us to Lama Lookout. Gene and Steve built a bench up there and a dominating view of Ohikilolo beckoned in front of us. I was more interested in the grove of Lama tr...

Pali Puka - January 7, 2016 Michelle wanted to exercise and we decided to do Pali Puka. I thought it would be a little dangerous, but felt that she could do it. The trail wasn't too busy when we got there. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the puka. Michelle handled well. I feared a little bit for her safety, but she did good.  We got some good pictures on a good weather day. The trail is wide open. Last time I did this hike was 5 years ago, it is well trodden. On the way back, we saw at least 2 dozen people coming up.  I still don't think my kids can do this hike. If they do, they would need some help and guidance.  Michelle at puka ' steep climb almost to the top

Pu'u Manamana - May 28, 2016 We did a variation of this hike 5 years ago called Kahekili-Manamana, we eventually got to the 1900' Lookout. The hike we did today is in Stuart Ball's book called Pu'u Manamana. For this hike, you don't get to Pu'u Manamana, rather you get to Turnover and have the option to get to True Manamana, but that wouldn't happen today.  It was only Erik and I, we decided to do Pu'u Kaua, but when we got there a security truck was waiting at the entry gate. Discourage and not wanting to take a risk, we left. We had to choose a hike to go on since Plan A was off. Two options we considered was Pu'u Manamana and Kaena Point to Pu'u Pueo.  We chose Pu'u Manamana. We wanted to go up Cemetery Ridge get to Turnover and go down Manamana Ridge. We thought it would take 4 hours but... We parked on Trout Farm Road and had some trouble finding the trailhead. Erik texted Baron for trailhead directions, he said the trail starts behind t...

Maunawili Moss Slides - April 17, 2016 This hike was on the agenda forever. Today the plan was to do Olomana Backside with the alternate hike, the Maunawili Moss Slides. We prepared for both situations. The Mauanwili Moss Slides is above Maunawili Falls, however getting there can be a little sketchy. Two obstacles 1) walking over a pipe with a 30 foot drop below 2) straddling an old rickety wooden bridge about 50 yards with a 50 foot drop below can scare even the most experienced hikers.  Meet up time was at 7:00 am. I picked Darren up from his house and drove to Maunawili Neighborhood Park. Waiting for us was Bernice and Aprille. We said our hellos and talked story. Sarah who was confirmed to join us, thought the meet up time was 7:45 am. We looked at Olomana as it was getting socked in pretty bad. Aprille voiced her opinion that we should bail on Olomana and do the Moss Slides. I think the plan was set as we waited for Sarah.  Sarah arrived as Darren was talking about a docu...

  Alewa-Kamanaiki - June 7, 2015 This hike was on the radar for years already, but was left undone, not even tried. Last person who tried and succeeded was probably Dave in 2011. Kamanaiki is a weird hike, not only does it start by going up a staircase, but it ends on a hill, not a summit. Pass the hill is actually more ridge eventually hitting the Alewa Trail, but its overgrown with guava & uluhe. Kamanaiki intersects the Alewa trail at only 2/3 the way up to Lanihuli, resulting in probably another 1 - 1 1/2 hours of hiking just to summit Lanihuli. Being that Mo'ole is the most sexiest way up to Lanihuli, people tend to do that trail instead.  Last time in 2011, I did Kamanaiki solo and didn't think I got to the hill marked by the big Ohia tree. This left me with a feeling of emptiness. I wanted to do Kamanaiki again, but decided to wait and do the entire trail, it was pretty much a carbon copy of Dave's route in 2011.  Today was the day. I invited Kenji, Khym, and M...

Piliwale-Lulumahu - January 2, 2015 This hike was intriguing for 2 reasons 1) I get to have a chance to do Lulumahu Ridge 2) Hike with Heather again. Back in about 2011-12, someone cleared Lulumahu Ridge to K1. Whoever did it worked extremely hard as its not an easy ridge to clear. I also get to hike with Heather again, she has been on hiatus for about 1 year. Last time I hiked with her was in 2013 when we did the epic hike Waiahole-Manana. Heather and I have this running joke that I'm the imaginary friend of Marvin. In the good old days I use to hike with Marvin a lot, and then Marvin use to hike with Heather a lot. My name came up in conversation during those hikes. Marvin the good man he is use to schedule hikes where Heather and I would meet. But I would bail on all of those hikes. Heather started to think I was Marvin's imaginary friend. The joke would continue on facebook, until we finally did a hike in 2013. Heather did quite a bit of running in 2013-14, so I saw her a f...

Kawiwi to Tiki - August 15, 2014 Today was my second time doing Kawiwi and it was with the "overnight crew" minus Aprille. Last time we hiked together, we had to spend the night on the Waimalu Ridge trail. Hopefully today would yield better results...it did. With Sarah leaving in a few weeks back to college in the mainland, the OAG's needed to do a hike. Recently, choosing a group hike has been difficult. Our group has hikers with varying skills and abilities making it harder to choose certain hikes. Long story short, we chose to do Mt. Ka'ala in Waianae. The plan was simple, meet at Waianae Valley Road at 7:45am, go up Ka'ala, and go back. I picked up Darren at 7:00am and got to the trailhead at 7:50am. It seems like it takes longer and longer to get to Waianae from Mililani. Erik and Bernice got there at 7:48am. And Sarah, lets just say she got there at Hawaiian Time. As we got ready, Darren was eyeing Pu'u Kawiwi. We came across two University of Hawaii res...

Ohulehule SE - June 11, 2014 This hike has kapu written all over it. In 1993, Hiking on O ahu author Stuart Ball wrote the [Southeast Ridge of Ohulehule is the most dangerous hike on the island] (Ball, 237), he also mentions it again in his 2000 revised edition (Ball, 314). In 1999, two Danish girls got stranded on the Southeast Ridge for 8 days, they were rescued by a HTMC rescue team. The amazing story, accounts from the women is on this link ( http://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/08/24/news/story5.html ). Will L wanted to do this hike for the past two years. Every time he planned it, it rained so he had to cancel the hike. With the Kamehameha holiday coming up, it was now time to coordinate it again. He started a message thread and invited people in the hiking community. I didn't think the hike would be too bad, but you never know.   With good weather in the forecast, this hike was on. For my prep, I packed 100 feet of webbing, a bivy, a trash bag, a steripen, extra food, ...