Hiking Trails on Oahu

Diamond Head - December 30, 2016  Today Michelle wanted to hike the infamous and popular Diamond Head trail. The last time Michelle and I did Diamond Head together was our second date as a couple in December 1999, or January 2000. I still have undeveloped pictures in some disposable film camera somewhere in a box.  I of course have Diamond Head many times, too much in fact.     We parked at KCC this time and walked up the road through the tunnel and started the trail. It took us 35 minutes or so to the top. Michelle is in good condition now because she has been exercising and eating healthy. At the top like always were a lot of tourist. Going back down was fast maybe 20 minutes to the car. We saw Kenji, Scott, and Mateo. They were going to take down Kenji's Christmas tree he puts up every year.  For the past 4 years, right before Christmas he carries a Christmas Tree to the bunker at the top. People who come here for Christmas love it because they get a nice pic...

  Waikiki Trail - June 17, 2014 Last time I did the Old Historic Waikiki Trail, it took a few days and a lot of trial and error. This time I knew exactly where all 23 markers were located. My goal this time was to complete the trail in 1 1/2 hours + take pictures and take breaks. To find all the markers is quite a distance about 7.5 miles or so. I also wanted to input all the markers on my backcountry app.  After dropping the kids off at summer fun, I drove to Waikiki, parked at the Diamond Head side of Kapiolani Park. Parking is free on this side of the park which is important because with metered parking, time will run out and you'll be at risk of a parking ticket. I started walking at about 9:30am. Before starting the first marker, I took some pictures of the Natatorium, San Souci beach, and the Kapahulu Groin. This set me back 10 minutes as I chose to walk on the Kapahulu Groin eventually meeting up at marker 1,2,4,5, & 6.  [all pictures shot with Rokinon 14mm] Ma...

Black Point - June 13, 2014 My friend Christian invited me on a short stroll to Black Point. Christian has stage 4 throat cancer and fighting the battle has been real hard on him. He has been fighting like a champion though and will continue fighting. I messaged Christian to see when he was available. He just finish throat surgery and needs more rounds of kimo therapy. I tried to schedule something after his surgery, but before his kimo. Today was the day. Joining us today was Marvin and Janice, Will would join us later for lunch. We met at Fort Ruger Park also known as the Diamond Head Triangle Park. From there, we drove to Black Point Road and a gated community. We walked on the private road to a bird sanctuary and continued Hawaii Kai side to a wooden fenced off area. Within the wooden fence area is this unbelievable looking Salt Water Pool. It just seemed unreal to me. Supposedly there is a guard there and cameras, however we didn't see the guard. We snapped a bunch of pictures...

  Diamond Head Lookout - December 13, 2013 money shot of Diamond Head Lookout, used for my calendar After a hard week with stomach flu symptoms, I mustered enough courage to tackle the rim of Diamond Head again. Last time I hiked up Diamond Head in the dark was 2012. The goal this time was to get the money shots from the lookout. Joining the crew today was Marvin, Will, Christian, & Alan. I’ve hiked with all of these guys before and they are all good guys. We met at Marvin’s house at 6:30pm and brought our DSLR camera's, from there Christian and Will drove us to a place where rich people live. We found some parking. At the end of the street was where the trailhead started. The problem was that the last house at the end of the street was putting on this massive party with dozens of people in attendance. Dozens of people meant many eyes on us, but we stayed goal oriented and walked towards the end of the street. There appeared a camera which was mounted to a pole. We quickly bypa...

Waikiki Trail – March 23, 2013   This was all meant to be a humorous act. I joked to my hiking friends that I would hike the Waikiki trail. I told them, I would prepare for it like any other hike. I got some chuckles. As I planned my route, I was surprised to see that there was in fact an actual trail. The route is labeled by 21 markers (23 I would come to find out). This gave me a sense of purpose for hiking it. In addition, I love to play tourist in my hometown. I believe that not only does it create a fun escape for oneself, but provides a deeper understanding of what visiting this island is all about, which in turn creates more of an internal appreciation for what we have here on Oahu. I did a three day adventure in Waikiki. Joining me on the first day was my wife (more of a lunch date), day two was the family (the bulk of the makers), day three was hiking partner Marvin (just to finish up the trail).   I digress, The Historic Waikiki Trail as it’s called was created by Ha...

  Diamond Head Rim – May 5, 2012 With the new creation of a route up Diamond Head, the hiking community has been going in droids around the rim of the crater. With Ikaika and Marvin circumnavigating the crater last week, it was now our turn. Marvin was suppose to lead us on this hike, but he came down with a cold, so it was all us DH newbies attempting to go around the rim. Waikiki Sunset We met at Kapiolani Park at around 6p. The crew today was Aida, Steve, Stephen, Kim (his wife) and I. Three of us are in 7D. We parked in a lot near the small park adjacent to Kapiolani Park and on foot went up a street to a board of water supply station. There was barbed wire fence, but we took a route near a house. To do that, we climbed on a concrete wall where the gate was opened and bushwhacked until we found an obvious trail. graffiti'd stone Looks intimidating The ridge up the mountain looked intimidating. It looked undoable from our vantage point. We followed the ridge and got to the ...