Hiking Trails on Oahu

Waikane Restoration - July 3, 2015 Paul Zweng, property owner of Waikane Valley invited Dave to do restoration in Waikane Valley. Dave in turn invited us. The goal today was to kill albizia trees. These trees as beautiful as they are tall and their branches spread out like bonzai trees are invasive as it gets. Because they are so tall and their branches spread out, they pretty much kill any plant living underneath them. For these reasons, invasive plants take over the environment in Hawaii. Take for instance the strawberry guava. It is a native plant from Brazil. These plants have to compete for  centuries  with other plants in a tough environment. When they come here to Hawaii, competition is much less, so they take over the native plants, stealing their nutrition, sunlight, and water. The native plants can't compete, so they die.  Joining the hike today was Paul, Dave, Allison, Darren, Erik, David, & I. Meeting place was in Waiahole Valley. I thought that was s...

Waikane-Pauao – March 19, 2013 According to Dave, this hike reveals the best section on the Ko’olau Summit Trail (KST). The views are one of the best on the island. After today, I totally agree. The plan today was to go up the Waikane trail, make the right crossover on the KST towards Schofield-Waikane, continue further until Pauao, then drop down Pauao into Kahana Valley to our cars. We had a 7a start time. Joining the hike today was Erik, Daniel, and Dave. Dave author’s the blog Not So Great Hiking . He no longer adds anymore post, but the information on his site is gold. We entered the Waikane trail and had dogs chasing after us. We kept our cool. The dogs did not maul us. I’m always amazed that dogs of private owners have so much self-control. I’ve been chased by many dogs all over the island and no matter how loud the bark is or how aggressive they appear to be, they don’t maul. Not that I want to be mauled or anything.  The hike up Waikane Valley is really nice, if you don’t ...

Waikane to Wahiawa – December 17, 2012 It is possible to go from the windward side to the leeward side in one day, not only one day, but shoot, 8 hours. I’m not talking about Mariner’s to Tom Tom or Kamiloiki to Tom Tom, but a real windward to leeward hike. Today was a mini grinder. The goal was to go from Waikane Valley to Ka’aumakua, back track, then take the Ko’olau Summit trail to Schofield-Waikane, ending up in Wahiawa. We projected that this hike would take 8-9 hours and we were right! I met Erik at his house at 8am, from there; we picked up Marvin in Manoa, and then drove to Waikane Valley Road. I parked on Kamehameha Hwy, we got ready, and then we were off. Waikane Valley Road is sketchy to say the least, sketchy as in there maybe wild dogs charging you at any time. start on the road Always watch out for the Delikado We walked on Waikane Valley Road in the rain. The jeep road appeared and the rain came in and out. The walk on the jeep road was uneventful, but the scenery was lu...