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...

  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...

'Ihi'ihilauakea Crater - February 3, 2018 Earlier in the week I was going through Nate Yuen's blog Hawaiian Forest and stumbled upon an entry about a rare fern located in ' ihi'ihilauakea crater. Ironically, this fern is called 'i hi'ihilauakea, named after the crater. It resembles a four leaf clover, hence the nickname Hawaiian Four Leaf Clover.  Joining the hike today was Daniel, David, Erik, Malia, and Michelle. We parked at Koko Crater Park and walked our way to Haunama Bay. The vog was bad today and we suffered going up and down the Kokohead ridge.  It only took us 45 minutes to get to the crater. There, we went searching. I was fanatical and went all out. About 10 minutes passed and I reached the end of the crater via a swath/trail. I wanted to search other areas of the crater. But Erik texted me that Malia found it. I was elated and ran back.  Under a kiawe tree in a shaded area were the ferns. They were so small and it grew so wild. I bet the plant w...

  Manoa Cliffs - January 17, 2018 I've been hiking for 8 consistent years now. Hiking with a purpose is hard to do. Some people like to get out there, but I need more. I need something specific.  Looking for native plants seems to be something specific and something I want to do.  On towards the Manoa Cliffs Trail. They have a restoration area where they outplant many native plants. We would get to see a lot of native plants concentrated in one area.  Joining the hike today was Darren, Jared, Daniel, Ryan and Kellie. We had Ryan who has done restoration in this area before. He could help us identify many of these plants and take us to areas that we didn't know we could access.  The hike to the restoration area was longer than I thought. It took a little over 1 hour. It did not disappoint. Lots of mamake trees. Ryan said they released a lot of Kamehameha butterflies in the area. Kamehameha butterflies love to eat mamake. What caught my attention was the Kokio, al...

Makapu'u Tidepools - January 14, 2018 Michelle wanted to take her co-workers to the Tidepools. Off we went to Makapu'u. We met at the Lighthouse trail at 8:30am. Joining our family were Suki and her two kids Sabrina and Hunter. Also joining were Jen and her husband Justin.  Getting down to the tidepools was simple enough. The kids were excited and wanted to rush down. I tried to get them to take their time because the rocks were very loose. But kids can take care of themselves more than adults think they can.  The Dragon's Nostrils were firing. It was the strongest I've ever seen. The pools were great nice color, but we had to be careful as the waves were big. The great thing was that there weren't too many people at this time. We had a chance to enjoy the pools. While there, we saw a whale about 50 feet from shore. That was exciting. But I couldn't get a nice picture. I took some nice pictures of the Dragon's Nostrils and the family. By 10am, people tourist...

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...

Mo'ole 7 - December 28, 2017 Erik had a week day off, so with rain in the forecast, we decided to go look for waterfalls. #WaterfallWednesdays. Yesterday, on Tuesday rain pummeled the island. It was a lot of rain in a short amount of time. We knew water would be flowing off the mountains. The first two options were tubing and Ahiumanu. However, the day started off with no rain, so we chose options C ~ Mo'ole.  Meeting time was at 7:45am. Erik and Aprille picked me up at 7am and he drove us to the Nuuanu Hunter's Check in. There, we would meet Ryan and Matt. It was us 5 for the day.  Crossing the Pali Highway proved a challenge as it was still rush hour. We ran across the highway laughing like most crazy hikers do when they cross the busy Pali Highway. I haven't done Mo'ole since Daniel's birthday in 2014 or 2015. The first part of the hike was following the old irrigation ditch which usually takes about 40 minutes. The ditch ends at a tunnel. The water level was...

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...