Continued...
With another day forecasted to have good weather, I headed back again to the
Ko'olau Range to tackle a couple of ridges that had escaped my attention so
far. Ryan wanted to be dropped off around Diamond Head so he could go fishing,
get a run in and do other beach stuff. A few days ago he was fishing on the
North Shore and got his line stuck in the rocks, so he swam out to unhook it.
He got the line off the rocks and returned to shore, catching a small fish a
few minutes later. He reached into his pocket for his phone with which to take
a picture ... it was then that he realized he'd swum out with the phone and
it was kaput. He spent a few days getting it checked out at a few of the island
shops only to learn it had sent its last text. Without a phone it was going to
be a little more difficult for us to coordinate schedules. The best I could
do was offer to come back at a fixed time to pick him up, guessing it would
take me about six hours to complete the hike I had in mind. I left him at the
Amelia Earhart Marker on the South Side of Diamond Head and told him I'd be back
at 3:30p.
Kulepiamoa Ridge / Hawai'iloa Ridge
These adjacent ridges both rise up from Honolulu neighborhoods, reaching to
the Ko'olau Summit in 2-2.5mi. In my online search I found there is a trail
starting from Pia Valley between the two ridge with side trails leading up to
the ridges. This seemed a good way to combine the two ridges on the same outing.
I had little idea how good or bad the various trails were to connect this route
up which is why I gave Ryan the longish 6hr estimate. It turns out that the
trails were in wonderful shape and I finished in a little over half that time.
I had some trouble initially, trying to locate the start of the Pia Valley
trail at the end of Anolani St. The road ends at a lonely
with
what looks a private drive with a chain across it continuing up the valley.
Some orange flagging along the side of the road distracted me and I went on a
short goose chase down the embankment on the right side, wallowed in some reeds
by a flood-mitigation dam at the edge of the neighborhood before scrambling
back up to the road heading up-valley. It turns out the road leads to a pair
of city water tanks as well as a private residence. Between the two is the
unsigned start of the trail threading its way
. It was
a fine trail, almost dry from two days of no rain, well-maintained, too. The
trail is quite shady in the
under cover of moderately heavy
forest. The first side trail happens in about 2/3mi from the start. I had the
point marked on my GPSr, but it was an educated guess since I didn't have an
actual GPX track to download. When I was close to the junction I started looking
for a trail to my right, taking the first one I spotted about 300ft short of the
GPSr waypoint. It led up a short ways before petering out, but with a little
sidehilling/bushwhacking I shortly came across the
. It was wide
and recently groomed and in great shape (on the way back I found the correct
junction is not all that obvious - where the main
trail climbs out of the drainage
a short distance there's a swath of brown, eroded hillside, the trail going
up to the ridge found at the top of the brown patch). The side trail climbs
700ft in short order, providing views of
on the way up and then Kupaua Valley on the other side once the ridge is
reached. I to
follow the ridge trail up towards Ko'olau Summit about 1.5mi away. The LoJ
point identified as Kulepiamoa Ridge is only a quarter mile from where I landed
on the ridge, a local highpoint but nothing special, really. Again, I found
the trail in excellent condition, almost all the way to the summit. There was
some mud in a few places, but nothing compared to what I'd found the past few
weeks on these ridges. The before the summit was helped
with some handlines, one of them a thin .
As they say in Hawaii hiking - "Whatever works!"
Upon reaching I was disappointed to find the clouds had not
cleared away, leaving . I onto
the Ko'olau Summit Trail, the first
time I'd found the trail along the crest not a saturated mess. It was overgrown
as usual, but drier and my boots would not end a sopping mess. The top of
Hawai'iloa Ridge is only 1/3mi along the crest, taking about 15min to traverse
between the two. I found a Dad with 3-4 kids taking in the limited views from
the crest there, a little surprised to see me show up from a different
direction.
The Hawai'iloa Ridge Trail
is maintained by Na Ala Hele Trail & Access Program, one of the official trails
recognized by the State of Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife. These are
usually well-signed at the trailheads and maintained to better standards than
the more unofficial trails throughout the islands. At the top of the trail
at Ko'olau Summit are the usual signs.
have been installed
in the steepest sections of the trail rising up to the ridge, far easier than
the usual eroded ridges with questionable safety ropes for handlines. Even
with the steps, there are several such handlines on Hawai'iloa Ridge.
was fairly busy with about 3-4 other parties this afternoon on my way down. I
paused at the LoJ designated highpoint to record its
,
found just off the trail. I had no trouble locating the flagged junction with
my side trail heading back down to Pia Valley. It goes steeply
through forest with plenty of small trees to grab onto to slow one's decent.
So much so that my shoulders were a bit sore by the time I got to the bottom
from having my arms jerked backwards each time I grabbed onto one. The
route is well-flagged, perhaps excessively so, but I wasn't going to complain
any more than I was going to get lost. I had a lovely walk back
, the trail crossing it several times before
eventually emerging from the shadows back at the water tanks.
Maunaohi Ridge
With a few unexpected hours before I was scheduled to pick up my son, I headed
further east to a
at the end of Hahaione St. This
trail is not so official, unsigned except for the No Trespassing sign nailed
to a tree of the trail. I saw a guy emerge from the
forest as I
was starting out and ran into a nice couple on my way up, so it seems the sign
is regularly ignored. I've also heard that No Trespassing and Kapu signs are
regularly put by locals to keep the tourists away from their favorite spots,
though I have no real idea of this particular one was legit or not.
Maunaohi Ridge (also called Mauna O Ahi Ridge) lies between Ka'alakei Valley
and Haha'lone Valley, lower than most ridges, dry and fairly gentle. The trail
rises to the ridge in a wide arc, first passing through koa and ironwood
before reaching the ridge in a stand of pines. The
Loj-designated is about 1/5mi south along the ridge from the
junction, a grassy overlook that takes in much of , Koko
Crater and Koko Head, and a stretch of the southern coast. Buried in the forest
is next to a campfire ring
and a Webber grill that hasn't been used in a while. The trail beyond the bench
to the highpoint is overgorwn and less well-defined. One can follow the ridge
south another mile to its terminus at Hawaii Kai Drive. While the trail appears
to grow thinner, the cross-country is not all that difficult on this drier
terrain. I didn't have time to hike the length of the ridge so I turned around
and headed back to the car the way I'd come. Now to find a Starbucks before
picking up Ryan...
Continued...