Pu'u Makakilo
Pu'u Palailai

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Jackie and I were scheduled to do a hike together this morning, agreeing the night before that we would start "around 7:30a". She texted me in the morning at 7:06a but my phone was not in the bedroom. I was up at 7:42a eating breakfast when I returned her text. No answer. I figured she fell back asleep and waited around for more than an hour occupying myself with other tasks. When she got up again at 9a, she was in no mood to hike with me. Apparently my lack of promptness was a grave disappointment, another example of how I am single-handedly disappointing an entire gender, one female at a time. Rather than wallow around in this dungeon of despair, I decided to head out myself and visit a couple of private property summits that no one in their right mind would want to join me for anyway. Both are located near the community of Makakilo, found on the north side of the highway and Kapolei. Both are short outings, less than half a mile each way.

Pu'u Makakilo

John Sarna, an old Sierra Club member of the nefarious Mother Lode Chapter, had recorded several ascents of this peak in 2015. I used his suggestion for a shorter route by starting at the end of Nemo St where the cul-de-sac abuts adjacent property clearly signed for restricted access. A use trail leading down from the manicured common lawn area meets another trail which shows signs of mountain bike use, with several jumps built into the route. This good trail heads south, bypassing the summit on the west side. One needs to look carefully to find a lesser trail forking left up through an adjacent property (also signed for No Trespassing) and making its way to the summit from the south. Half-buried at the top in the tall grass is a pillbox left over from WWII along with a survey structure of the common hawaiian style. I decided to investigate the continuing trail as it goes north off the summit, thinking it might land me at the end of Pueonani St as I'd seen in the satellite view. Instead, it circled back to the west and dropped me off behind the fenced yards of the neighbors on the east side of Nemo St. I felt awkward hiking along the edge of this fenceline to return to the original use trail, and half expected one of the homeowners to shout out to me. Luckily no one did and I returned to the cul-de-sac on Nemo St and the jeep without incident. I suggest just using the original route up the south side.

Pu'u Palailai

2.5mi of driving got me to the end of Nohana St, north of Pu'u Palailai. I had visited this location three years earlier, only to find cattle grazing on the other side of the fence and decided against disturbing them. Today I saw no cattle though it is obvious the land adjacent to the neighborhood is still used for grazing. I walked down a drainage culvert adjacent to the street and then went over a guard rail at its end into the ranch property. Barking dogs kept me from making a direct line to the summit and instead I circled around to the northwest side to approach from that angle. There is a pillbox and survey structure located atop this summit as well, apparently these things are more common on the island than I had previously guessed. I was back without running into any cattle or any persons, calling it a day after a few easy hours' effort.

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