Extreme Hiking Hawaii

There are moments in extreme hiking when participants say to themselves,"Is this more than I can handle? Am I pushing the envelope too far?" On the other hand healthy growth can only take place when an individual's limit is stretched. Such was the case for three men on Sunday, February 22, 1998. After picking up Laredo Murray at his home in Haiku Valley I drove the two of us to a well-known windward Oahu ranch. Dayle Turner and FWH had already arrived and were waiting for us just inside the main entrance. FWH went to confirm that we had permission to do the hike. She returned a few minutes later and we drove our cars to an area not far from the trailhead. It was a high overcast day with nice breezes. At 8:16 a.m. the four of us began bushwacking thru a small forest of mostly haole koa and tall grass working our way toward the foot of the fourth ridge (the first ridge being the one that goes directly to the prominent peak Kanehoalani (elev. 1,900 ft)). We essent...

Have you noticed that in this new age of hiking, trail reports are increasingly presented in pictures and videos more than words?  Of special interest to me are the HD videos being shot which led me to investigate the hardware being used to capture the footage. One particularly thorough review was put out by The Hike Guy , who discussed the pros and cons of the GoPro HD Hero camera.  Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get one of these cameras for Christmas!

On Saturday, Jan. 10, 1998 Laredo Murray (blonde hair) and I took advantage of the incredible weather conditions (light and variable winds resulting in a crystal clear Ko'olau summit crest) and went for an all day hike (aka "Super" hike or Xtreme hike). We met at Anna Miller's in Aiea around 7:40 a.m. It was a chilly (for Oahu) morning but the mountains were completely cloudless and the two of us were psyched. Laredo followed me as we drove to the top of Onikiniki. He left his truck there and I then drove us to Keaiwa Heiau State Rec Area. I parked in the lot near the Aiea Loop trailhead. At 8:12 a.m. we started up the trail. I had to constantly wipe/blow my nose and it didn't take Laredo very long to realize that I was sick. I told him it was only post nasal drip and a minor problem. Although my nose was running I felt fine because Mike Adams recommended I take a certain 24 hour cold medicine the night before. Laredo and I worked our way along the loop ...

With all the recent activity on True Manamana, Piliwale, and Bear Claw Ridge which all require above-average climbing ability, when I saw this clip I thought the climbers among us (and the many of us who are climber-wannabes or climbers-in-training) would love this:

Man Friday in 2008 via this link In honor of Thanksgiving Day 2010, here is the story of an extreme hike completed on Thanksgiving Day, 2001 by R.B. aka Man Friday. Awesome accomplishment. ------ There was talk within the HTMC member ranks about doing a day hike the length of the Pali. So on this beautiful Thanksgiving Day, man-Friday decided to take the leisure stroll on his own. It should be known he attempted to solicit other HTMC members to participate, but alas there were no takers.Arriving at the hunter sign in on Pali highway man-Friday made the final preparations for the hike. At 6:05 am he did not expect to see anyone else there but to his surprise two hunters where signing in at the check in. Five minutes to gear up, lock the doors and say aloha to the hunters and MF was ready to head down the pitch-dark old Pali road towards the Nuuanu Judd trail. On the way MF felt ice cold water dripping down his back on into his board shorts, but shrugged it off figuring i...

Nate Rubio, Kale Tulang, and Albert Carcueva have become the 5th, 6th, and 7th to summit True Manamana, following the lead of previous summit conquerors Pete Clines, Laredo Murray, Jeremy Kreis, and Dave Concepcion. See their accomplishment on youtube.

Wing Ng has made mention, to those who care to listen, of HTMC members of yore who used to descend to the windward side from Mount Olympus as a daredevil initiation ritual. More recently, some daredevil wannabes have tried to climb to Olympus (aka Awa'awaloa) from the Maunawili by two different routes, only to be stymied by steep, dangerous conditions.On Saturday 10/26/02, Ed Gilman and I try a third route, and after a taxing and at times nerve testing seven-hour effort, we achieve the goal.We drive in my car to the Maunawili Falls starting point on Kelewina Street and shove off at just past 8 a.m. under partly cloudy skies. With just a tad of dampness underfoot, Ed and I hike up past the junction with the falls trail and onward up the connector trail that eventually merges with the Demonstration Trail at about the 2 to 2.5 mile mark.At that point, we head left (east) on the demo trail to get to the base of our target ridge. We see the object of our attention at various ...

Wednesday the 21st of July (2010), me and a couple of my closest hiking friends (myself and I ) were thinking of a new challenge. I had previously scouted the lower part of Piliwale ridge the week before, and it didn't seem so bad. I had stopped just short of the "worst" place ascending out of the notch at a octopus tree growing out of the cliff face. Photo by August Smith The weather on Wednesday morning was not so good. The Pali and surrounding cliffs had gotten their fair share of moderately heavy morning showers + it was already 8:30 am by the time I got going, heading up the board of water supply road under a light rain. Feeling discouraged by the heavily overcast conditions and slippery wet ground I spent a good deal of time improving the path to the notch, reaching the notch at 10:15 am. since it was already so late and the clouds were still dark, I had just about thrown in the towel on summiting , I told myself, I just want too see how bad it is above t...

Hike date: 17 April 2010 I took a gamble on Saturday's chilly/grey morning and headed for the Pali lookout. AC/DC blasted over the car speakers in an attempt to pump me up for a long day on the trail. Arrived in the very windy (and very empty) parking lot at 8am, had seconds thoughts about the weather, but the exposed summit told me she might want visitors.Began towards the gap in the bamboo by the stone wall and made great time along this now very familiar route, arriving at the puka by 8:15. Wasted no time skirting the cliff face here and was soon at the base of the climb that would bring me 200 vertical feet back to the ridgeline. I skipped the first rope as it looks quite old and unreliable. Worse, the rock here is always weeping making for poor footing. The orange extension cord was next (more reliable) followed immediateley by the yellow rope (also reliable.) Finally, the long rope helped me in climbing the last 100 vertical feet (altimeter measurement) getting ...

May 1998 "A man's gotta know his limitations." I learned my limitations on the Silver Piliwale Quest this past weekend, and now that I've caught my breath, re-hydrated, slathered antibiotic ointment all over my feet and hands, and showered about fifteen times (my B.O. was toxic as nerve gas), I'm ready to tell my story. Actually, it wasn't so bad, just kind of like "Deliverance" without the hillbilly rapists and banjos. Patrick took lots of notes and will post a detailed account, should any of you like to give The Silver Trail a try yourself. We left Saturday morning, very appreciative of all the aloha and encouragement from the ohe-l folks. Thanks very much! It was my first trip up the Laie trail, and I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful North Shore views and Norfolk pines. The summit came up quickly, and Pat and I blasted out of there, into the clouds and mud. That section of the KST has few redeeming qualities. The only highlights...