Koolau Summit Trail 8-day thru hike by Chase Norton--Chapter 1, The Motivation

Chase Norton

 Warning and Disclaimer: 

This trip has been put together from years of solo backpacking trips on the summit of the Koolau Mountains. I do not encourage anyone to repeat this hike as the dangers and risk level are very high. I am providing a very detailed account of my trip, but do not take it as a guide. Information on water locations, cabins, weather and trail conditions can all change in the blink of an eye. The gear list provided is what I have learned to work for me in the environment I enjoy backpacking in. As you will read, it has taken me years to learn how to get to a sub 10lb pack while maintain comfort, functionally and safety. This list represents a philosophy and mindset that one must understand in order to best use this gear. Also, most all the gear listed has been modified after purchase or been custom built for my needs. You must have a complete understanding of the hiking environment and conditions for which your gear will be used in. All times and miles are approximate and can vary wildly depending on conditions and skill level.

Chapter 1: The Motivation

It all began in 2009 while in a pub with a discussion I was having with a good friend and hiking buddy, Chappy. I wanted to do more backpacking around Oahu, both for the experience and to make use of all the new gear I had recently purchased from REI. After a couple of beers the talked turned to an argument about hiking the entire Koolau summit in a single trip. I was ignorant, reckless and far too confident in my hiking abilities but was adamant it could be done. Of course, this was before I had ever hiked on Oahu. He rightfully laughed at my desires and let me know that even in sections it could not be completed let alone in a full backpacking trip.

This was the time the seed was planted especially for the section hiking of the Koolau summit. As I was doing some of those northern portions or the saddles the motivation transitioned from proving a friend wrong to my own desire to find and push my limits. From that day forward both consciously and unconsciously I began making the necessary changes in myself to prepare and execute a thru hike of the Koolau summit. I hiked more and started to learn and understand the mountains on Oahu. Through these hikes I would meet other hikers who seemed to share the same opinions as Chappy, which simply furthered my desire to take on the impossible. We all want to make our mark in this world.

From that initial argument, I started with the southern portions from Makapuu to Konahuanui. Actually, it took over a year to hike those sections. Some sections I would repeat until I knew them very well. Still, I am not sure why it took so long and now that I've done it all in one day, it is even more comical. Regardless, it took me a year to section hike it.

After the southern portion, I turned my focus to the saddles. These were the sections most people argued were undoable. For a long time I was working on the Pali Notches but continually failed in my attempts. I went up many times, perhaps six or seven attempts, but always got stuck at the nub and/or chimney. Then I got distracted by the Piliwale ridge and making route on that ridge. Honestly, after some time I had begun to just let the whole dream go. I guess this is where the drive to prove a friend wrong started to diminish and I started to consider the entire section hike undoable. It wasn’t until I was camping at a bluegrass festival in the Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe that I started to look at the saddles in profile and the gears started turning in my head. 

One fateful day, I called up a good friend, Matthew, to see if he would join me up Lanihuli and descend down the Kalihi saddle. If that didn’t look good then we could descend down to the Pali. I don’t think he knew what he was getting himself into, but he agreed. The following Sunday we headed up and after some time scouting we agreed to attempt bottom up approach from the Pali as soon as we could get the time. The following weekend Matt and I decided to first attempt the Notches on Saturday. After all those months of failure, we were able to complete and get past all the obstacles I had previously failed to conquer. Having someone else there to discuss a problem with, share in the fear and the reward, can sometimes change what might seem impossible. The next day Matt had contacted a friend, Duc, and his hiking friends Rasta and Laredo...people who I have now come to both call friends and highly respect. We asked them to join us for a Pali to Lanihuli attempt. Long story short, we made it up and I got to see what hiking with a solid team was really like much different than most of my solo missions. 

With the Pali saddle completed in one weekend, the passion of a full section hike was reignited, but now had become a personal obsession void of any outside influences. I still did not know what the northern sections were like or the two other saddles, but soon I would find out. 

One afternoon I received a phone call asking if I wanted to join a Waiahole Uka to Waikane hike. I mention this because this was my first northern section hiking and my first time meeting Pat. This section was completed but not without the ridiculousness that is Pat’s memory and summit hiking knowledge. I remember at one point in the hike he stopped us and said, “Wait, right here 10 years ago we put a....yes...yes there is the stake we put down to mark this contour.” Now, this was in 7ft high Uluhe ...in what feels like the middle of nowhere. The information he has shared with me is pivotal to my ability making through these mountains. This specific hike opened my eyes to the overgrown and contouring KST proper. If I wasn’t already, now I was truly hooked.

As the following months and years went by, it was clear that I had caught the summit fever. I went back up for multiple overnighters, traversing sections I had never been on or repeating sections to understand them better. It is my opinion that one can never truly experience the summit of the Koolau Mountains until you have backpacked it. What occurred up there at night taught me more than any day hike I've ever done. The struggle of fighting the night wind, rain, lack of good sleeping spot, isolation, finding water, falling in mud – all taught me respect and humbled me of my fragility when exposed to these elements. For every additional ounce of pain and misery felt, the mental rewards and growth got bigger until it was common for me to be anticipating the horrible night sleep with a smile on my face.

After years of hiking and backpacking, my completion of the Kalihi saddle meant I could consider the entire summit hiked sectionally. Looking back on what I had learned and where I had hiked, I knew a full traverse was in the cards but the planning and preparation for it would not come easy.