Extreme Hiking Hawaii

Hike date: 12 May 2003 I found a new way to get to the Windward mall coming from Aiea. :) I've been planning this route for a few months now, and the time (and weather)was finally right to try it. Parked outside the gate to the park above Aiea Heights, and was able to hitch a ride to the start of the Aiea Loop Trail. I did this after hearing so much about burglaries near the trailhead, but also because I wasn't sure if I would retrieve my car before the 7:45 gate locking. Set foot on loop trail at 9:50, loaded down with rope, lots of water, machete, and survival gear/clothes. Enjoyed a semi-relaxed pace on the way to the Aiea Ridge summit, and arrived there ~12:20. Photo from Hui Iwa Street, Temple Valley After picture taking and lunch, changed into long pants and windbreaker to head south/east along the summit ridge. Poor conditions here, but hints of a trail, along with a few old orange ribbons. After 45 minutes of up and downs I stopped at the third? peak to the r...

True Manamana, the peak of which was acquired for the first time on 7/3/10 by Pete Clines and Laredo Murray and then by Jeremy Kreis just recently, was also reached by Dave Concepcion on 11/10 Wednesday. Here's Dave's version on youtube:

Photo by Waianae Steve Hike date : January 12, 2002 Saturday   Weather : clear, sunny, fairly cool, minimal winds. A group of 12 met at the Waianae Cultural Center in the valley. A member of the group was the legendary Fred Dodge, who had not only climbed Hobbs ridge before but many of the most challenging routes on the island. We were glad to see him and have him hike with us. Dr Dodge, in his 60s now, described the ridge du jour for us, mentioning a grassy 85 degree slope near the top that had us wondering what we were in for. He also mentioned that Hobbs was "an old country doctor" who was the first to climb "way up" the ridge we would attempt. Come to find out, Hobbs never reached the summit, having turned back because he was alone and because rain began to fall. However, his attempt encouraged others to try, and these others, including Dr Dodge, succeeded. From the Cultural Center, we headed mauka on a trail that follows a PVC pipeline that provides wate...

  May 2003 . I haven't posted anything for quite a while, but I thought this hike was worth mentioning. Spoke to Patrick Rorie on Saturday night to congratulate him on his Haleakala climb, and he put the idea of Nukohe ridge in my head. Knowing that I couldn't commit to meeting him for the Bowman portion of the day, I told him I would likely try Lanihuli and look for him at the top if he came up Nukohe. Sunday morning at 10:00, I parked at the end of Kalihi Street and followed the access road a short while before climbing a spur ridge to the extended Kamanaiki trail. No ribbons on the spur ridge, but signs of an old trail for the first 2/3 of the way up (perhaps I lost the trail for the last 1/3). While continuing on Kamanaiki extended, I came upon one, and later three more members of the Sierra Club. They decided to pass on the summit due to being low on water. (I myself finished the day with no water and two cramped hamstrings due to the heat and lack of cloud cover.) W...

Nathan's recent post about Iao Needle on Maui (http://hawaiianforest.com/exploring-iao-needle) got my interest up on this famous geological feature. I made a half-assed attempt to climb it a few years ago, but tried to go up from the backside to avoid being the included on all the home videos and photos being taken from down below. (This Needle gets a lot of onlookers during a day.) That attempt failed when I got to a point that became too vertical and I could not proceed. Yesterday I found myself on Maui again with a few hours to kill in the afternoon. The weather in Iao Valley was cloudy (typical) but not rainy so I decided to go for it. By 1:00ish I was on the bridge looking up at my goal for the day. (SEE PHOTO) This point was ~1,000ft on my altimeter. I took the trail down to the stream, crossed at the pool by a mini waterfall, and began up the broad slope to the Needle. This part had some faint trails that crisscrossed each other, but navigating was not ha...

Photo by Pat Rooney In a word? Brutal! It took Pat Rooney and I 3 days to reach the north shore from the south shore, a distance of only 8 miles! Unless I can find a couple of young, strapping ram-rods to lead the way, probably my last backpack of the trail. Wailau is a magnificent amphitheater valley on the friendly isle of Molokai. This beautiful, lush valley features wonderful swimming holes and waterfalls, a "wall of tears", many native birds, a spectacular view of massive Olokui (elev. 4602') and "a remote black sand beach framed by vertical sea cliffs."* Pat Rooney and I backpacked the trail from south to north from May 24 thru 26, 2007. - - Thursday, May 24, 2007 After inspecting the iliiliopae heiau, we commenced the gradual climb toward the summit at 9:05 a.m. Upon achieving the summit (elev. 2800') at 12:35 p.m., we dropped our packs and enjoyed our first glimpse into Wailau Valley while resting and hydrating. Pat's tent had fallen ...

Hike date : April 2003 Certain recollections come to mind when I think of the valley isle of Maui: the tourist town of Lahaina, where there are "brown eyed girls to break your heart"; the long and winding road to Hana, with its wonderful waterfall/swimming hole hikes; lush, isolated Pu'u Kukui, where a group of HTM trailclearers once participated in a service project (Dec. '99); and then there's remarkable Haleakala Crater, the location of my very first neighbor island backpack (May '97), coordinated by Ken Suzuki.After reading about the trip Dayle Turner, Ed Gilman and Mark Short did to Haleakala's summit via a route along Manawainui Gulch in December of last year, I had a strong desire to check it out myself. Moreover, I'm really into elevation gain these days, and after accumulating a total of 7600' via a double traverse of Mount Ka'ala on February 2 of this year, I wanted to exceed this one day total. "10K in one day" ha...