Extreme Hiking Hawaii

I did this as part of family vacation- they stayed on Oahu. I dayhiked Kawaikini. I drove to Mohihi Trailhead in fading light - gravel road all in the dark and an adventure. It was odd to have this marginal road with the fancy bridges and yield signs. I slept in truck and started hiking at 5:19 AM. It was cool to have so much ridgetop hiking in early section. The river crossing involved a skip across boulders. I would have went later in trip but weather looked good now. I had never bothered with using a GPS track before - this time I tried but data truncated. I have an old GPS. I only had data to near the creek crossing. I never had used Tracbac before except a neighborhood try 2 days before - that was interesting. The trail was overgrown in places but still could be followed. I only lost it twice momentarily on the way back. I hadn't memorized all the old trip reports I looked at as good as I thought so the fenceline was confusing. Ribbons ran out after cone so bac...

Early on in my long fascination with Maui I became intrigued with the idea of climbing 5;788' Puu Kukui (lit., "candlenut hill"), rising just east of Lahaina, the high point of the West Maul Mountains. Doing a little research, I found that this peak--because of its almost permanent cloud cap-is one of the wettest spots on earth. The mountain, in fact, has an average rainfall of 40 feet/year, and often competes with Kauai's Mt. Waialeale as the soggiest spot on the planet. Read more...

Finally got to do the crossover between Kawiwi and Kamaileunu! I have been interested in this route since hearing that Al Miller did it years (and years) ago. I was supposed to take some of the gang up there back in January, but I got sick and spent that weekend in bed. Then the weather was just uncooperative all the recent Sundays. But this past weekend we had the trades back and the forecast was for less rain, so we (Kevin, Duc, August, and I) went for it. Below is the route starting from the usual trailhead in Waianae Valley. The blue arrow marks the notch which is where it gets particularly exciting. After leaving my car near the Kamaileunu trailhead, we rode in Duc’s car to our starting point, and set off up the paved road at 8:30ish. The road was wet and slick - not a good sign as we would prefer dry conditions for a safe climb up and across. From the curve in the road we ducked into the forest on the path to the base of Kawiwi. Most of my ribbons from last year were g...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Feq7JBQa8c

View of Poipu from Kawaikini Hikers : Greg Slayden, Laura Newman, Shannon Dilmore, Peter Barr Ascent Trip Report Useful Info: As recently as 2006, the trek to Kawaikini’s summit took up to five tough days of intense jungle bushwhacking through soggy swamps and impenetrable brush. However, over the past decade the access situation here has improved dramatically, mainly due to the construction of pig-control fences. At this point, the trip to this peak no longer involves any bushwhacking and is mainly a trail hike. To be sure, it remains a very rough, rugged, and difficult hike of 23 miles round-trip, and the rainy climate can cause issues with stream crossings and deep mud. But a dry-weather climb by hikers with a 4x4 for trailhead access can be a relatively easy two-day backpack trip. From the Kokee State Park lodge and museum area, a dirt road across Route 550 signed “YWCA Camp” leads east towards the Alakai swamp. This road leads 6 miles to its end, and in most cond...

Ascent of Kamakou by Rob Woodall   9 Jan 2013 We (Laura Newman, Adam Helman, Duane Gilliland and I, Rob Woodall) take an early flight from Lihue via Honolulu to Molokai. John Mitchler, Don Nelsen and Bob Packard are already here: John meets us at the airport, Art picks up a rental car and we drive into town to buy food, water and cooking fuel. We have lunch then call back at the airport to meet John Klein who's on a later flight; Bob Packard and Peggy Swift also meet us here to say hello. John M and Don drive us and our gear up the rough dirt road (Don's 2WD pickup makes it OK) to the picnic site N21.13049 W156.92148, 1088m. An impressive location, with a superb three-quarter-circle rainbow and a view down a steep short valley to the ocean nearly 1100m below. Here the five us set up our tents, under the picnic shelter out of the wind and rain showers. A welcome contrast to the cramped dirty sloping site we occupied at Sincock's bog below Kawaikini a few days ago...