Extreme Hiking Hawaii

Author :  Pete Clines <peteclines@YAHOO.COM> My long-time hiker partner, Dave Webb, was visiting Hawaii from his ( slightly ) colder home in Oregon , so I got to take him on one of my favorite hikes. Between jeep - road - walking segments, we got to spend three adventurous hours in Kaha wainui Gulch, negotiating 18 waterfalls and a crazy hau tangle along the way.   Not surprising, the busted up kayak was still present. However, this time it was between the hau tan gle and the first falls. Last May it was at the base of the 8 th falls – a go o d distance upstream . How this thing gets downstream despite all the obstacles is a mystery. The water level must rise A LOT to accomplish this. In any case, it was busted in two now, with the pieces several feet apart and well above water level. Here is Dave hoping for a big swell to ride it out. The flow was about perfect this time – not too low and stagnant, and not too high and dangerous. We didn ’ t get rained on, a...

Author :  Pete Clines <peteclines@YAHOO.COM> Having hiked Pauao ridge from the water tank to the Koolau summit several times, and having scrambled along the tricky section of the same ridge from Puu Piei to the coast a couple times (Piei Makai)…. I thought it would be interesting to complete the remaining section in the middle. Chenay Borja was up for it, and we headed into Kahana valley on foot sometime around 9-9:30am. We endured the long road walk to the water tank at the foot of the Pauao up-trail that I have become too familiar with. Once on trail, I was bummed to see that the uluhe was already growing back from a recent clearing that was done here. Upon reaching the ridgeline, we paused for a snack at the clearing before heading makai with Piei far in the distance. With knowledge of the terrain and vegetation on the extreme ends of this ridge, I explained to Chenay that we would face the hardest bushwhack at the beginning due to uluhe…with that tapering off along the wa...

Author :  Pete Clines <peteclines@YAHOO.COM> “ Hiking is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get. ” That held true for several aspects of last Sunday’s outing. The weather, trail conditions, and even the route would all be a surprise when Duc, August, and I started off into Manoa Valley at 8:40am. First, the route. I originally planned to lead us up Manoa stream and bypass some waterfalls until we could no longer progress, and then we would climb to a side ridge and decide what to do from there. Simple enough, as Laredo and I had done this previously, encountering 17 falls before we decided to loop out another way. But on this day we only got past two falls – by climbing banyan trees as seen below – before we made a split - second decision to keep climbing up the ridge we were on instead of following the stream. Figured we were already pointing that direction.... So up we continued, sometimes with evidence of previous hikers – a swath - and s...

August Smith (front) and Nate Yuen on the Manana trail Author :  Pete Clines Hike date : August 2010 ...when you summit via Manana, come down Waimano, but finish at Manana.  (The other version would be Wainano, btw.)  Sunday was SUPPOSED to clear up in the afternoon.  Never did.  At least not where we were during this marathon trek.  August Smith, Laredo Murray, Nate Yuen and I met up at the Manana trailhead and pushed off at 7am.  Overcast skies and socked-in summits kept the ascent cool and comfortable.  Expecting too sweat more, I carried 5 liters of refreshments but only drank 2.5 in the end.  Lively conversation carried us along the otherwise uneventful trail.  We also paused tooo check out several side trails that will require exploration in the future.  We stayed together, and by 10:45 or so we were all at the Manana summit.  A lunch break occurred, and we sat in the canopied area toooo talk story.  Aft...

These unofficially named summits are located in the Waianae Range of western Oahu, on ridgelines separating the Makua, Ohikilolo and Makaha Valleys. Access is from the west in Ohikilolo Valley, at the end of Keaau Homesteads Rd. The looping hike is 6.2mi in length with 3,500ft of gain. Nandor had provided me a GPX track that was super helpful and all I needed to complete the hike in a bit over 5 hours. Unlike the previous day's muddy hike to Ka'ala, today's weather was much better and the entire route dry. Great views all day long, too. I started just after 8a, having driven Keaau Homesteads Rd as far as I could, through a first open gate at the highway, but stopped by a second gate just past Ohikilolo Adventure Park (not what you might think - this is a horseback riding establishment). I parked on the wide, mowed shoulder outside the adventure park and started up the road from there.  Ample signs let you know this is a hunting area, the current month for gamebirds only. ...