Extreme Hiking Hawaii

We had planned on hiking somewhere today, but hadn't made any specific plans. Upon arising Adam, my son, felt energetic and suggested that we do one of the windward ridges I had been eyeing. We settled on Bear Claw Ridge in Waimanalo. It had been done in recent years without aids and so we would test ourselves as others had before us. In the back of my mind I felt that it would be just an exploratory hike with the real attempt coming later. We packed our supplies with climbing in mind. On the off chance we made it up, I had no intention of trying to go back down. In my haste, I forgot my gaiters, a mistake my legs are now regretting. We drove around back roads Waimanalo looking for a trailhead. Spotted an overgrown road going up from a locked gate. The road beelined for the right side claw, our route of choice. We parked the bad luck car around the corner in front of some industrial place of business and walked from there to the trailhead. It's lo

Hike date : November 20, 1999 Needing five hours to do the deed, Steve Poor and Dayle Turner reached the summit of Kamaohanui today. Kamaohanui is a peak (elev. 3450 feet) along a ridge that leads to Mauna Kaala, the roof of Oahu. Here's what transpired. I woke this a.m. feeling tired and aching. I had come down with a low-grade fever and nasal congestion a couple days prior and had been fighting to shake the bug. Steve called me earlier in the week. "Let's try for Kamaohanui on Saturday," says Mr Poor. Pat Rorie, one of our usual hiking comrades, is camping at Pahole so he can't be with us. Wing Ng is banned from trail clearing so he's out too. So it'll be Steve and I. Then this bug hits. I won't be in top shape. Doubts clutter my mind. "I'll break it to Steve on Saturday morning," I tell myself. "He'll understand." The day arrives and I drive over to Waialua to meet Steve at the flashing light juncti