Extreme Hiking Hawaii

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

The 2010 HTMC calendar is really a thing of beauty, but there is outdated information that I would like to see corrected. On the last page (bottom flap of Club Facts & Trivia) it reads, "Pete Clines has also attempted this climb to True Manamana but fell short of the summit. As far as we know, no one has conquered the summit of True Manamana." I am pleased to report that these statements are no longer accurate, as two HTMC members had lunch there this past Saturday! With an EARLY 6:30am meeting time, Laredo (Rainbowman) Murray, Nathan Yuen, Chris Cheng, and I prepared for a long day of adventure. By 6:50am we were leaving the cars (by Kahana Bay) and were heading for the "Cemetery Route" up the Manamana club hike. Clouds and on-and-off rain throughout the day meant the ground would be muddy and slick for the duration. A little before 9am we reached Turnover at about 2000ft and had a short break. The club route would reverse direction here, a

I found out yesterday that my friend (and hiking buddy) Brian was going to be deployed to Iraq in the next week or so with his Marine division. We decided to get in one last hike, and I thought we should make it a worthwhile one. He's gone with me on Kalena, Olomana, and Manamana, so I proposed one that would top them all. We arrived at the Pali lookout at 11:00, and were glad to see the high cloud cover, but with Konahuanui cloud-free(which it remained all day). I've been up to the notches to the right of the lookout 3-4 times before, but never beyond. Today we got to them in short time, then proceeded to work past them taking the direct up-and-over route. Coming off the second notch required a steep downhill climb followed by a careful jump. (We had missed the more gradual descent option on the windward facing side) Next was a brief level stretch, prior to arriving at the "test your courage" spot. We spotted an old rope hanging at the top of v