Extreme Hiking Hawaii

Nate Rubio, Kale Tulang, and Albert Carcueva have become the 5th, 6th, and 7th to summit True Manamana, following the lead of previous summit conquerors Pete Clines, Laredo Murray, Jeremy Kreis, and Dave Concepcion. See their accomplishment on youtube.

Wing Ng has made mention, to those who care to listen, of HTMC members of yore who used to descend to the windward side from Mount Olympus as a daredevil initiation ritual. More recently, some daredevil wannabes have tried to climb to Olympus (aka Awa'awaloa) from the Maunawili by two different routes, only to be stymied by steep, dangerous conditions.On Saturday 10/26/02, Ed Gilman and I try a third route, and after a taxing and at times nerve testing seven-hour effort, we achieve the goal.We drive in my car to the Maunawili Falls starting point on Kelewina Street and shove off at just past 8 a.m. under partly cloudy skies. With just a tad of dampness underfoot, Ed and I hike up past the junction with the falls trail and onward up the connector trail that eventually merges with the Demonstration Trail at about the 2 to 2.5 mile mark.At that point, we head left (east) on the demo trail to get to the base of our target ridge. We see the object of our attention at various

Wednesday the 21st of July (2010), me and a couple of my closest hiking friends (myself and I ) were thinking of a new challenge. I had previously scouted the lower part of Piliwale ridge the week before, and it didn't seem so bad. I had stopped just short of the "worst" place ascending out of the notch at a octopus tree growing out of the cliff face. Photo by August Smith The weather on Wednesday morning was not so good. The Pali and surrounding cliffs had gotten their fair share of moderately heavy morning showers + it was already 8:30 am by the time I got going, heading up the board of water supply road under a light rain. Feeling discouraged by the heavily overcast conditions and slippery wet ground I spent a good deal of time improving the path to the notch, reaching the notch at 10:15 am. since it was already so late and the clouds were still dark, I had just about thrown in the towel on summiting , I told myself, I just want too see how bad it is above t

Hike date: 17 April 2010 I took a gamble on Saturday's chilly/grey morning and headed for the Pali lookout. AC/DC blasted over the car speakers in an attempt to pump me up for a long day on the trail. Arrived in the very windy (and very empty) parking lot at 8am, had seconds thoughts about the weather, but the exposed summit told me she might want visitors.Began towards the gap in the bamboo by the stone wall and made great time along this now very familiar route, arriving at the puka by 8:15. Wasted no time skirting the cliff face here and was soon at the base of the climb that would bring me 200 vertical feet back to the ridgeline. I skipped the first rope as it looks quite old and unreliable. Worse, the rock here is always weeping making for poor footing. The orange extension cord was next (more reliable) followed immediateley by the yellow rope (also reliable.) Finally, the long rope helped me in climbing the last 100 vertical feet (altimeter measurement) getting

May 1998 "A man's gotta know his limitations." I learned my limitations on the Silver Piliwale Quest this past weekend, and now that I've caught my breath, re-hydrated, slathered antibiotic ointment all over my feet and hands, and showered about fifteen times (my B.O. was toxic as nerve gas), I'm ready to tell my story. Actually, it wasn't so bad, just kind of like "Deliverance" without the hillbilly rapists and banjos. Patrick took lots of notes and will post a detailed account, should any of you like to give The Silver Trail a try yourself. We left Saturday morning, very appreciative of all the aloha and encouragement from the ohe-l folks. Thanks very much! It was my first trip up the Laie trail, and I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful North Shore views and Norfolk pines. The summit came up quickly, and Pat and I blasted out of there, into the clouds and mud. That section of the KST has few redeeming qualities. The only highlights

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