Oahu Hike Tales

I'll be assisting John Hall with the HTMC hike next Saturday so I marked the route and did some light trail maintenance yesterday in preparation. The route begins at the Kuliouou Ahi trailhead on Kala'au Place. Less than 100 yards past the hunter check-in, there is an indistinct trail that heads upslope on the right. I didn't put any ribbons within easy view at this junction on Ahi since I didn't want to lead any of the many hikers of Ahi astray. However, once one finds this route, orange ribbons will mark the way. For the most part, this trail heads straight up the ridge, basically following a shallow ravine, until topping out on the right side ridge of Kuliouou Valley. Once at the ridgetop, hikers will turn left, heading mauka. Actually, if one continues along the ridgetop, the picnic shelter along the Ahi trail will eventually be reached. However, the HTMC route will follow a trail down into the back of Kaalakei Valley. This path is wide open and may have eve...

My buddy Chris Thomas emailed me this morning, asking about the Haihaione trail. I've only hiked that route once and when I did I noticed some additional options to explore; accordingly, I figured why not head out to Hawaii Kai side to check it out. One end of the Haihaione trail begins at the terminal point of Haihaione Street. However, instead of starting there, I drove up Kuliouou Valley and commenced hiking at the head of the Kuliouou Ahi trail on Kala'au Place. My tentative plan was to go up the Ahi switchbacks and look for a trail that dropped down to Kaalakei Valley which sits between Kuliouou and Haihaione. From Kaalakei, I'd ascend to Mauna o Ahi ridge, pick up the Haihaione trail atop it, and continue to the Koolau summit. At the summit, I'd turn left and continue to the top of Ahi, which I'd descend back to my vehicle. For the most part, I followed that plan, with some minor variations. I arrived at the Ahi trailhead at 11:45 and after readying my st...