Oahu Hike Tales

Hiking in Oahu's mountains has given me a chance to see many things--razor-edged ridges, rare Hawaiian plants, pristine valleys, cascading waterfalls, and much more. I thought I had seen it all. Well, not quite. In mid-February '97, my fireman friend, Bill Melemai, and his 11- year-old son, Willie, and I planned an overnight campout on Waahila Ridge, the Koko-Head-side shoulder of Manoa Valley. Our plan was to hike an hour up the ridge, camp at a pleasant tree- covered clearing, and descend via the Kolowalu trail that bottoms out in the Woodlawn area of Manoa Valley. We left my car near the intersection of Alani Drive and Woodlawn Avenue and motored up St. Louis Heights to the Waahila Ridge State Park in Bill's van. We arrived at the park at around 5 p.m. (we actually left Bill's van just outside the park's entrance gate because any vehicle remaining in the park grounds after 6:45 would be dutifully towed away). So after lacing our boots and checking our pac...

If you want to do some ridge walking but don't want to hike five miles to do so, try this hike. Park at the Makapuu lookout, cross Kalanianaole Highway and ascend the hill until you reach the ridgeline. This will take 10 to 15 minutes more or less. You can continue along the ridgeline until you are directly above Sea Life Park. On the day I hiked this trail, I found a comfortable rock, took out my banana, apple, water jug and binoculars and watched the sea lion and killer whale shows from 1,000 feet above. Fun stuff. Just like all the other hikes I've written about, the view from atop the Makapuu cliffs are spec... well, you know what I mean. Laying before you are Rabbit Island, Makapuu beach, and in the distance is Mokapu, home of the Kaneohe Marine Base. Back to the hike. Although I ventured just a quarter mile or so past Sea Life Park, I've read that it's possible to continue along the ridgeline to the Tom Tom trail (I wish I knew the background for t...

Most of us who live in Hawaii or have an interest in the islands are familiar with the TV shows Magnum P.I. and Hawaii Five-O. Remember scenes from a high vantage point with Rabbit Island and the Waimanalo coast in the background? If you were wondering, those scenes were filmed at the Makapuu Lighthouse overlook, a site accessible via a 45 minute walk from Kalanianaole Highway.  After years of driving from Honolulu to my windward side home in Kaneohe, I finally decided in the summer of 1994 to check out what lay beyond that gated roadway at the bottom of the long hill on the Hawaii Kai Golf Course side. What had taken a lifelong Oahu resident so long to explore this place? Probably like many others, I had a notion that access to the road beyond the gate was not allowed. Even though more times than not I saw cars parked along the roadway fronting the gate indicating that people were tramping around up there, I categorized these folks as trespassers who'd placed themselves at the mer...

  For me, hiking the Koolau summit has been both an exhilarating and tortuous experience. The exhilaration comes in the form of views of rarely seen vistas, of being closer to nature than most, of the comradery of close friends, and of post-hike memories of the experience. The torture manifests itself in--among other things--lung busting ascents of handholdless slopes with a heavy pack, cramped muscles brought on by exertion the body cannot tolerate, relentless assaults of the scorching sun, and mental anguish from the realization a misstep could mean injury or death. Since I keep returning to hike the summit again and again, either I'm a masochist (I'm not) or I'm addicted to the exhilaration like a chain-smoker is to cigarettes. My most recent experience with the above-described phenomena was on Sunday, 1/25/98, when I joined a group of 12 others to make our way across the crest between Mount Olympus and Konahuanui, the highest point in the Koolau range. What follows i...

Tragedy was averted at yesterday's Olomana TM (12 Dec 2004). Two of our group fell, in one case 150 feet and in another 125. Both were able to hike out. Mel Yoshiokia was the first to fall, doing so while descending from Peak 2 to the saddle between 2 & 3. He fell to the mauka side of the mountain, "taking out four trees" as he careened down the mountainside, according to Mike, who was ahead of Mel on the descent at the time. At that moment, the group I was with, which included my wife Jacque, was making the final approach to the summit of Peak 3, having just made our way past the hole-in-the-rock section and climbed the steep roped section just past that. As were making our way carefully along, I stopped when I heard loud crashing thru the trees behind me back toward Peak 2. At first, I thought it was a boulder someone had dislodged. I'd heard the sobering sound before. It was different this time, though. Interspersed with the sounds of impact on trees and ...

After yesterday's long hike up Halawa Ridge and back, I didn't have loads of energy for another marathon trek, so I thought a circumnavigation of Diamond Head crater (about 2.5 miles) would fit the bill. Pat Rorie, who also did Halawa, agreed to join me. We met at the pulloff area on the left just before the entrance tunnel and after usual preps started off at 9:40 under clear skies. In addition to the heavily used traditional route inside the crater, there are many exterior trails available to climb to the rim of Diamond Head and the one we chose starts at the turnoff area beneath a sign that states, "No camping. No blah, blah, blah." Laughing to ourselves, we hiked by the sign. Many tourists had congregated at the turnoff area for picture taking and undoubtedly some probably wondered where we were off to. The semi-steep climb to the rim, initially through haole koa and then over a rocky, crumbly path, took about 10 minutes. Once at the top we enjoyed views of ...

One of Hawaii's most famous landmarks is Diamond Head, whose slopes have graced thousands of postcards, magazine ads, and TV backdrops. This much ballyhooed Oahu point of interest is also home to a heavily travelled trail, which I have only hiked once despite living in Hawaii all my life. If you're looking for a more strenuous workout, begin your hike from parking lot fronting the Waikiki Shell. Every Saturday, the Hawaii Clean Air team organizes a hike with the Shell as a starting point. If, on the other hand, you are pressed for time or don't want to overwork yourself, you can drive into the crater via an access tunnel and begin your hike from there. That option will save you about 45 minutes to an hour of road walking. As I mentioned earlier, the trail up Diamond Head is used extensively. Consequently, if you're looking for solitude and being one with nature, look elsewhere. The hike to the top will take about 30 minutes or so. Be prepared for ...