11-2-2011: Koko Crater North Rim (Night Hike)

Kevin called me up the night before and asked if I wanted to do a short hike.  Since my last hike was the very very long Waimano to Aiea Ridge hike last month, I thought, "Why not?" and since I've done the Koko Crater Rim a while back, I decided to add a twist: hiking it at night.  Kevin agreed and I scrambled to get a crew together.  In the end, it was Neel, Francis, Thessa, and Tarnia.  We decided to start on the Hawai`i Kai Dr. side of the crater since the botanical garden was closed and probably guarded by security.  As I drove through the urban sprawl of Honolulu, torrential rains fell over the H-1, but I was not discouraged.  The weather was utterly wet around the main Ko'olaus, but the Hawaii Kai area was completely dry as usual in that area.

After parking our cars in the near by neighborhood area at around 8pm, we crossed Hawai`i Kai Dr. and dropped into a cement ditch to pick up the slope of the crater on the other side.  Francis took the lead and up we went through a dry and dusty forest to gain the crest of the north rim.  From there, I took the lead and pierced the darkness with my headlamp.  As we progressed further up, the ridge line narrowed, sometimes very thin, but contouring is possible to bypass most of the very sketchy sections.  It was a pretty eerie feeling to be standing on a narrow dike with 2 drops into the black depths below.  Like hiking in the clouds, there's that feeling of uncertainty to what's truly around you.

We took several breaks along the way and enjoyed the beautiful landscape as the lights of Hawaii Kai lit up the ground like white Christmas lights (the holidays are coming!).  I took out my tripod and took some night exposures of the lit up city scape.  Kevin pointed out a lit up subdivision looking towards Makapu'u that looked like a sailboat when the city lights are on.

Somewhere about halfway up, we were unexpectedly greeted with a very bright green laser beam, originating somewhere from the subdivisions across Hawaii Kai Dr.  Francis pointed out that there's a skate park in that area and was probably some kids with nothing better to do then to point laser beams at hikers at night.  I then remembered incidents where people flashed green laser pointers at airplanes coming in for a landing.  That is just utterly stupid and dangerous for them to do that.  Soon, it began to get very irritating so I had the crew hold position and turn off our headlamps for a while.  It appeared to work and the green beam was gone.  A little further up, a regular flash light was directed at us from another section of the neighborhood and appeared to be flashing morse code at us, perhaps asking if we were in distress.  Unfortunately we did not know morse code and simply ignored it.  Later on, a BIG white spot light was aimed at us from yet another area of the neighborhood.  At first I thought it was maybe an HPD officer but that thankfully was not the case.  Finally, if any of those other lights were not enough, a blinding blue laser pointer beam was directed from us from a 4th location in the same general area, much more powerful than the already powerful green laser pointer.  Hawaii Kai apparently loves their lights and laser pointers.

Soon we began contouring on the left side of the crest and lost sight of the laser beam.  At about the 3/4th point, we scrambled up some rock faces, made our way carefully through cactus groves, and walked over a final set of narrow dikes before coming upon the final rock face just before the summit.  It looks bad from below but up close, it's a cakewalk with plenty of hand and foot holds.  We soon acquired the summit and reached the metal platform.

The views of Hawaii Kai all the way as far as Diamond Head and Waikiki were wonderful at night.  Since it was getting late, we opted out of doing the Halona Blowhole side of the rim.  After resting here for some time and taking photos, we went to the top of the tram tracks/stairs/"Stairway to Hell".  Kevin pointed out a long tunnel just beyond the top of the stairs that leads into a huge bunker with several rooms.  I've never knew about the tunnel so we decided to take a look before we headed down the stairs.

Neel decided to skip the tunnel part and proceeded down the stairs first while the rest of us followed.  The time was a little after midnight when we reached the Koko Head Marina to retrieve the car and ferry us back to the neighborhood to get our cars.  If you are curious about what hiking is like at night, give the Koko Crater Stairs a try.  I probably wouldn't recommend traversing the rim itself at night, but the stairs leading to the summit makes for a great spot on a full moon night!

No video was taken on this hike for obvious reasons, however check out a video 

of a video I took last year when we did the Koko Crater Rim during the day.

9-19-2010: Koko Crater Rim Traverse (GoPro POV)

1-09-2011: Makapu'u to Mariner's Ridge

                                                           Head north--- Thru hiking the Ko'olaus?

***NOTICE: Mariner's Ridge is CLOSED and ENFORCED by KSBE.  Do not attempt to hike the Mariner's Ridge Trail.  Doing so will be trespassing and can be subject to action by KSBE.***

So the year is 2011 and with my hike counter set back to zero, I've decided to start the opening ceremony with a nice stroll on the mountains.  Anticipating a good start for the New Year, the Ohana was having a camp out at Malaekahana Bay to welcome 2 guests visiting from the Philippines.  That outing would start on Friday and last up until Sunday, the day of this hike.  Ironically, I had a visitor (Neelesh Fernandes) myself from Michigan out here on a business trip (job interview and potentially moving to O'ahu) and he wanted to spend some time with me so I've organized a hike with the Oahu Hikers & Adventurers and planned a route that would start us at the Makapu'u Lookout (not the lighthouse trail), cross Kalanianaole Highway and pick up a trail that heads up the foothills, forming the "Big Toe" of the Ko'olau summit ridge.  I've done this route before up to Kamehame Ridge and then back to my car in 2008.  Funny thing is, I've had to postpone this hike twice due to priority on True Manamana and later on, the left fork of Bear Claw Ridge.  The third time is a charm....  or so I thought.

The overnight stay at Malaekahana was wonderful as always and on Saturday morning, I paddled out into the bay to catch the surf, small ones at that.  Unfortunately I ended up straining a neck muscle which locked my neck up, forbidding me to look up and to the right.  Great!  How was I going to hike tomorrow with this?  Had it not been for my visitor, I would have definitely backed out on this hike but since he was departing for the mainland the next day, I decided to ride this one out with medication and will power.

I woke up the next morning at around 6am and immediately took Motrin and Tylenol to ease the pain and give me limited neck mobility.  I proceeded to town to pick up Neel and then continued on to the end Kaluanui Rd to pick up some people who staged their cars at the Mariner's Ridge end of today's hike.  We got to the Makapu'u Lookout at around 8 and we shoved off along with Leslie, Michael, and the rest of the crew.

The ridge is initially broad and the trail is not discernable, but we just stayed close to the crest of the now rising Ko'olau summit ridge.  A little higher up, we caught the first views of Sea Life Park, the two islands of Mānana and Kaohikaipu, and the bluer than blue ocean that fill everything in between!  It's these views that set this hike apart from any other hike, we are high off the ground and yet very close to the coastline.

Further on we went, the grade of the trail changing from a gradual climb to a gentle roller coaster.  In the distance was a massive 909ft pu'u and at this point, the pain in my neck was brutal.  Apparently the dosage was not enough so I asked Neel if I can and should take another set of capsules.  Neel is a Doctor in residency currently.  I don't know the exact field but it's something in the rehab and sports medicine.  With the doctor in da house, this would prove beneficial as he began performing a series of stretching excercises with my neck.  The excercises worked and with another dosage of pain medication, the pain subsided to a more tolerable level.  By now, our hiking group has formed a sizeable gap between us, but always waited for us to catch up.

Continuing on, we passed a puka that over looks Kalanianaole Highway.  However don't try to go through the puka.  There's an immediate drop dead ahead that takes you down to said highway!  We stopped and rested here to take pictures.

The 909ft pu'u was next and we huffed and puffed our way to the top, being wary of the big drop to our right.  Apparently some hikers have fell off and took the big plunge down below in the past.  Whether if they survived or not is not known.  Once at the top, there was some abandoned? buildings and a road that leads down Kamehame Ridge, named after the Kamehame Rd. itself that goes all the way to the summit crest and to the launch point of hang gliders.  This was also the spot where I got to before turning around back in 2008 so from this point on is all new territory.  We hiked by some bystanders, perhaps waiting for the hang glider instructors and equipment.  Once past the 2nd platform, the trail hung left and we found ourselves on an old paved road with a fence up ahead.  I stopped here again and lay down on my pack and rest my neck.

Once we reached the fence, we hung right and came upon a concrete slab that can be climbed through an old rusty fence, the metal poles only standing.  We caught up to the faster pace hikers who were climbing up an old sentry lookout tower.  Despite my aching neck, my curiousity got the best of me and I climbed up the ladder to get a better vantage point.  Further on, we reached the bulk of the abandoned man made complex.  It appears that this is the remains of an old Nike Missle Site that was used during World War II.

Beyond the complex, the trail headed downward into a saddle with a blue cable.  We decided to affix an additional rope to suppliment this cable.  While the ropes/cables are most definitely not required for the descent, it's good to have them to provide a sense of security as the backdrop of the shoreline can be a bit intimidating to some hikers.

The trail then headed for a lone grove of Ironwood Trees that is clearly visible if you are driving on Kalanianaole Highway.  We took our next break in this grove, providing much needed shade.  Looking back the way we came from, we noticed another group of hikers descending the blue cable section.  One of us mentioned that this could very well be the rest of our group who apparently may have shown up late.  (There was some confusion in the meetup time.)  Whether if this was indeed our group was never known. (Did anyone confirm that this group was part of ours?)  Going down the backside of this ironwood grove was tricky.  The "pinecones" that carpeted the trail acted like rollers or wheels, sending the unsuspecting hiker for a wild ride!  I came up with a strategy to stoop down and slide on these pinecones in a controlled descent.

Shortly after getting through the next saddle or two, we came upon a small peak with a large white powerline pole.  This would mark the topping out point of the Tom-Tom Trail that heads down a spur to Waimanalo Town below.  This route also takes you to the HTMC clubhouse!  Looking ahead, we could see the rest of the Ko'olau spine snake towards the west and then pivot to the northwest on the spot where the terminus of Bear Claw Ridge and Pu'u O Kona is located.

Continuing on further, the trail drops a bit into another small patch of Ironwood trees.  I was familiar with these trees and then I looked off to my left and there was a cleared trail coming in from Hawai'i Kai.  Turns out this spot marks the terminus of the Kamiloiki Trail.  While the rest of the group booked it going towards Mariner's Ridge, Neel, Eddie, and I decided to chit chat a bit here and to rest my neck once again.  Looking back, we noticed the "mystery" group heading down Tom-Tom Trail.

A little while later, the three of us lost the trail and somehow found ourselves heading makai (seaward) and not on the summit trail.  Fortunately I was able to realize this before we headed too far astray and we backtracked quickly, realizing we veered left off a sharp curve that heads back towards the crest.  There was an orange ribbon but it was faded out and we didn't see it.  Too bad I didn't have my spool of ribbon on me on this day.

After a few more ups and downs we reached the Mariner's Ridge summit.  A few of them decided against resting at the summit and to power down Mariner's Ridge.  This would be the last time I would see any of them, as Neel and I decided to take a longer than usual break to rest my crippled neck.

After a 30 minute walk, we reached Kaluanui Pl. and Michael was there with 2 gatorades waiting for us, a much needed refreshment!  As we chugged away on our drinks, Michael drove us back to Makapu'u Lookout and Neel has completed his first true ridge hike in Hawai'i.  The only other hikes he did prior to this one was 1 and 2 years ago, Diamond Head and Haiku Stairs respectively!

And for those wondering, Neel was indeed accepted into his new followship here in Hawaii and will be moving here sometime during the summer.  I give him big props for a life changing deal!  As for me, I'm never ever hiking with a strained neck muscle!  It really doesn't make for any fun at all!  On the bright side, I can finally say I've hiked the entire Ko'olau summit ridge from Konahuanui to Makapu'u!

Video:

Makapu'u to Mariner's Ridge (GoPro POV)