1-25-2014: Waiʻanae Summit Trail - Kaua to Kolekole Pass (Hapapa)

CAUTION: The Waiʻanae Mountain Range is located on properties owned by the U.S. government, the U.S. military of all branches, the state of Hawaiʻi via departments, and private owners. The mountain ridges and valleys are also home to a delicate and vast array of native plants, animals, and insects. Please take care not to disturb them or their native habitats and always seek permission to access these lands. Always do your research prior to setting out. And finally, once you are out there, always minimize your impact to the environment and of course, be safe.

This is it, the last leg of the journey.  I didn't think I would get to this point so quickly.  But I still needed to complete this segment and anything that goes wrong on this hike could deny me the finish line.  Zack was the guy to accompany me.  As with all his hikes, he opted to hike in "slippahs", something I seriously recommend not doing unless you know absolutely what you are doing.

We pushed off on the same spot where we took to gain the WST a week ago when we headed to Makakilo.  This time around, we were to head in the opposite direction towards Kolekole Pass.  We hiked in the blackness of night, right before dawn to avoid attracting attention to ourselves on the way up.  About halfway up, we caught the sunrise over the Koʻolaus.  We were on top of Puʻu Kaua by 8:45am.  Unlike last week, we had a commanding view all the way around.  The view from here is by far my favorite on the entire Waiʻanae Range.  The winds today were howling, but not as tradewinds.  They were howling from the southwest!  A strong Kona wind pattern was with us on this day, making for a unique summit experience.

After enjoying the views for around 10 minutes, we headed north on the summit trail.  The trail was relatively overgrown but a steel fence greets you  upon leaving the summit of Kaua.  The summit ridge began a steep descent towards a pair of crumbly pinnacles known as the Gorilla Heads or Kriangles.  Almost immediately, one can get a view of the ridge line downward and the aforementioned pinnacles.  But before getting to the actual Gorilla Heads, we had to climb down a couple of rock faces.  One of the rock faces was a little tricky.  It required us to either go on the leeward or windward side to drop down and contour.  People have done the windward side but we opted for the lee side.  At the base of the rock face, on the contour is a tiny portion of fence line that somehow was placed on this area.

Once past the rock faces, it was the Gorilla Heads themselves.  Getting up to the top of the first pinnacle involved scrambling up loose rock, but it wasn't anything like the "Knucklehead Wall" on the Pohakea Pass.  The only tricky part was a large boulder just before the apex, which involved bear hugging it and heaving yourself up.  Going down on the other side of the first pinnacle was more crumbly than the other side.  But with careful okole scooting, it didn't give us that much trouble.  While heading down, we spotted a black goat just on the other side of the second pinnacle.  Going over the second pinnacle proved easier as it was smaller than the first and we made it through the Gorilla Heads rather quickly.  I looked at the remainder of the summit ridge to Kolekole Pass.  Doesn't look bad at all.  I would later regret saying that.

Past the Gorilla Heads, we hiked our way on a gentle roller coasting ridge.  The fence was not present during this stretch.  While I could say the ridge itself was gentle, the foliage growing on it was a complete different story.  I've heard the section between Kaua and Kanehoa was completely overgrown.  I was expecting to bushwhack through brushes, something that was pretty routine on the kinds of hikes I do.  Nope, not this one.  As I quote Ahnate, it was straight up "BS" for the next few hours.  Instead of brushes and uluhe, we had to contort our bodies around thickets of tree branches that seem to poke you from every direction possible.  The winds did not help one bit.  The winds blew dust in our faces, making visual difficult.  About halfway to Puʻu Kanehoa, we spotted what appeared to be a contour trail on the leeward side.  Perhaps this was a trail that bypassed a large chunk of the woody thicket.  Turns out it was a goat trail as the trail got extremely narrow with a massive drop to leeward.  The trail eventually terminated and we noticed how far below the summit crest we were.  I didn't like what I saw and turned around back to the junction.  From there I simply blasted my way through the thick low lying trees to rendezvous with Zack, who climbed directly up from the goat trail to the summit crest.  After passing a few small puʻu, we came across a larger puʻu.  We don't recall spotting any trail tape to mark this spot but we assumed we were on Kanehoa, as I could see the remainder of the summit ridge to Puʻu Hapapa.

Past Kanehoa, trail conditions improved drastically.  Gone were the thickets of tree branches and came the views.  From Kanehoa to Hapapa, this was an enjoyable segment.  We could easily make out the North Shore with Pūpūkea and the HECO wind farm.  To the leeward was vast Lualualei Valley and the towering radio towers.  Wheeler Airfield and Schofield was clearly visible.  Directly ahead of us in the distance loomed Kaʻala, completely clear of clouds.

At some point about halfway between Kanehoa and Hapapa, the fence returned and it was smooth sailing from there.  Before we knew it, we were standing on a dirt area held together by black plastic barriers.  I couldn't help but busting out my iPhone and jamming it out to Europe's "Final Countdown".  The journey was over, but we still had to get off the mountain.

Heading down the Hapapa Trail, we could easily make out the Kolekole Pass and the Kalena Trail on the other side.  We opted not to go down the traditional trail and instead went down the notches that I referred to as the "Death Ridge" back in 2009.  After descending from the notches via a ridge filled with roots, we rejoined the Hapapa Trail just prior to the large grassy meadow that shows a nice view of the notch ridge line heading up to Hapapa.  The grass here was very thick and long.  In 2009, this meadow was well manicured but since the closure of the Kolekole Pass to the public, this trail does not see much people at all.  After passing the "sacrificial boulder", we made it back to Kolekole Road at around 3pm.  The Waiʻanaes was finished at last and it was a victory walk down Kolekole Rd. to meet up with Carl who would shuttle us back to our starting point to retrieve our car.

Unfortunately, about a quarter mile out from our meeting location, we've encountered an MP and were detained.  Our information was taken and were questioned why and how we got to Kolekole Pass.  At first they were in a defensive posture but eventually warmed up to us.  They were stoked after learning where we came from and talked stories as they escorted us out via the MP patrol car and dropped us off at the gate where we proceeded to wait for Carl to come get us.  Mahalo nui, Carl and your friend for giving us a ride back to our car!

The journey is pau.

Finally....

Video coming soon!

8-25-2012: Lahilahi (Black Rock) Point, Makaha Beach

I haven't known much about this rather secluded place until I made a fly by with Brian and his RLU-1 Breezy Experimental aircraft.  Even then, I haven't paid much attention to it until a local resident who calls it home gave me some tidbits about it and was even invited to his birthday party which would take place there.  He owns a condo that is the Makaha Beach Cabanas which stands tall right along the beach front.  Upon arriving there, I was surprised that such a wonderful place went unnoticed on my radar for this long.  I was in for a treat!

The party itself was a real good turn out with many people showing up.  Even Wayde Fishman of "Wayde's World Hawai`i" was there.  But he wasn't to film or document anything.  He was there to celebrate the Birthday Boy and just have a good time.  I wanted to take the opportunity to document it as there was a little known hiking trail that reaches for the top of what the locals call "Black Rock", a large rocky stand alone ridge that is oddly next to the ocean.

After settling and exchanging pleasantries with people who were there, I set off.  I made my way down the beach and picked up an old 4x4 dirt road that heads mauka along the base of Black Rock.  A local guy off the side of the road greeted me and I did the same in return.  It wasn't long before I spotted a trail heading up the side of the rock formation and up I went.  Looking halfway up, I could make out a mother and 4 kids doing the same route.  The climb isn't difficult at all, much of it can be walked albeit a couple of mild scrambles.  I didn't have my hiking shoes with me so "slippahs" (flip-flops) it would be.  Before I knew it, I was already on the crest and the views opened up to the south.  Dominating high above me off in the distance were the Wai`anae Mountains and the leeward coast of Wai`anae and all the way as far as Ko`olina were clearly visible to the south.  The views to the north were obscured by Kea`au Ridge, a massive ridge line that connects to the ridge to the north, `Ohikilolo Ridge.

From here, the top is easily acquired by merely walking less than 5 minutes along the crest to reach a cemented metal pole, passing by a couple of Kiawe trees.  It appears that someone has erected a Hawaiian Flag which was only secured to this pole by choke (a lot of) industrial tape!  The views from here are spectacular.  The entire Makaha Beach Cabanas and it's beach lay below, along with the bluer than blue waters.  Looking directly to the west is nothing but a deep blue Pacific Ocean.  Not many ridges take you so close to the ocean as this one so it makes for a unique perspective of the coast line.  This also makes an excellent location to view the sunset as I would do later on this day.  But for now, I wanted to explore what would be the highlight of this small little hike.  The plan called to continuing makai along this ridge and see if a descent can be done.  I've read and heard accounts of people ascending and descending a short but very steep bouldering section that lies on the makai facing side of Black Rock.

As I was about to push off, I heard voices from behind and noticed the same mother and kids I saw earlier popped out into view.  I said my aloha to them and offered to take their picture of them on the summit and then they departed back down the way they came from.  I proceeded makai and encountered numerous Kiawe trees with it's razor sharp thorns protruding in every direction.  Some of these trees took up the entire width of the ridge which made for slow progress at times.  Since I was doing this in slippers, my foot was exposed to these thorns.  At some point, I felt a severe sharp pain and looked down to find that indeed one of the thorns from a fallen branch has punctured my foot.  And I saw the damn thorn pierce even deeper as I placed my entire weight.  I yelped in pain and somehow made it past the tree to a clearing.  Blood began flowing and the pain was relentless.  I highly recommend shoes for this portion.

After tending to my wound for some time, I proceeded onward and the ridge began a gradual descent towards the deep blue ocean, bottoming out at the area that makes up Lahilahi Point.  After going down some ledges, the angle of descent steepened abruptly and I can see where the bottom was.  I carefully made my way down, bypassing yet another Kiawe tree on my right.  Just after this tree is where the angle of descent is at it's steepest and it goes down for maybe about a little less than 100ft.  Fortunately, there are plenty of holds to use.  Unfortunately, a lot of these holds are not sturdy at all.  In fact they can look deceiving to the unwary.  Testing each hold is a must or you risk of making your descent via express!  Going down proved tricky for me as I have a habit of descending steep things facing forward.  Having your back towards the ocean is probably your best bet but it's very steep that you have to feel your way downward with your feet.  Testing each hold is crucial here.

Eventually I reached the bottom, proceeded to head to the farthest point to the coastline, and looked back up to see how it looked bottom up.  Doing an ascent on this makes for some bouldering fun but make sure to test those holds!  I made my way back to the beach area via a trail that skirts the base of Black Rock on it's north side.  There are a few heiaus in this area so please make a mental note to not disturb these areas.

This is a short and fun little hike to get a better vantage point of Lahilahi Point and the Makaha Beach Cabanas.  Heading up the mauka side only takes 15 minutes or less and a quick way to catch that perfect sunset!  I definitely recommend shoes for the summit section past the cement pole and the makai side!

Lahilahi Point, Makaha Beach (GoPro 2 POV)