All posts tagged Torture

Kamaile’unu: An Honest Cardio Trail in the East Wai’anaes

by Marvin on January 5, 2012 in Hikes with 3 Comments

Rainbow from the Pacific Ocean to Makaha Towers

Kamaile’unu ridge divides the Makaha and Wai’anae valleys and offers excellent views of both throughout the ~3.5 mile trail to its terminus. The views come at a great cost, however. One is able to fully see both valleys, and beyond, because there is little to no shade on this ridge hike. This can make the hike brutal on a sunny day. I was lucky to have hiked this trail when it was cloudy and often times were even too cold!

Makaha Valley

The trail is considered “honest” by many hikers because the trail is straightforward and, much like the Koko Crater stairs, is a trail that gains elevation throughout the trek. There are a couple short sections where the trail goes down, but they won’t last very long. The ascend is fairly steep throughout with just one section where the elevation gain becomes very gradual. This makes for a great cardio hike that takes you to the 4^th highest point (3314 ft) on the island, even higher than Konahuanui.

Wai’anae Valley

Directions: The trail is very close to Farrington highway. Whether going clockwise or counter clockwise on the island, make a turn onto Maiuu Road from Farrington. This road will be close to the beginning of the ridge and right between Makaha and Wai’anae valley. Maiuu Road will be just past Wai’anae high school if going north on Farrington or Wai’anae Shopping Center if going south.

Once on Maiuu, go straight to the end right before the road turns left. The trail head is right before the road turns. At the end of Maiuu road, look to your right before the road turns and you should see some ribbons and an obvious trail going up. This will take you to the ridgeline of Kamaile’unu. Maiuu Road may not be the safest place to park, however. You may wish to park in a block or 2 over and walk to the trail afterwards.

One of the few colorful items on the Kamaile’unu trail

The trail should now be straightforward from here on out. There will be some ribbons along the way but they are generally not needed. You will encounter some rock faces, while not extremely challenging to negotiate, they can all be contoured. Near the beginning, you will also encounter a Heiau (temple – looks like a bed of rocks on the trail) and it is suggested to walk around it rather than on top out of respect.

Makaha Valley from the Puka

The trail will start out as a straight line, but will soon begin to turn towards Wai’anae valley. Soon, you will encounter a fence along the ridge. You can walk along the fence or go down to parallel the fence with a wider walking space. The fence portion will not last too long. As you get closer to the end, keep an eye out for a puka. The puka will be on the middle of the trail and will be slightly hidden as the ground makes up the bottom of the puka. You will have to look under a rocky section to find it. It is fairly large and offers a nice perspective for both Makaha and Wai’anae valley.

Two of many mountain goats on the trail

While the trail is somewhat narrow at times, it is not narrow enough to elicit panic or any danger. The ridge is very sturdy except for a few spots near the end. The trickiest portions would be some of the rock faces, but again, they can be avoided if you choose to. You should both see and hear many mountain goats on this trail. You may even find a good number of goat bones along the way. A lot of goats sneezed in my general direction before running off.

View from the end of the trail

A common spot to end the trail will be a large, circular stone platform before a steep saddle. If you go down the saddle, you will encounter a difficult rock face. More experienced climbers can continue on the trail to exit via Kawiwi or even continue onto No Name Peak, Three Poles and connect to the highest point on the island, Mt. Ka’ala. Much like Ohulehule, Ka’ala has many spur ridges and offers hikers multiple points of entry.

Map

One word of caution is to avoid minimalist shoes. While my Fivefingers were ideal for me going up, the odd shaped rocks were extremely annoying on the return trip. The ascend trip took me 3.5 hours but the descend took me about 5 hours (I spent some time waiting for the sunset as well however). 8 hours would be a good estimate for average time and it will depend largely on the weather. Bring plenty of water if you hike on a sunny day and keep some in your car as well. The hike is great for cardio and offers excellent views of the East Wai’anaes.

Explorers: Marvin

Makapu’u to Wiliwilinui: Summit Hopping on the Eastern Ko’olau Summit Trail

by Marvin on October 13, 2011 in Hikes with 5 Comments

Sunrise over Sea Life Park

While Coty and Joel were creating a sunrise time lapse from the Makapu’u lighthouse trail (eastern most point on Oahu), I begin my 13 hour journey on the Ko’olau Summit Trail (KST) with the intention to walk all the way back to my house in Manoa after ending my summit stroll at Mt. Olympus.

Having previously done Mt. Olympus to Konahuanui, my trek today would have allowed me to finish the whole summit section between Makapu’u and K2, but a couple unexpected detours kept me short of my goal. First, I spent an hour waiting for and taking shots of the sunrise that I originally did not intend to do. Second, I got lost soon after the Kamiloiki junction and lost about an of hour of hiking time. But, in the end, I managed to cover a large portion of the KST and witnessed the best sunrise yet in my short time on the island.

13 hour hike route, including section where I got lost (twice..)

Joel and Coty dropped me off at the Makapu’u scenic lookout point [directions] around 4:45 AM and I crossed the street to begin the ascend towards the KST. There are very few street and city lights in this part of the island so unless there is a full moon expect to be walking in almost complete darkness. Along with either a flashlight and/or headlamp, be sure to have extra batteries as well because it is nearly impossible to navigate without a personal light source.

The easiest way to find yourself on the KST from Makapu’u is to find the fence on the right side of the hill across the parking lot and follow it all the way to the top. Once the fence ends, head right towards the cliff and begin walking along the ridge. On the trail, you will eventually hear sounds of dolphins, indicating you are getting closer to Sea Life Park. I stopped once I got a good view of the park to take pictures of the sunrise.

Vertical panorama of sunrise

Normally my bag is only 10 pounds but on this day I was carrying about 20 lbs total. With 4.5 liters of water, a gallon of Gatorade, 10 high protein Clif bars and other general items, I had to walk a slower than usual pace to get used to the higher weight. By the end, I only needed 6 of the Clif bars and about 3 liters of both water and Gatorade.

Shot from the puka

Makapu’u to Mariner’s

Most of my time was spent on the KST that connects to Mariner’s Ridge. Near Makapu’u, there is a famous puka where I managed to capture a more mature sunrise. As I continued, I found a small group of mountain goats! On my first trip to this side of the KST, I found many goat droppings but did not see any goats. I later found out that the best time to see them is earlier in the day and sure enough, here they were around 7:30 AM. I saw about a dozen in total with both young and adult goats running away whenever I got about 20 yards of them.

Mountain Goats on the KST!

The KST is straightforward as long as you stay towards the edge of the ridge (just don’t fall off). If you attempt this summit hopping trip, you will have many places to bailout, but this side of the KST is mostly a straight line without many bailout points so you may have to simply walk back to the trail head if you want to end early. The first great view of the windward side you will encounter is when you reach the junction for the Kamiloiki trail.

Continue reading to see views from select summits encountered on the trail. Continue reading →

Koko Crater

by Marvin on August 14, 2011 in Hikes with 14 Comments

Inside of Koko Crater

The back of Koko Head park on the East side of Oahu features Koko Crater, another one of the three craters on the island. This one is of interest for people looking for great views of the East and South side of the island as well as a great workout. The above image shows one of the great views seen at the top of the crater, the crater houses a botanical garden that is very vibrant during the Spring season. But getting to the top is not an easy task. The most common way to reach the top is to take a long set of stairs. Although this is a safer method than climbing the ridge, it may be the most strenuous way to reach your goal.

1,048 steps to the top

An old railroad track is used to reach the top. No longer in use, many hikers everyday use this path to reach the top of the crater. Expect large crowds on the weekends as this is a popular trail for both locals and tourists. There are 1.048 steps to climb in total and you are essentially doing over 1,000 lunges on your way up. Stretching at the beginning and at the mid point is recommended. You also will not have any shade on the main trail and will be walking right under the sun if you start around 10 AM or later. The trail is not long but do bring a lot of water and sun screen if you feel the need. Steps are fairly shallow at the beginning but they become increasingly steeper as you get to the top.

Bridge portion of the trail

The midpoint of the trail features a short bridge section. Note that falling over the sides can be disastrous but falling through the rails is not likely. Take you time and use your hands if needed. There is also a trail on the side which you can use to go around the bridge.

At the end of the trail

You will see many people resting at this spot once you get to the end. Many of them will look completely wiped out. But don’t stop, a short climb will lead you to some amazing views of the island.