All posts tagged Valley

From Papali Uka Ridge to The Forbidden Castle Trail in Punaluu Valley

by Coty on April 2, 2013 in Hikes with 3 Comments

Note: Access to the Castle Trail has been restricted since construction started on it in 1906 and closed to recreational hikers since 1923 (Ball, 2012). The land that the Castle Trail is on is owned by the Bishop Estate. Neither the Bishop Estate or the State of Hawaii have any plans to open the trail to the general public. It is illegal to hike this trail and to do so would be cause for citation or arrest. There is also a risk of falling boulders, landslides, falling off a cliff, and drowning. As such, all accounts here are fictional. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Adobe Photoshop is a wonderful piece of software that allows one to superimpose another into a photo making it seem as if they were somewhere when if fact they were not. This is an account of what would have happened IF we had actually decided to hike this trail.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to hike with Stuart Ball, author of The Hikers Guide to Oahu. He led a group of hikers from the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC) on a hike up to Puu O Hulu, on the Waianae Coast. During the hike, I had the chance to ask Stuart a wealth of different questions. One of the questions that I posed to him was in regards to his favorite hike on the island. His definitive answer was: The Castle Trail. Prior to this, the Castle Trail had been on my long list of must-do hikes on the island. Access issues and community resistance had kept me away. But now, Stuart peaked my interest. My ears pointed upward as if I was a starving dog with a piece of meat being waved in front of me.

Orange Gatorade is the best. Photo by Allison Baird.

Sense of accomplishment. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

And here’s a picture that Joel took. Photo by Joel Sabugo.

Coincidentally, the day after my conversational hike with Stuart Ball up Puu O Hulu, I received a message from Marvin Chandra. Marvin was a regular blogger here at Exploration: Hawaii. We’d fallen out of touch, and had rarely spoken since March of 2012. He had mentioned some things from his hike the day before, but then he asked if I wanted to do the Castle Trail with him the following week. Weird, I thought to myself. What are the chances? I took this as a sign that now was the perfect time to tackle this mythical trail.

The route that we chose to take was the same route that Ball had suggested to me. We would start by making our way through the state maintained Maakua Ridge Trail, eventually connecting with a junction that would bring us up Papali Uka Ridge, and then we would make our way down Castle Trail. With Marvin’s previous experience on the trail and some tips from other hikers, we estimated the hike to be in the ballpark of eight to ten hours. We would be in for a relatively long day, a mini-grinder, so to speak.

Early portion of Papali Uka Ridge. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Silly Rabbits. Group Photo! Photo by Coty Gonzales.

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Manoa Falls and Aihualama Falls Revisited: The Wetter The Better!

by Coty on January 15, 2013 in Hikes with 1 Comment

Waterfalls are always better when it’s wetter. And it’s been very wet in Manoa Valley. So wet that a trip to the popular tourist trail, Manoa Falls, was well warranted. I won’t go into too much detail on the trail in this post, for that you can check out this post and this post. I should also mention the I decided against parking in the Manoa Falls parking lot, and instead parked in the residential area just before Paradise Park. That alone saved me five bucks.

The drive from Salt Lake to Manoa was a rainy one, so I knew that Manoa Falls would be gushing. Once I existed the H1 and made my way onto University Avenue, the rain really started to fall. The large rain drops would hit my car windshield and make loud splatting sounds. Once I found parking, I began preparing the few supplies that I decided to bring with me: rain jacket, GoPro Hero3, GoPole, and a Lifeproof Case for my iPhone 5. Those would be my supplies for the day. I stuffed everything into the pockets of my rain jacket. I hurried out of my car and headed into the valley. I was enamored by the falling rain. This fascination would lead to a major bummer when I returned to my car, but more on that later.

First look at Manoa Falls. Shot with GoPro Hero3. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

So excited that I can’t contain myself. Shot with GoPro Hero3. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Up close and personal. Shot with GoPro Hero3. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

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Makiki Super Loop Trail: Connecting Multiple Sections of the Honolulu Mauka Trail System

by Coty on May 29, 2012 in Hikes with 3 Comments

I love fruits. It’s this unquestionable passion for sweet flesh that has led me to do the Makiki Loop Trail on a weekly basis over the last two months. Ever since I noticed the blossoming of the bright pink mountain apple flowers I have been dying to pick the tasty fruit to stimulate my taste buds and fill my belly. My mouth is watering just thinking about the extraordinary tropical taste of a freshly picked and ripe mountain apple. Unfortunately, I can’t fast forward mother nature and so thus far my mountain apple picking days will have to wait. Despite my futile mountain apple adventures, I have become quite accustomed with the Tantalus/Round Top portion of the Honolulu Mauka Trail System.

With a few hours of leisure time at my disposal I decided to extend the traditional Makiki Loop Trail. I took a look at a map of the Honolulu Mauka Trail System and noticed that this intricate system or trails are all interconnected (with the exception of Waahila Ridge, Kolowalu and Puu Pia).

The conventional Makiki Loop Trail starts off at the Hawaii Nature Center and connects three trails: Maunalaha, Makiki Valley, and Kanealole. This popular loop trail is about 2.4 miles long and takes about 1.5 hours to complete. The Makiki Super Loop trail that I constructed was roughly 8.3 miles and connected seven different trails: Maunalaha, Makiki Valley, Moleka, Manoa Cliff, Kalawahine, Nahuina, and Kanealole. The route also crosses both Round Top Drive and Tantalus Drive.

Near the end of the Makiki Valley Trail. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Tree hair. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Makiki Valley and Moleka Junction. Turn left here to continue with the Makiki Super Loop. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Along the way you will encounter numerous junctions, so route planning is imperative prior to attempting this hike. The night before attempting this long trail I had written down explicit directions, including the order of the different trails, where the junctions would be, and when to expect to cross both Round Top Drive and Tantalus. I also made a custom map of the trail and uploaded it to Dropbox for easy access on my iPhone.

I accidentally left my directions at home. And that map uploaded to Dropbox? Well, let’s just say that I uploaded an incorrect version of the map that was too low resolution to be of any use. Blah. Fortunately, I had a pretty good memory of the directions in my head. I trekked forward severely handicapped. Stuart Ball mentions a variation of this trail, the Makiki-Tantalus trail, in his book, and Kaleo Lancaster notes that “getting lost is very easy without the book.”

The Moleka, like much of the rest of the Honolulu Mauka Trail System is nicely cleared. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

The bamboo groove found on the Moleka Trail. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Bamboo + Sun. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

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How To Get To Sacred Falls (Kaliuwa’a) and the Legend of the Demigod Kamapua’a

by Coty on April 18, 2012 in Hikes with 19 Comments

Note: Sacred Falls Park and Sacred Falls trail has been closed since May 1999. The State of Hawaii has no plans to re-open the park. It is illegal to hike this trail and to do so would be cause for citation or arrest. There is also a risk of falling boulders, landslides, and drowning. As such, all accounts here are fictional. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Adobe Photoshop is a wonderful piece of software that allows one to superimpose another into a photo making it seem as if they were somewhere when if fact they were not. Got it?

Before the tragedy of 1999, Sacred Falls was one of the top tourist attractions for those visiting the island of Oahu. This all changed the month before I graduated high school, Mother’s Day 1999, when eight people were killed and 50 more were injured from a massive landslide. At its height, the popular trail and waterfall received up to 55,000 visitors annually. Since 1999, the park and the waterfall trail has been closed to visitors and hopeful waterfall seekers. In 2003, the State of Hawaii reached an $8.56 million settlement with those injured and the families of the victims. Regardless, Sacred Falls continues to flow and thrill-seekers continue to visit her.

This rusty yellow gate marks the entrance to the closed Sacred Falls Park.

Step 1: Once you passed the yellow metal gate, you will walk towards the back of the park and look for those two yellow poles. Step 2. Walk just past the two yellow poles and you will see a facilities structure. Step 3: Don't turn right at the structure. Step 4: Instead, turn left along the gravel road and continue along this pathway.

Eventually, you will a fork in the trail. Take the path going left.

You'll be trekking about 2 miles into the valley to see the falls.

Follow the path straight between those two warning signs. This will lead you down to the stream.

Accessing Sacred Falls is not difficult. In fact, if you grew up in Hawaii then you probably know of its exact location and may have visited it prior to the 1999 tragedy. Odds are that if you visited Oahu before the tragedy then you too might be familiar with the falls as well. You would simply need to jump on Kamehameha Highway and drive toward Punaluu. It’s useful to use the Kim Taylor Reece Gallery (53-866 Kamehameha Hwy) in Hau’ula as a landmark. You will need to find parking along the residential roads. Once you’ve found an ideal parking spot, back track on foot toward Punaluu, crossing a white wooden bridge (the bridge is on the mauka, or mountain side, of the road). Shortly, you will reach a rusted yellow metal gate. Beyond the gate looks to be a park, however, there is no signage at this particular park. You’ve reached Sacred Falls Park. It will be eerily empty.

At 55,000 annual visitors, Sacred Falls trail received roughly 150 daily visitors – many of whom were tourists. With that said, the trail itself to the falls is not a difficult one. In terms of terrain, it’s similar to the Manoa Falls trail (fairly wide with little elevation gain) but longer and with a couple of stream crossings. Don’t let the Manoa Falls comparison fool you, though. The Sacred Falls trail can be quite dangerous. You should definitely not even consider this trail if it has been raining recently, simply because of the stream crossings that need to be completed. Also, the valley will narrow considerably once you are deep in the valley. To be stuck in the stream while the water is raging would be very bad. And let’s not forget, there’s always the danger of you getting cited for trespassing. There are rumors that residents near the park will call the police if they see people entering the park. Other people have said that sometimes there is an officer/state official waiting along the trail to issue citations. I did mention above that the park has been officially closed since 1999, right?

The trail is unmarked, other than the many warning signs placed strategically along the trail. They're like pink trail ribbons but made out of metal and are there to deter you from continuing on.

The trail is very well manicured. Someone out there maintains this closed trail.

A well placed KEEP OUT sign.

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Moanalua Saddle to Red Hill Ridge: A Valley, Short Crumbly KST section and the Godek-Jaskulski trail

by Marvin on January 20, 2012 in Hikes with 1 Comment

Quyen and Laredo at the base of the Moanalua Saddle

This loop starts in Moanalua Valley park, takes you to the Ko’olau Summit Trail (KST) after some stream crossings and a short but steep climb, brings you along a crumbly KST section and goes down a steep trail after connecting with the Red Hill summit. This hike requires around 7-8 hours to complete and little fear of heights. There will be some narrow crumbly sections that needs to be navigated carefully, although it is not extremely dangerous and does not require additional climbing aids. Both the climb up and down will be fairly steep. If the weather cooperates, you’ll get fantastic views of Haiku valley and the H-3.

Quyen poses with plane wreckage

First, get to Moanalua Valley Park by following what Stuart says:

Punchbowl St. get on Lunalilo Fwy (H-1) heading ‘ewa (west). Near Middle St. keep left on Rte 78 west (exit 19B, Moanalua Rd.) to ‘Aiea. Take the exit marked Moanalua Valley–Red Hill. From the off-ramp turn right on Ala Aolani St. heading into Moanalua Valley. The road ends at Moanalua Valley Park. The park has rest rooms and drinking water.

Ball, Stuart M., Jr. (2000-09-01). The Hikers Guide to the O’ahu, Rev. Ed. (Kindle Locations 1568-1573). Latitude 20. Kindle Edition.

One nice thing about the park is that there is a place right next to the parking lot to wash off mud, and you will get some mud on you on this trail. At the park, you can also play around in the slides and pull-up bars if you so fancy. Pass the yellow gate on the north part of the park and this will begin the valley hike. Simply follow the gravel road and cross 7 bridges. After a few miles, you will see a sign that indicates the start of the Kulana’ahane trail by some boulders. Turn left here and you will begin the stream crossing/rock hopping portion of the hike.

Laredo finds a flower to wear and used underwear to sniff

Cross the stream whenever you see a marker or the trail ends on the side of the stream you are currently on. Flash floods are possible but the stream was mostly dry when we went. As you go along, you may pass some plane wreckage from a while back. Continue on this trail until you see signs that tell you the trail is over. You will want to now go right of the sign and start climbing up.

Final climb from the valley towards the saddle and KST

The ridge climb is short but fairly steep. Look behind yourself a couple times to see nice views of the valley you just walked through from higher elevation. Soon you will find signs indicating it is dangerous to go beyond, you will want to ignore the sign and turn left.

Where the fun begins

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A Journey to Mount Olympus (Awaawaloa) via the Kolowalu Trail

by Coty on November 14, 2011 in Hikes with 8 Comments

With the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in full swing last week and leaders from all over the world arriving on the island, Joel and I decided to skip the busy city streets and instead explore the depths of Manoa Valley. Awaawaloa, or Mount Olympus as it is affectionately known as in the hiking community, has been on my to-do list for some time now for two reasons. First, it’s one of the Honolulu hikes in Stuart Ball’s The Hikers Guide to Oahu. And if you remember, I’m trying to complete all of the Honolulu hikes in Ball’s book by the end of the year. Second, Mount Olympus seemed (by name at least) very intimidating and I like to tackle intimidating things.

From the top of Mount Olympus you get a great view of Diamond Head Crater and Kaau Crater. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

There are two well-known ways to tackle Mount Olympus, the first being via the Wa’ahila Ridge Trail atop of St. Louis Heights, or via the Kolowalu Trail in Manoa Valley. After discussing with Marvin the night before, we decided against Ball’s suggested route of Wa’ahila Ridge [1] and instead opted to go with the Kolowalu Trail. To access the Kolowalu trail you will need to follow East Monoa Road until it ends and turns into Alani Drive. Continue on Alani Drive until it intersects with Woodlawn Drive. We parked along this road. A sign indicating the trail can be seen on the curve where the two roads intersect. Follow the sign on to the gravel road and a few moments later you will reach the trailhead to both the Pu’u Pia and Kolowalu Trail. The Kolowalu Trail is the one that you want. Here, you will also see a little wooded picnic and rest area.

Spotted this plant at the start of the trai. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Spotted this plant at the start of the Kolowalu trail. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

A few moments after staring the Kolowalu Trail (~11:25pm), Joel and I realized that this would be a very wet, muddy, and mosquito infested trail. We were both wearing shorts and failed to apply mosquito repellent. This did not help our cause, especially considering that neither of us have mosquito repellent skin like Marvin [2].

The trail will soon steeply gain elevation as you stomp on the wet rock. Once out of the rocky wet stream like section, the trail will veer right along the ridge. Continue up until you encounter a T-like interaction. Joel thought this to be the Kolowalu-Wa’ahila Junction. I said it was not. There was no signs so Joel assumed that they removed the signs. I insisted that there were no signs to begin with as we had not yet reached the junction. We continued on the trail, veering left up a long hill. The hiking sticks really helped in this steep but open section.

Ready to hike. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

This was Coty's first hike using hiking sticks. He's getting old. Photo by Joel Sabugo.

After passing the first of three clearing, we eventually did reach the true Kolowalu-Wa’ahila Junction along the crest of Wa’ahila Ridge (~12:45pm). This junction marked the end of both the Kolowalu Trail and the Wa’ahila Ridge Trail. This is made evident by the three posted signs indicating the end of both trails. There is also a third sign indicating the end of the maintained trail, warning to not continue beyond that point. This sign indicated the start of the trail to Awaawaloa, or Mount Olympus.

As we worked our way up, we encountered the second clearing at 1:15pm. At this point, we had a clear view of Mount Olympus – it seemed so far away. Dayle Turner suggested that it would take two hours from the junction to reach the summit of Mount Olympus. I was worried that we would take longer than that. With that in mind, we hiked on.

Coty looks on. The top of Awaawaloa seems so far away. Photo by Joel Sabugo.

We reached the third clearing about 40 minutes later and took a short break. At this point, two other hikers arrived shortly. We chatted with them a bit and found out that they had taken the Wa’ahila Ridge Trail. They were neither old, nor were they boy scouts. Marvin was wrong yet again [1]. From there, we made the final push to the top of Mount Olympus. As we made out way up the final hill we encountered some very steep and muddy sections. There are ropes in these areas to help you with the climb up. The hiking sticks that we brought along worked wonders. At 2:15pm we trekked past the white T-Shirt inscribed with the state motto just before reaching the summit of Mount Olympus. In total, it took us a little under 3 hours to reach the summit of Mount Olympus. Those 3 hours were totally worth it as we were treated to an outstanding 360 degree view of the island. On one side we could see Olomana and Konahuanui, while on the other side we had views of Ka’au Crater and Diamond Head. We spent about 30 minutes at the top just soaking in the amazing view. It was very windy on this day and it was a bit overcast, but still there was nothing to complain about since the views were spectacular.

At around 2:45pm we decided to make a mad rush back down. Time was not on our side, and we were afraid that the sun would begin to set before we were out of the valley. Fortunately for us, the journey down did not take as long as the journey up. It took us exactly 2 hours to finish the trail and reach the Kolowalu Trailhead. The five hour hiking time is totally worth the breathtaking views at the top of Mount Olympus. You could even shorten the hike time if you take the less strenuous Wa’ahila Ridge Trail. I won’t think any less of you, though, Marvin might.

Explorers: Coty Gonzales and Joel Sabugo