All posts tagged Volcano

Explorer Joel was the one that first told me about the Ka’au Crater Trail. With The Bowman to Haiku Stairs Trail on my mind (this was before we proceded with the Bowman to Haiku Trail), I wasn’t really interested in this hike. However, he sold me when he said that if we complete this hike then we would have completed all three of the volcanic craters on the island of Oahu. Cool – I was in.

Now, for the uninitiated, the other two volcanic craters on Oahu are Diamond Head (a tourist trap with a great view of Waikiki) and Koko Head Crater (a great place to get a good cardio workout – who needs an elliptical when you’ve got a crater to climb). Diamond Head is quite easy on the hiking scale (I could run up this trail if I wanted). Koko Head, on the other hand, is a bit more strenuous for those who do not regularly spend 30-45 minutes at a time traversing a set of 1,048 vertical steps. I’ve become quite adept to Koko Head – I did it a few times this past June for fun trying to cut my time up the crater down to a respectable 30 minutes. With that in mind, I gave no thought to Ka’au Crater – it would be another easy crater hike.

Man was I wrong.

Ka’au Crater is a different kind of beast. It’s muddy as hell and it’s wet as hell. It would be useful to wear a pair of waterproof shoes (I myself have a great pair of Merrell Chameleon 3 Ventilator GORE-TEX Hiking Shoes that work like a charm).

Directions To Ka’au Crater Trail: Getting to the Ka’au Crater Trail is pretty easy. Jump on the H1 east bound and then take the Koko Head Exit. Take a left Koko Head Avenue. Go straight through Koko Head Avenue for two blocks then turn left on Waialae Avenue. On Waialae Avenue you will make a right on 10th Avenue. Follow this road until you reach a fork in the road. Take the right fork onto Waiomao Road and follow until you reach the end of this road. Along the way you will have passed the Mu Ryang Sa Buddhist Temple and see the entry way to a private road. You then park on the dirt on the right side of the road (not on the private property). The Ka’au Crater Trail is considered a closed trail, entering this hike is considered trespassing since you do have to pass through private property in order to get to the trailhead. There are two ways to enter, the easiest is just to the left of where you parked. you will see a huge sign that says No Trespassing – that’s where the trail begins.

Kapu refers to the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws and regulations. In this case, it means keep the fuck out. And it makes you want to go on the trail even more! Photo by Coty Gonzales.

Just to the side of the No Trespassing sign you will decent down to the Koko Head Trail. The start consists of large wet boulders – so be careful when going down. Fortunately, there’s a rope that you can use to help lower yourself down. Use the rope.

Once you reach the bottom, it will seem as if you’ve just been transported to some mythical land with elves – it’s pretty awesome. The trail is actually maintained quite well, with clear paths and ribbons to follow and guide you. From the start you will be following the Wai’oma’o Stream. Eventually, you will encounter a pipe. This pipe is maintained by the Board of Water Supply. The trail just got a whole lot easier because now all you need to do is follow the pipe and it will lead you to the first major waterfall of Ka’au Crater.

This is what you'll see when you start your journey through this lush trail. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

From memory, I believe it took us about 2 hours to get to the first waterfall. It’s a beautiful sight. From there you will climb rope up to the second waterfall which is not too far away – maybe about 10-15 minutes from the first waterfall. Enjoy the second waterfall because this is now where things will get a bit hairy. In order to get to the third waterfall you will need to climb up the left side of the second waterfall. You will see rope that you will need to climb. This ascent is again very wet so be careful. And if you thought that was tricky, you will then be forced to make a decision – traverse a dangerous portion near the top of the second waterfall of pass on seeing the third waterfall and the top of the crater. The dangerous portion that I speak of is a part of the trail in which you’re basically clinging to the side of the crater and stepping on exposed tree root – there is no trail here you just need to attempt to cross this portion. There is rope to assist but again, you’re clinging to the side of the mountain. If you fall, you will tumblr straight down the second waterfall – not fun at all.

View of the first waterfall. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

This is Joel enjoying the majestic first waterfall. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

We encountered this Hawaiian Frog at the first waterfall. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

This is the most dangerous part of the trail. The trail here is broken and so you'll need to cling to the side of the second waterfall to get to the other side. If you fall here then you will tumble straight down the second waterfall. Photo by Coty Gonzales.

If you made it pass the second waterfall – awesome! The third waterfall is not very far. Unfortunately for us, when we reached the third waterfall, Mother Nature decided to shower us with heavy rains. Bummer. Because of this, we weren’t able to climb up the third waterfall to the summit of Ka’au Crater. We’ll save that for another day and another post. Anyway, at this point, we were pretty worried. It had begun to rain heavily and so we would no have to do the two aforementioned tricky climbs now with the element of rain pouring down.

Fortunately for us, we made it out. When you’re faced with a tough situation you just need to push through, and that’s what we did. It took us a good 5 hours to finish this hike. I will again repeat that Ka’au Crater is a different beast when compared to the other two craters on Oahu. However, if you do decide to do this one, you will be treated with three amazing waterfalls and a very lush scenery. Would I do this hike again to reach the summit? Hell yes.

Ka’au Crater Trail Tips:

• Wear waterproof shoes. I wore a solid pair of Merrell Chameleon 3 Ventilator GORE-TEX Hiking Shoes. With these shoes, as long as the water doesn’t reach the top of the shoe (where the sock is exposed), your feet will remain dry. Alternately, the other three hikers that we passed on this trail were all wearing Vibram Five Fingers.
• For climbing the wet rocks I wish I had brought myself a pair of Tabi’s. These are shoes with grippy felt soles that work great when on wet rock. Hawaii fisherman love their tabi’s.
• Hiking gloves are great for this hike, especially since wet rope will aid you in ascending slippery rocks.

For some other encounters, please check out Unreal Hawaii’s and Dayle Turner’s explorations of the Ka’au Crater Trail.

Explorers: Coty Gonzales and Joel Sabugo.

I was pretty pooped at the end. I blame all the mud! You can see the trailhead, it's to the left of my head. Photo by Joel Sabugo.