Oahu Treks

We went hiking! Kaunala Trail

2010-09-27T13:43:00.000-10:00

We hiked the Kaunala trail on Saturday. The trail is located in the Army installation above Pupukea. It's open on weekends and holidays. There is a gate and a sign at the beginning of the hike stating that an Army installation is beyond, no unauthorized entry beyond, and a phone number. I knew the trail was open but I called anyway to make sure and to see what response I would get. I was greeted by a male voice saying "speak when spoken to..." which was weird. The person on the other end was helpful and confirmed the trail was open. We climbed through the gate because there really was no way to get around it.

We had an enjoyable hike but I wouldn't say that the trail was exciting. The last half of the hike was along two roads. The hike was a good length and took us a little over two hours.

There was a lot of strawberry guava trees and a lot of the fruit on the ground. We did encounter paperbark trees, ti plants, uluhe, ohia (big trees), some hala. There were less small invasive shrubs on this trail but plenty of guava which is really invasive. I did find a small young plant that I'm thinking could be mountain naupaka. There were no flowers and I'm not an expert so I can't confirm if it was.

I'd like to go back if only to see if the shrub I found was naupaka or not. But compared to the Hau`ula loop and the Nakoa trails this trail was just OK.

See the map with images at oahutreks.com/kaunala.

2010-09-17T12:03:00.000-10:00

After checking out the Los Angeles Swimmin blog I realized we haven't been hiking in almost three months. It is a sad realization but I hope we are able to get back outside this weekend.

My excuse is ultimately money or lack thereof.

My two jobs have me running around kitchens and buffets late at night making me exhausted in the morning and giving me less time to get outside.

The other unfortunate result of joining the workforce has been the decline of image making and picture taking. And I say decline and not lack of because our cat has been bringing us presents regularly and I find myself needing to photograph them.

She's a terror.

Back to the money issue...

A Nissan Sentra hit my s10 from behind while I was stopped in traffic. My truck was deemed a total loss by my insurance company. I bought my truck back from the salvage yard and took it to a repair shop which fix the frame damage with out worrying about how it looked. So I pocketed some cash from the accident. Yeah, I have a vehicle with a salvage title but I think I'm gonna buy this:

14 MP, HD video, waterproof up to 33ft, shockproof from a drop up to 6'6", freezeproof up to 14 degrees F, and dustproof. This camera is perfect for hiking.

We'll see if we make it outdoors this weekend.

Kapa `Ele`ele Ko`a, Keaniani Kilo and Pu`u Piei Attempt

2010-06-28T12:22:00.000-10:00

The title makes it sound like we did a ton of hiking but we only hiked 1 trail in Kahana.

On Saturday June 26th we decided to do a quick hike to the Kapa `Ele`ele fish shrine and the Keaniani Kilo lookout. The trail is really easy to get to. We went back to Kahana State Park which we visited in our first hike of the Nakoa trail: oahutreks.com/nakoatrail. The trailhead is off to the side of the orientation center next to the bathrooms. It's hard to miss the signs.

We got a little disoriented because of our decision to hike up the Pu`u Piei trail which takes you to the peak behind the Kapa `Ele`ele trail. At one point we hiked up the stream because we missed the wide open trail on the side which would have easily taken us up the Pu`u Piei trail. We also should have looked at the map closer because the fish shrine and lookout are past the point where the Pu`u Piei trail connected so we did a little backtracking to make sure we didn't miss anything which added time to our hike.

We didn't make it up to the peak. We had a prior engagement to get to and we didn't give ourselves enough time. Plus we gotta get into shape. The peak is now one of our goals and will be a future post.

On a side note: When we hiked through the stream bed the foliage above was really dense and messed with my gps device. I also had too much gear because I was trying to make some QTVRs like these:

So, the map is pretty accurate except some of the photos are bunched into the same spot. I decided to put it up any way because it still gives a good idea of where the trails are and it's helping us plan our next ascent.

Check it out at: oahutreks.com/puupiei.

Punalu`u Valley Hike

2010-06-25T23:24:00.000-10:00

I finally went hiking again!

This time up Punalu`u Valley which is a hike our family has done almost every year since I was a kid. The valley is also called Green Valley a name the military gave it when they used it for training exercises. I think there are Blue, Red, Yellow, etc... valleys on the island also.

Punalu`u Valley is owned by KSBE and their intentions are to preserve the forest therein. Preserving would be the wrong word since much of the forest along the hike is covered with introduced and invasive plant species. Because of liability issues the general public is not allowed in the valley and we had to get permission to hike into the valley. My grandmother knows the proper channels and she was able to gain access for us once again.

The hike is pretty easy because you are basically restricted to the road. There are various plots of land used for farming along the road. There's one lot used by a Korean religious group for retreats. At the end of the road a there's a bamboo forest that ends in a pig hunting trail. The valley is vast and I wish I could spend a ton of time exploring the whole thing but I doubt KSBE would grant permission.

At one point we passed the entrance to the Castle trail which goes up the mountain and ends up behind Sacred Falls. That is a trail I wish was open. Maybe one day.

Check out the map gallery: http://oahutreks.com/punaluuvalley.

Punalu`u Iwi Reinterment Site

2010-06-25T22:56:00.000-10:00

Back in 2000 the state was doing work on Kamehameha Hwy in Punalu`u (the town I grew up in). While digging trenches along the road the work crews found the remains of native Hawaiians which wasn't a surprise since it was customary for ancient Hawaiians to bury there dead near the shore. In Hawai`i it is law that when a burial site is found an archeological crew must disinter the remains to be relocated. There were approximately 64 separate individuals or Iwi disinterred along the stretch of highway.

My grandmother was part of the committee that helped to find a new site for the burial and made sure that the proper protocol (as native Hawaiians would have done) was followed during the reinterment. The committee also researched the native Hawaiian techniques for making everything needed for the burial of the remains which included:

weaving the baskets that the remains were placed in
making the cloth the remains were wrapped in
building dry-stack stone walls and structures for the site
and learning the customs behind burial site locations.

In 2008 everything was in place to properly put the remains to rest again which included the lengthy process of finding a burial site and gaining permissions to use the land for the reinterment. The 64 Iwi were properly reinterred and sealed within a rock wall structure much like the sacred sites built by ancient Hawaiians.

The amount of research and work that was done to relocate and reinter the Iwi within native Hawaiian traditions and customs was immense. I am extremely grateful that I was able to visit the site this past Wednesday when my grandparents took a customary offering.

One of the native Hawaiian customs for burial sites was to keep them hidden and so I will not provide a map with the exact locations the images were taken as I have done in the past. I did put a quick gallery together with images of our visit.

http://oahutreks.com/punaluuiwi/

Papali Loop

2010-05-23T12:40:00.000-10:00

We hiked the Papali loop trail yesterday with my old friend Hyrum and his wife Justine. I hadn't seen Hyrum in years so it was nice to meet and catch up while hiking. Plus he lives in the area so we were able to park with out worrying about the truck getting broken into.

Papali Loop is the second loop trail in Hau`ula. One could hike both the Hau`ula and the Papali loop trails in the same day for a longer trip. The trailheads are right next to each other.

I found the Papali loop less interesting as far as the actual trail is concerned. There is a lot of Hau and less water. Jen and I were constantly stopping along the Hau`ula loop trail to look at plants or to take in the scenery on the trail. The Papali trail and flora seemed to lack in that sense but the views of Hau'ula were by far the best on the Papali. The last part of our trek was along the edge where we were looking down on the town and the beach the whole time.

On a side note; I took out the old 300D rebel that was at the house to shoot and my heart sank when I saw the images. Looks like the sensor is damaged on the camera because I'm getting spider web crack lines in the images. So I won't be posting any images of the views. Except this one:

The sensor damage is visible in all the images with large areas of consistent color without detail like skies.

Now that the lcd on the XTi is busted and the sensor is damaged on the 300D I am considering getting a new camera.

Here's the map gallery: oahutreks.com/papaliloop.

Hau`ula Loop Trail

2010-05-16T14:05:00.000-10:00

We hiked the Hau'ula Loop Trail yesterday. The trail's only 2.5 miles and about a five minute drive from the house. The day started early. We got to the trailhead at 7:00am and were the only ones on the trail while we were hiking.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this trail. It seems like just a quick walk and there are no swimming spots but the entire hike was fun. Early on in the hike we entered the pine groves which turned into what Jen called the Ewok forest. The pine forest was dark, damp and seemed out of place. I felt like I was in another state. There was also enough of an elevation climb to get some good views of the ocean.

I would suggest this hike to anyone especially if they wanted to get a good hike in with a busy schedule. Looking at the sign-in sheet the average finishing time was 1 1/2 hours. Early morning is a good time to go because when you finish you may be able to check out the low morning tides at the beach.

Here's the map gallery: oahutreks.com/hauulaloop.

Ching Ming: Chinese Immigration to Punalu`u

2010-04-13T13:34:00.000-10:00

No hiking occurred this week. Instead we went to a Ching Ming ceremony here in Punalu`u.

Ching Ming has been observed here in Punalu`u for long time but started to become better organized in the 1980s. The ceremony was held to honor the Chinese immigrants who ended up in Punalu`u around 1895 and was put together by the Yin Sit Sha organization of Punalu`u, O`ahu.

The Yin Sit Sha is comprised of descendants of the early chinese immigrants. Some live in or around the Punalu`u area and some came from the west coast. These early Chinese immigrants added to the culture in and around Punalu`u. Several of the original Chinese stores continue to operate today in Punalu`u and Hau`ula. I learned that I am a descendant of an early Chinese immigrant and so I thought it would be good to participate in the ceremony.

Ching Ming is observed once a year in Punalu`u at a memorial site on KSBE land. The original memorial site is further up the valley in the area and is harder to get to. The newer memorial site is being used until easier access is created.

I had the opportunity of reading some of The Early Chinese in Punalu`u by James H. Chun. The book contains detail information about the chinese individuals and families that immigrated here. A lot of the information was obtained verbally.

Check out the gallery to see photos of the ceremony: oahutreks.com/punaluuchingming.

Flash Flood Warnings

2010-04-07T10:46:00.001-10:00

Our T.V. programming was interrupted throughout last night because of flash flood warnings for most of Windward Oahu. While watching the news this morning the weather forecast showed clouds lingering around our side of the island. It has been pouring rain.

I decided to check the Kahana stream gauging station to see what the height and discharge of the water was at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?16296500.

The water level and movement amounts are way higher than when we went on our March 28th Kahana hike. When you see the streams levels in the graph above and are informed of a flash flood warning it's not a good time to go hiking.

To the right and across the stream in the picture above is the location of the Kahana Stream gauging station. This image was taken on our March 28th hike. Check the Nakoa trail map gallery for a better understanding of the location at oahutreks.com/nakoatrail.

Maunawili Falls Swimmin

2010-04-06T17:45:00.000-10:00

We went to Maunawili Falls yesterday. It was a great hike and the falls were really fun. I hadn't been there for about ten years so I had forgot the trail. There were points where we could have left the trail with out knowing it but we had our trail guide with us and it worked.

The trail was extremely muddy because of all the rain from the past week. Jen and I started around 1:30pm when it wasn't too cloudy. But by the time we left at 5:00pm the clouds came back. And 2 minutes into our drive home it started pouring. So we got lucky.

I knew the trail was popular among tourist and locals alike but I was still amazed at the amount of people we ran into. There were 5-6 groups hiking out as we went in. When we got to falls we had it all to ourselves and I was able to get this shot without anyone getting in it:

Just after getting all the shots for this stitched image the first group arrived behind us. Pretty soon the pool was crowded with people. We probably saw 35-40 people coming and going. Maunawili falls is a very popular hike. This is probably due to the great reward (falls) obtained with relatively little effort on the short hike.

Look out for the coffee plants. They're pretty awesome.

There is residential neighborhood you have to park in before you start the hike. We had two people slow their cars down and stare at us at the beginning of the hike while we were putting on bug repellant. I can see how the public parking in their neighborhood could be annoying to residents. I would suggest finding a good spot without crowding someone's driveway. I would also suggest being quiet while walking from your car to the trailhead. Oh and please take your trash out. There were so many bottles and plastic bags near the fall. Gross.

Checkout the map gallery: oahutreks.com/maunawilifalls.

Sespe Trip

2010-04-03T21:28:00.000-10:00

Went backpacking with the LA Swimmin crew mid March. Flew back to LA for a little under a week. Met up with some friends. Thanks for the room and board Bets and Derek. Thanks for the rides Jen, Derek and Jeff. I wasn't going to put the gallery up on the server but I can't resist the urge to share my geo-tagged photos.

I forgot my wide lens so I had to pano all the wide shots. Like this one:

I used Lightroom to batch adjust and file the large amount of pano images. Photoshop did all the stitching work. Great thing about the workflow is that photoshop leaves the capture time of the pano alone allowing me to geotag the stitched images automatically. I was afraid I'd lose the capture time because of stitching but didn't.

Here's the LA Swimmin crew:

See the map gallery at oahutreks.com/sespe.

See more images of the trip at http://losangelesswimmin.com/?p=1953.

Nakoa Trail Hike

2010-03-31T15:48:00.000-10:00

Jen and I hiked the Nakoa Trail in Kahana Valley last Sunday, March 28th.

I would have posted earlier but it took me forever to figure out how to get my map gallery hosted. Since I have no experience in these type of interweb matters I asked several people a lot of questions. Thanks Morg, Nik, and Mark for your help.

Anyway,

Hiking in Kahana Valley was great.

The orientation center at the front of the park had several pamphlets with trail maps and hiking info as well as an attendant who helped us with directions.
The trail was well worn and the surrounding forest was lush.
There were several spots to swim and relax at around the stream.
The hike had just enough difficulty to make it exciting.

with that said...

There are swarms of mosquitoes in the valley. We had insect repellant and applied it three times.
There are many stream crossings. We got wet.
Weekends are open hunting times. No encounters but I wished that I wore my high visibility shirt.
There are many pig and hunting trails. We lost the main trail twice.
There are reports of hikers getting lost or stuck in the valley. We brought food and water.

The Nakoa trail is the first loop of our hike and is so named for the Koa trees that grow in the area. We also hiked the second loop which was a bit more difficult to find and stay on. It was well worth the extra effort though. Continuing on the second loop was rewarded with a bamboo forest, a kukui grove and nice swimming spot I was able to jump into.

There was a small area that was deep enough to jump into and swim around in. I was a little disappointed about the lack of water depth but two fellow hikers informed us that the water level rises depending on the rains. We met them at a second swimming spot on the stream where I was able to use a rope swing to get into the water.

Next time we'll check the water levels at the USGS site. There is a gauging station near the beginning of the trail that records water height information which can be checked at:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?16296500

The hike would be still be great without swimming spots though. Its a jungle in there and a great escape for several hours of your day.

Check out the map gallery to see the geotagged images of the hike at:

http://oahutreks.com/nakoatrail/

I'm thinking about our next hike. I think it may include a jump spot like Maunawili.

Kaipo