Mt Olympus- Manoa Middle

On this particular day I had scheduled to do Pali Notches to Konahuanui. To be honest I was very lazy and unprepared for notches so I decided to do Kolowalu-Manoa Middle. We started at 8 am going up the boring but strenuous trail up kolowalu. We hit the Wa'ahila - kolowalu junction in a short 30 mins. We took a quick break and continued towards Mount Olympus. By 945 am we were cruising at the summit. The views were spectacular and weather was amazing! CLEAR weather!! We took a quick break and headed towards Konahuanui along the KST trail. I've done this section of the KST back in 2010 and to be honest it was wide open compared to the first time I did it. It was a highway. From the first time moving snail pace we were flying alond the KST. We reached the Manoa middle junction and took along break admiring the views! The Manoa middle trail was beautiful it provided excellent views of manoa valley! I was also very impressed how nice the trail was! Thanks to those animals/seed planters who cleared it! Once at the stream we cooled off and continued on to the puu Pia trail. By 1 pm we were back at the kolowalu-puu pia trailhead where we started. Fun day...

Poamoho-Wahiawa

Got a call from a good friend Kaleo Lancaster (island trails) to go hike with him on a super loop from Poamoho to Wahiawa. This would consist of obtaining a permit and using a 4WD vehicle then hiking to the summit along the Poamoho trail. Once at the summit we would head south crossing over the Koolau summit and then back down the long Schoefield-Wakaine trail. Lucky for us Brian Bautista was on it with getting us a permit and providing a 4WD vehicle to get us in. With a 8am start the weather looked promising. As we headed towards the summit it started to downpour! Crappy weather! The trail was very very very muddy, wet and cold! Most of the way the trail was wide open but the last portion was very overgrown. Being my first time along this section of Koolau summit I was very impressed how beautiful the terrain was! There was no houses, cars, people or anything man made insight at all! Now this is Hawaii! We got to the Schoefield-Waikane junction around 230 and had a quick 15 minute lunch break and then descended towards Wahiawa. I was already exhausted and now we had 7 miles to go!!! We literally slammed it out hiking like mad men ! We made unreal time! 7 miles in 2 hrs 30 mins. We ended up getting back to our cars in Wahiawa by 6pm.

Here is my version:

Island Trails version:

Cross training with Paddle Core Fitness

Photos courtesy: Paddle Core Fitness

If your serious about hiking it is important that you stay in shape between hikes. Hiking for long hours and being extremely exhausted on the mountain can be very dangerous. So since I can only hike once a week, cross training with paddle core fitness has helped me to stay in shape for my hiking adventures. Hiking is not only a great cardio workout but it also is a core work out. With paddle core fitness strengthening your core is what its all about!

Check out there website: PADDLE CORE FITNESS

Moanalua Saddle - Moanalua Middle

After hearing about groups of people being guided up by extreme hiker Marcus. I decided that maybe I should check this out! My initial plan was to do the route that madman Jeremy Kries did a few months back which was from bowman to red hill. That route would cover the whole entire saddle and MORE! Unfortunately I wasn't up for that challenge! So instead we did a loop going up the saddle and back down Moanalua middle. Joining me on this hike was Albert and Christina. With a 8am start we headed towards the saddle. Once at the saddle we could see the ridge that would lead us up towards Haiku Stairs. The wind was BLAZING and it seemed like I was gonna fly off the ridge!!!!!! Looking towards the summit I could see a few obstacles but the ridge looked super fun! At 930 am we set off for the summit. There were a few rock faces that needed to be climbed and there was a few that we could contour. There was one triangle that needed to be contoured to the town side and then back up a steep grassy near vertical slope. It was sketchy making our way up that slope being that the ground was ripped apart by the previous group that came through. I was over slipping and sliding so I decided to to make my own route up by grabbing on to the loose vegetation! I was the first one up and followed shortly after! Christina made it up with ease but a little shaken up from that slip and slide crumbly fest! Back on the main ridge we headed towards the next set of rock faces. Roped was laid out already so making our way up was fairly easy but each footing needed to be checked due to the crumbly mess! Once passed the rock faces the route up to the summit was open and easy to follow! At 12pm we were at the top of haiku stairs "stairway to heaven". Had a quick lunch and then descended back down Moanalua Valley via Moanalua middle ridge! By 3pm we were back at the car.

It was a fun hike. Short but really fun.

Next stop Kalihi saddle. yeah right.. =)