I coordinated this hike for the club today. Eight folks turned out: Man Friday, Peter Kempf, Dave Waller, Kirby Young, Anne Anderson, Gay Nall, Moshe Rappaport, Dr Wing Ng. The weather was good: high overcast, cool, light breezes, no rain, visual clarity most of the time.
All completed the loop that started and ended at the hunters' check-in where Nuuanu Pali Drive rejoins Pali Hwy. We covered about 8-10 miles. Start of hike was 8:30. We started along the muddy trail to Lulumahu Falls and after two stream crossings we stayed on the left bank to begin climbing a roughly cut trail that went up the left ridge of Lulumahu. There was one section where the ridge narrowed to a razor edge. There was one steep section with a strap (dunno where it came from) for climbing assistance.
After that, the ridge was fairly broad with no super dangerous parts. Like the regular Konahuanui trail, today's ridge dipped to a prominent saddle and then climbed steadily to gain the crest of the Koolaus. In our case, the final climb was steep with poor, loose, muddy footing but with plenty of vegetation as a buffer.
When I reached Konahuanui 1 (the higher of the twins), I noticed a skinny haole teenager coming up from the ridge to my left. I thought, "Did that buggah come up Piliwale?"
Nah, he must've come up the regular Konahuanui trail and was just poking around over toward Piliwale, I reckoned. So I asked him, "What time did you start?" (9:00 was his reply). Question two: "So did you start from Tantalus?"
His reply stunned me. He turned around pointed behind him and said, "Pali Lookout."
Of course I grilled him with the expected questions: Any rope sections? (1 but not needed); How was the overhanging rockface? (tough but free-climbable); Any other obstacles? (very narrow sections thru what he called fern tunnels). What's your name? (Drush [da-rush] Fuller).
This guy, skinny as stalk of cane, is a 2001 grad of Kalaheo high school and a self-professed "mountain kid." He carried no pack, no rope, no water, no food, no nothing except the keys to his truck in his pocket. He wore a black t-shirt, knit pants with the cuffs cut off, and old-style Converse hightop basketball shoes.
I told him it was a helluva climb he pulled off. I later gave him a ride back to his truck at the lookout and invited him to join a group of us for an exploratory ascent of a ridge in Maunawili Valley this coming Saturday (anyone interested in joining us for that, email me).
Prior to that, there was a hike to complete, which included the muddy crossover from K1 to K2 and the descent of the regular Konahuanui trail to the Nuuanu Lookout. From the Lookout, we connected with the Nuuanu trail, which took us down to the Judd trail, which took us to Nuuanu Stream, which we used to clean the mud from legs, shoes, and gaiters.
We walked up Nuuanu Pali Drive to our cars to end the hike. We ran into Charlotte and Tom on NPD. They'd spent the day searching from miconia in Manoa with Sierra Club folks.
I hope other folks will post write-ups about the outing, for several are OHE subscribers.
Go HTMC!
--dkt
Author: Dayle Turner <turner@hawaii.edu>
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