Kaluanui to Kamilonui

Kaluanui to Kamilonui

Posted to OHE on 12 January 2002 by Dayle Turner

According to weather forecasts, today is supposed to be a crappy day. So staying home to veg is a possibility. 8 ayem rolls around and the weather looks okay. Hmmm.

Okay, gotta hike. Can't let the day go to waste, for tomorrow might be a crappy one. Ditto for Monday. Check email and see I've gotten some bites for the Kului Ridge outing. Okay, gonna do that on Monday and gonna do the Nuuanu exploratory with da crew tomorrow. But what about today?

Well, after some rumination, I decide to check out the ridge Richard M. wrote about in yesterday's Hon Adv. Mau'umai Ridge it's called, according to Paka. At 7:30, I do the first feed of the day (protein shake with banana, flax seeds, etc). Yum. Then I ready my gear, change into hiking togs, and away I go.

Drive to Kalama (my namesake) Valley via the 'Nalo way. Pretty good-sized surf at Makapu'u and Sandy's. So big is it that no one is out in the water at the former. A good day to be a land lubber. Yup.

As directed in Richard M's article, I park at the end of Mokuhano Street. The area looks safe enough to leave my white 'yota for a few hours. I lug three liters of water, food for 10:30 and 1:30 feeds, a walkie-talkie (just in case some HTMers are yakking out there), and a cell phone (in case the ku'uipo calls and orders me back down the mountain). I'm set. I'm off.

Initially, I follow a jeep road on the east side of the ridge. The driving range of the Hawaii Kai Golf Course is in the area to the right of the road. A 10-foot high mesh/net barrier stands along the road but the barrier is useless now since it's tattered and peppered with gaping holes. As such, golf balls from the range are scattered over the road and the slope to the left. As I hike along, I wonder if a golf ball will wonk me on the head. None do, but I hike along quickly, not wanting to take a chance.

Eventually, the jeep road peters out and at that point I begin angling up the slope on the left using the path of minimal resistance approach. Eventually, I reach the crest of Mau'umai Ridge, which is dry, rocky, and populated by plenty of koa haole and scattered other dryland flora. I see orange ribbons and lopper cuts, perhaps the work of the good Dr Ng. I pass a nice shaded area with trees I can't identify. Where is Kenji when I need him?

Up, up, up, steadily I go. Check the altimeter watch at one point. 800 feet. Hmm, is that right? It's also windy, with gusts in the 30-40 mph range, I reckon. Gotta stick the baseball cap in the pack else da buggah gonna sail away. Nose is running like a flash flood and eyes are watering something fierce because of the wind. But these are temporary and just as quickly they're pau.

Complete my first ascent of this ridge [wave to La Wingo] at a summit overlook of Sea Life Park. The wind is even gustier here, so I look for a sheltered spot. I note that it's approaching 10:30 feed time. The kaukau: peanut butter slapped between a couple slices of cherry/apple bread and a protein bar. Glug down some cool H20 and I'm ready to continue.

Instead of heading back down the way I came up, I figure I'll hike along the crest until reaching the down-point for Kamilonui Ridge. I'm concerned about the wind but figure it'll be okay since it's blowing from windward (the dicey side) to lee (the gentle side).

I start descending along the crest trail, just used by HTMers this past Sunday (nice pics, btw, Phil). Partway down, a rain squall hits. It's intense but brief. I worry about slippery rocks along the trail. But the wind is blowing so much that the wetness is evaporated quickly.

Pass the puka in the rock. Peek thru the puka. Sizable drop to windward. Make a mental note of that. Begin the puff-n-huff climb to the benchmark pu'u above the glider launch pads. The wind continues to blow hard but it's at my back and sorta propels me up the slope. With my ticker hammering away in my chest, I plop down to rest at the throne rock at the crest of the hill. Turn to face the ocean and feel the full force of the wind. I open my mouth and let the gusts inflate my lungs. Beautiful.

Below, the ocean is a maelstrom. Awesome yet spooky all that power.

I continue on, passing the glider pads. Then I drop down to the paved road, then up, up it to the old Nike site. Make my way thru the site, passing old towers, cell repeaters, and the building with air conditioners a-humming. This place can't be that critical since there's no armed guard like on Ka'ala, I think.

From the site, there is a significant down, then a medium up, then a short up to the ironwoods used sometimes as a lunch spot. The wind continues to pump but it doesn't rain again. Pass the down-point for Kaupo Cliffs (not today, thank you). Scan the area for goats. Nada. Soon thereafter, I'm in another ironwood grove which is where the Kamilonui Trail tops out. No ribbons at all at the spot. But I know the location, thanks to my Hawaiian DNA.

I head down the Kamilonui Trail. A minute from the top, I see a ribbon, then more and more on the way down. The route looks to be getting moderate use. I recall that the Sierra Club is using this trail for an outing. Is it today? Nope. See no one at all on Kamilonui. In the valley to the left (Kamiloiki), a soccer match is taking place on a large, green field. The garbage man making Saturday pickups makes a racket. And the wind continues to whip.

The trail ends at the heiau on Makuhuena Place. I stop to rest at a bench by the heiau. Down some water. Doing okay time-wise.

What next? Well, I'm a good ways from the 'yota on Mokuhano Street. Hmmm what to do? How about the Monkey Mountain route to the rim of Koko Crater. Haven't done that before. Should be interesting.

Okay, so I set off from the heiau. Makuhuena Place to Hawaii Kai Drive. Turn right (makai) on Lunalilo Home Road. Walk, walk, walk. A few minutes down LHR, I hear someone yelling my name. I turn to look and it's Chris, my best friend from high school. He's pulled over his car, gotten out, and has a bottle of Gatorade in his hand. "Take it," he says.

"Nah, got plenty of water," I say. I thank him nonetheless. "Where you coming from?" he asks. I point to Kamilonui Ridge and beyond. "Where you going now?" I point to the rim of Koko Crater. Chris says nothing but his grin says something like, "You nut case." Then he's off to his son's soccer game.

I continue along LHR. I reach a concrete drainage ditch just before Kaiser High School. I enter the ditch with the aid of a rope. Then I tramp in the ditch, with the backyards of homes above me to the left. Enter a tunnel where I have to hunch over to get thru. Plenty of graffiti in there. The ditch then veers left and I pass below a lone home on the right, complete with archery range. Not far past the home, I come upon a large foam pool someone has dumped in the ditch. At that point is a metal bar across the ditch. I use the pool and bar to climb out of the ditch on the right.

Then I pick up a spur ridge heading up to the Koko Crater rim. "Not sure this is the Monkey Mountain spur but I'll give it a shot," I think. Up, up, up. Pass thru/under a large, sprawling banyan. Remember Wingo mentioning such a tree in his write-up about the route. "I'm on track," I think. Continue climbing. The way never gets precarious. It's akin to the rock bridge and parking lot routes from the Blowhole side.

About 2/3 of the way up, another squall pummels me. The raindrops, propelled by the strong gusts, sting on contact. Like the earlier squall, this one too is brief. Glad for that.

Reach the rim of the crater huffing and puffing but in one piece. The makani intensifies on the rim, so I duck down for cover and plop down to eat lunch. Perfect timing. It's 1:30, three hours after the last feed. Dine on poi muffins and the tuna/cottage/curry glop. Don't have a ravenous appetite but I finish all the grub in due time.

After lunch, I decide to head down the west rim. It's dicier, especially with the wind today, but faster than going to the top then down the rim overlooking Sandy Beach. I move steadily down the west rim, taking my time at the narrow places, made more challenging by the gusty trades. I make it by all the bad spots okay and continue all the way down the ridge to the garden. Pass a security guard seated on a picnic table. He waves to me and says nothing.

The rest of the way back to the 'yota involves 15-20 minutes of road walking. The vehicle is unmolested when I reach it. Then it's in the car and on the road and back home to the Kaneohe homestead. On a day that wasn't supposed to be a good one, I got in some good hiking on two first-time (for me) routes.

--dkt