Aida and her friends wanted to do the Koko Crater rim hike and needed a "guide" so I volunteered to join em. Even got a Sunday off to do the hike, lucky me!
We all met at the botanical gardens nice and early, then headed up the west rim... or did we?!
Just our luck the security guard saw us and told us "No can do!". What to do..
What else? We just went into the gardens and did the rim walk clockwise!
We made it past all the cactus parts and slippery parts that lead from the gardens up the east rim. I was mostly trying my hand at video this time so missed a few pictures along the way. Aida is taking shots of Sandy's on a great day for a hike. Nice and overcast with light winds..
Aida with her pals Dean and Jerrauld. Really nice, quiet hikers!! I was only one none stop blabbing most of the time.
Still heading up the east rim. Today the members from H.O.T. were doing the stone arch so I was looking for that group. Think almost 30 people so figured it would be easy to spot them.
Made it up to where the stone arch trail meets the crater rim and we met a few hikers. But, they weren't from H.O.T., but another batch. They were also planning on doing the rim counter clockwise, but when we told them about the guard, they decided to go in opposite direction, like us.
When I looked way up to the top, I think I saw the H.O.T. group on the lookout relaxing.
And up we go, the other group were pretty fast so they left us behind. They had one hiker who was really afraid of heights!! What a brave guy to battle his fears and do this hike! Gratz to him!
We made it to the top in no time , took a short break and ate some yummy mangoes that Aida had.
By time we started down the west rim, the other group (minus a few hikers) already left us far behind.
Aida was like, you want me to go down that!! Thats hardest part of going rim clockwise, you have to climb DOWN all the rocks, which is harder then climbing up them.
She found a nice, safe route so rest of gang followed her.
Bit of the easy parts, then comes the first rock formation to get by.
You can go around this section or be like Jerrauld and go over them! I went around to show Aida the path and I was video taping (thats my excuse!).
Aida making sure she has firm footing!! Dont wanna slide off the side!
After the first rock formation, its pretty easy. Just follow the trail....
First of the many parts where you have to climb down the rocks and climb up next section. I just hopped over them! Fun fun!
Is that a smile of relief?
Another section that you have to go around the rocks. This rock section was pretty high but I think you can go over. Ill have to try one day.. NOT!
Toughest part of this side of the crater is the harder rock section just keep coming! Once you think you are done with them, another pops up.
And finally down to my favorite section, the rock wall!! This is super fun to climb up! Like a giant rock wall with a ton of handholds to grab onto. Since we didnt go up the stairs, I had lotsa energy and once I made it down to the bottom, I ran/climbed back up to the top!
And finally we made it down to the last section. Right after this is the Keawe bush parts so be careful! The security guard didnt care if we went down the trail so he just waved at us on our walk past him. And you believe it, I forgot to turn on my gps!! But took us about 3 hours for the whole hike. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Many thx to Aida, Dean and Jerrauld!! Hope we get to go hiking together again one day.
December 31, 2011 8:30 AM went on a hike with the members of H.O.T.
I had choice of either joining the last hike with the Koko Crater groups but only had 3 rsvps while the H.O.T. group had over 30!
met at Kuliouou since it was closer then the dog park in Hawaii Kai. Met a few early birds while we waited for the rest of the gang to show up. Finally about 9am they came and off we went. And boy what a group! Almost 40 people in all.
sorry for the blurry pictures lol. was trying to shoot over my head and guess i was shaky!
Finally reached near the top and what a great view! I was even leading the group for most of the way. Till we got higher elevation and my legs started giving out from my workout at the gym the day before! Bad idea!!
When we finally reached the top, unfortunately, the view was a total white out! But, Kuliouou sure felt way easier then it used to! Guess all the hikes up Koko Crater paid off!!
Most of the group didnt stick around too long and headed back. But it was still early. 11am and they pau!! I still had a ton of energy left so decided to try out some geocaching!! I wanted to find one that i couldnt last time I came up here. Wish I took picture but I found it! What a tuff hiding spot, they had me almost ripping a stone wall apart to find it.
Saw this neat looking tree! Looks like its kneeling down to take a rest or a dump? hmmm As I was decided where to go, I saw a nice trail heading towards the summit direction. Knowing that I could never pass up a trail, off I went to explore!
Crossed a small stream. There were a few ribbons to follow so looked like a fun hike. As I got further in, the trail became less and less marked. Sometimes you had to just guess where it lead.
It finally started to head up towards the summit. Some parts were getting tuff! Those rocks look nice and firm but when u grab them, they come off in you hand. And those ribbons all but stopped. I was hoping i was heading in the right direction. I just knew I had to go UP!!
Finally got high enough to get a picture of some scenery. I'm pretty close to Koko Crater side now.
Here's shot of Kuliouou Ridge. That one sure seemed 100x easier to do then this trail! The ferns were over grown blocking the trail. You had to just push you way thru and hope there is some firm footing under them. Some of them grew almost higher then me! Glad no spiders lol!
After while you start to hate those darn, itchy, scratchy, thick ferns!! Wish I had a weed whacker with me! Or a machete!
And finally at the top!! The sky finally cleared and I was rewarded with an awesome view of Waimanalo!
Headed back to Kuliouou Ridge and was surpised how short a trip it was. Just few moments and I was back where I started!! yeah, a reverse loop up Kuliouou! By now I was too tired to even eat my lunch that I carried with me whole time!! Even my can of coke was not used!
And heres look at the ridge I went up. If it wasnt so overgrown, it would be an awesome hike to add to your Kuliouou hikes! Now its almost 2pm so overall, 2 hours to do regular Kuliouou ridge trail and 3 hours to do the other half.
And here's the final tally.Almost 7 and half miles with almost 3,500 feet in climbing! No wonder I was tired! Again I did a booboo by going on a hike with no knowledge of where it goes, without letting anyone know where I was going!! bad boy!!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Today (friday) I finally got the car and hit off to Koko Crater to check out the fire damage. Really an eye opener! All the grass and bushes were gone from just last time i went up. Walking up the burned sections really had an unusual smell. Like sweet burnt wood.
This is from the section right when u hit the access road. I guess the road stopped the fire from burning up the baseball field/parking lot section.
Here you can see how far the fire went. Almost halfway up the side of the crater. Luckily I didnt see any dead animals just a few birds looking for some fried bugs?
This one was closer to the road.. Wonder if I have a shot of it before the fire?
Saw this fire extinguisher in the burnt out section. Wonder if it was from the firemen or from long ago? I started going up the burnt sections looking for anything to take pictures of. Saw lotsa bottles and old metal things.
Looking back towards the gun range where the fire started.
I got a bit further up and was wondering if it was possible to reach the summit from this side when I heard at the gun range "stop firing"! oh oh, was I getting behind the gun range and they saw me? I didnt wanna take chance so I headed towards the stairs lol. Dont wanna get shot in the butt!
This is how close the fire came to the tracks!! It really would have sucked if the tracks got burnt and ruined one of the most popular hikes on Oahu!!
From near the top so you could see how close it came. It wasnt that far from the bridge! And if the fire hit the bridge, it would have gone up like kindling!!
I climbed halfway up the tower thingy at the top to get this shot.
And last shot I ventured as far east as I could to get a shot from above the gun range.
Here's a picture from before the fire!! Sure looked way better then.
Found a great before/after shot!! Hope the area can recover quickly so it returns to what it used to look like.
