Wahiawa Loop Trail 12/ 2011

This is my second time here and it is a very wet atmosphere as it is located in the foothills atop Wahiawa. This is a trail I would probably do an overnighter because there are many areas which lead off trail all of which meet up to Kaukonahua Stream which is claimed to be the longest measured river in Hawaii.

My daughter wanted to do mommy daughter day , trail great idea .... mommy daughter , not so good. My daughter has a tendency to take control of every situation & over worrying about my safety. I know its cause she loves me , but sometimes its over obsesive and she has to remember her mother did teach her alot about the mountains. So we ended up arguing on the trail which eventually lead to some cheeseburgers & ice cream after our hike. For any of you that have trailed with Yuri , you know exactly where Im coming from. Checking me for scratches and making me drink water lol thats love. She's my twinkie so I make exceptions, sometimes I need to express my softer side, I guess ... :)

It took us only 20 minutes to get down to Kaukonahua Stream . It is very majestic back here and a perfect backdrop for family photos , which I am glad I did catch some really beautiful shots of the river with my new HD- SONY camera which I pray dearly someone will surprise me with a tri-pod this christmas that would be perfect.

You will need off - bug spray as it is very wet and bugs love wetness. So my Yuri got a few mosquito bites which I immediately tended to. Good hiking shoes to avoid slippage a must.

Its nice to have a picnic here as backpacking in some beer and food is really no problem. And of course I learnned you have a beautiful river to take a swim.

The trail is well marked with ribbons lining the area, we put many in place as my daughter likes to leave her mark on the trails we do.

Expect alot off downhill decending and a nice ab work-out climbing back out.

I expect to return next year with my crew to trail it in. Me & Yuri we spent about 2 hours and returnned to my car calling it quits for some beach action.

The parking is located in a residential area and you can park anywhere along side the homes.

DIRECTIONS: Trailhead is located atop California Avenue. Entering Wahiawa take a right on California & proceed about 6 miles to the end. Once you locate a huge watertower you know youve arrived.

HAPPY HIKING

Makapuu Rock Faces 3/2011

Preparing for my long awaited trip to Sin City , I decided to rock climb on the first Saturday of March to welcome in the spring and also my new theory of life and my expectations of it.

So the crew all headed out to Sandy Beach where friends and family would spend the day bodysurfing and eating while I would continue on to my journey of Makapuu Bunkers. Although my ass and legs were in extreme pain from a jump I had attempted the week prior out at Kahuku on a bike trail I was not in anyway gonna let that hold me back from staring down into the depths of death on this very day , as my need for adrenaline was at its very peak to the point when no chocolate in the world could suffice this feeling.

I reached the bottom of the mountains face at about a little after 12 noon as I managed to walk along side the South Bound Freeway which from the East of Oahu leads into a little town where I grew up called Waimanalo.

It was a very sunny day with alot of tourist visiting the Makapuu Lighthouse where remenants of old bunker stations and the recently renovated lighthouse sits.

I started at the point where the lookout to Makapuu Beach sits and made my way over the look out railings which lead me sideways up the side of the cliff face. Because this cliff rarely maintained the chances of landslides and perhaps even a hiker being thrown over the cliffs due to rock slippage are very high. I would recommend this hike to only the very experienced of hikers.

I continued up alone and was amazed to see along the way many rock climbers on this day and managed to catch a picture of a girl decending. I later learned that she was visiting from Australia and exchanged information with me so on my next trip out there she could give me a tour of the outback as her husband is a mountain ranger there and has informmed me of the many uncharted waterfalls he has come across while working.

Honestly I believe that this couple mustve thought I was crazy due to :

1. I had absolutely no hike gear or first aid on me
2. I was wearing my Nike Airs which are about $120 to hike this face
and lastly the fact that I was alone on such a beautiful day : BY CHOICE may I add.

So we said our farewells and I continued. It took me about 1 hour to reach the highest ponit which I believe to be a little under 175 ft. I may be wrong.

On my decent I decided to tour the exotic tide pools and came across an partially underwater cave, which I ( out of curiousity, that always ends up getting my ass in trouble ) climbed into and ran the hell out of as I stummbled across a mass of eels "YUCKY". It was like something out of the movie CONAN where all I could see was slippery slimy snake like creatures everywhere , just thousands all over this cave.

I think the shear fear of what I had seen alone, flew me back up to my start point in less than 20 minutes. Rocks giving away under my feet and above me catus filled with nest of centipede's could not stop my determination of getting the hell away from that cave before those suckers made lunch outtah me.

All in all not quite my fort`e and probabley just a hike to documentate for my life journals. This will not be repeated.

For those that are geared with harnesses , hike boots , ropes , crampers or webbing this is a very scenic view for face repelling.

It gets very windy at some points up top so proper anchoring would be needed as well.

Still I await my Scared Falls ...