Wa'ahila Ridge Trail to Kolowalu Trail - December 4th, 2010

Matthew and I on the Kolowalu side of the trail

So, I just started my new job at Starbucks this past Friday, and Matt mentioned to me a hike he wanted to do on Saturday for work to do some land navigation, to see if it was doable for 50+ people. So, as we know I can't turn down a hike, so I agreed to go with him and one of the guys he works with named Cole, who also happened to bring his 5 month old puppy!!! So cute!!

These roots in the beginning of the Wa'ahila trail are slippery!

We started the trail at about 9:45 a.m., with Matt already doing the Wa'ahila Ridge Trail twice and me doing it once, we got through the 1.2 miles in about 45 minutes, which I don't know seemed to be pretty quick, with the rocky climbs up and down, and not to mention the insane winds that were going on AGAIN today, did I mention we had a dog with us too? He was such a cutie, he trucked along pretty well, way better than Matthew and I thought he would, we only had to stop a few times to give the little guy water, he did beg a few times to be carried, which since he was only 5 months old wasn't to big of a deal for Cole. The Wa'ahila Ridge Trail is fairly simple I'd rate it as being easy to moderate, and the only reason I would say moderate is because of the rock climbs which aren't crazy but they do make for difficulties especially if you have short legs, also the slippery roots, since it's so densely crowded with trees sunlight rarely gets to some parts, and rain most definitely gets to all parts! Which means those roots are SLIPPERY! I bit the dust once, my feet just totally flew out but I managed to catch myself, Matthew bit the dust 2 times, but also both times managed to catch himself, Cole I'm pretty sure fell once also.

Pretty rainbow from the first time we did the hike!

So, as I said after 45 minutes we made it to the junction of the Kolowalu Trail,, when we went on this hike back in October we started down this trail for a few minutes and stopped at a open grassy area, and then turned back to head towards the car, but this time we hiked it all the way down to the trail head, with an elevation climb up and down of 1100 feet each way, it made certain parts rather tricky, especially when trees are down, and rocks are slippery! That's why they rate this trail as intermediate to strenuous, and this was no joke, it was steep going down and steep going up, taking us 51 minutes to go down, and 53 minutes to go up, I was impressed with our time, since I most definitely had to stop more than once to catch my breath and make my heart stop feeling like it was going to explode!!

These awesome roots made things better and harder at times!

Onto the trail, I have found that I love hiking Na Ala Hele hikes, they maintain and mark their trails very well, it was nice not having to worry about getting lost or literally starting the trail at the wrong spot. This side of the trail was tricky, plenty of slippery rocks and clay looking mud, along with a very root filled walk, some of my pictures don't show how crazy the roots actually are, helpful most times in catching your footing and hellish when it comes to watching your step when you really don't need them. I literally thought the trail going back up was NEVER going to end, I was more than relieved when we finally made it back up.

It's true, I love these trees!

After it was all said and done, I was happy I made it the whole way, the total hike was only 3.5 miles (which definitely seemed a lot longer than that), but it took us just over 3 hours to complete. Definitely it a good day for a hike, with the nice breezes and the tree coverings!

Elevation: -Wa'ahila Ridge Trail- 500 fee -Kolowalu Trail- 1100 feet

Distance: -Wa'ahila Ridge Trail- 2.4 in and out -Kolowalu Trail- 1 mile in and out  

That'd be me and Rocky (the cutie) in the backround!

Difficulty: -Wa'ahila Ridge Trail- Easy to Moderate -Kolowalu Trail- Intermediate

Directions from when you get into Honolulu!!