Aiea-Halawa – September 21, 2013

Our goal was pretty basic: hike up Aiea ridge, make the right towards Halawa, and go down Halawa to our cars.

Joining the crew today were OAG – E and Proo, as well as the legendary The Not So Great Hiker. and Burs.

We all met at the Halawa trailhead at 6am. From there we staged cars and hopped in The Not So Great Hiker’s car as he drove us to Aiea. We parked outside the gate because we knew we would get out late today. The caretaker closes the gate around 7pm.

The hike on Aiea Loop was uneventful, as it was nothing more than a good warm up for what we needed to do. After 45 minutes on the Aiea Loop trail, we veered left at the junction and onto the Aiea Ridge trail. The rains started to come. Not feeling deterred, we kept up the pace all the way up to Pu’u Kaiwipo’o. What got our attention was the view. The two previous times I’ve been on this pu’u, it was socked in. Today, we could actually see the power lines at the summit. That was short lived however, as the clouds rolled in furiously.

We hiked further up the mountain in socked in conditions, getting to a lookout point where the views started to open up on the windward side. The view was so outstanding that we had to just hang out there and enjoy ourselves. We used up about 30 minutes just taking pictures. I think all of us knew that we had to soak in the moment.

We made the right at the lookout point towards the power lines and Aiea summit. Again, the view was so amazing that we spent another 20 minutes enjoying the panorama. I remember telling everyone, “people are watching football today, while we are up here”.

We hiked further on the summit and had to stop again. Why? Lobelia gaudichaudii. The plant wasn’t fully in bloom yet, but nonetheless a beautiful plant. Because the plant was literally on the side of the mountain, I got a good angle and took a picture of the plant with a background of Ahuimanu valley 1000s of feet below.

On the summit, the clouds started to roll in again, and we were socked in for quite some time. In about an hour we reached the cyanea st. johnii preserve, identified by an enclosed fence. According to The Not So Great Hiker only 70 of these cyanea exist in the world. They only grow on Oahu and are endemic, not only to the island, but restricted to the tops of the Ko’olau range. The Not So Great Hiker and I got photo opts. These plants are so small, it was hard to find, but The Not So Great Hiker knew where to look.

After the cyanea, we progressed further towards hidden stairs. By this time, the views were just spectacular, and it would be that way until we reached Halawa. It took about another 45 minutes to get to the old rusty stairs. I wanted the money shot, and got it. We took a side trip on the rusty stairs to a platform.

After the side trip, we continued progressing on the summit on the old rusty stairs for quite some time enjoying views of Haiku valley. A few rolling hills later and we hit the Halawa terminus. The HTMC lunch spot was overgrown. It was so sad to see. I hope we don’t lose this trail to nature. The beginning part of Halawa ridge appeared in decent condition. But when we got to the middle section, it was overgrown. Proo led the charge, she pretty much led the charge the entire way. A big boost to her confidence.  The hike on Halawa wasn’t exciting. I spent most of my time looking at my gps to see how much further we needed to go. Eventually, we got to the jeep dirt road, but by this time, the sun went down, it started to rain, and started getting dark. After finally getting to the junction, it was really dark and we needed to spike up and put on our headlamps for the steep descent.

Our group somehow separated for a bit, but some teamwork got us to the bottom safely. After 12+ hours of hiking, we finally finished. It was great. The PHM (post hike meal) was at The Alley where we would join OAG member Ali who lives in the Aiea area.

We talked great stories about the hike, making Ali jealous. Another fun day of hiking. It was so worth it.

*Disclaimer: Halawa Ridge has been in disuse for many years and the conditions in this article may not be the same as it is today.