Waimalu Middle to Waimano – March 3, 2013

Merv and I learned our lesson from our April 6-7 Aiea to Manana hike. On that day, we set off on Aiea, summited, and made the left towards Waimalu. We got socked in so bad at the Waimalu Summit that we couldn’t see anything in front of us. With nightfall drawing near and bad conditions, we were forced to spend the night on a cold, windy, rainy Ko’olau Summit, which was not fun. The next day, we bailed down Waimano. Lesson Learned!

Fast forward to March 2013. The experience we gathered while hiking on Oahu trails have been invaluable and cannot be taught. For this hike, our preparation was far better than last year. This time Merv’s planned route was to hike from Waimalu to Waimano, a shorter route than what we did the previous year. Doing Waimalu’s Middle Ridge was just a dream for me, until some great hikers cleared the trail. Although still physically demanding, Waimalu Middle is open to the hiking community.

What makes Waimalu so enchanting is its wide summit. The summit is so wide, you can play a game of half court basketball up there. Also, what makes Waimalu so enchanting is this big ass meadow to the left of the summit. The meadow is massive, you can fit a bunch of houses there.

Off we went on this Sunday. Joining Merv and I today was Andrew, Thessa, and Jose. I think Andrew is stationed here and his passion for hiking is alive and well. He also authored a well written blog called Punynari’s Island Adventures. Merv joked that after this hike, Andrew will write about us and will become famous, lol.  Thessa is, well…bad ass, she has done True Manamana and the Kalihi Saddle (Bowman side) to name a few. And Jose, he did Pauao to Waiahole Uka…in slippers…need I say more. We met at Pearl City Shopping Center at the exact same time (6:05am), WTF!, it must be a great day to hike! Then we convoyed to my working place at Pearl City High School. I joked to Merv that if this hike becomes an overnighter, I’ll exit Waimano and stroll into work to teach my class like nothing happened. We staged cars there and drove to the Waimalu Ditch trailhead.

The hike on Waimalu Ditch was a good warm up. According to Andrew, we would cross the stream 8 times and end up at the HTMC turnaround spot. He has a good memory. From there we hiked a bit further until we could see Waimalu’s Middle Ridge just looming in front of us. The trail appeared to end, so we looked at Merv’s track and bushwhacked our way to the ridge. Right now, we have already hiked 4 miles. We then had to hike up a steep ass hill which had a path, but surrounded by uluhe. Walking up a mountain on uluhe takes a lot of muscle, mainly because the ground is soft and it is hard to get traction. We must have hiked up and down 2 or 3 big ass hills. My legs were getting tight in a hurry. We took frequent breaks, it was much needed. The middle ridge appeared endless. We hit hour number 4, then 5. Finally, we were nearing the summit at the 6 hour mark. Near the top is this beautiful wide exposed section of the trail that is covered by spongy moss. I could set up shop here and admire the views all day. I call it “Moss Hill”.  At the 5 hour 50 min. mark, we finally summited Waimalu and its wide summit.

Like I mentioned in my write up last year, there are all these deep holes. So if you try to walk, it makes going uneasy. I compare it to a car driving on an uneven dirt road, bump, bump, bump. I didn’t get a view last time, so I was curious. Oh man, it does not disappoint. Not as great as the views of Eleao, Poamoho, Ohulehule or even K3 (I haven’t seen Ka’aumakua yet, because it was socked in when we went). But it does rival Pu’u O Kona, Lanihuli/Bowman, and Stairway (Waianae Summits not mentioned, sorry). The summit was short-lived as the meadow invited us. What’s nuts, and was our problem last time in socked in conditions, were the many ridges gutting out from the summit. Holy shit, there were so many ridges, and we didn’t know what to do last year. This was one major reason why we had to spend the night on the summit. In the morning, we found the Ko’olau Ridge and took a steep descent down to the meadow. When we got down to the meadow, all the ridges that lead down there appeared doable. So today, Merv decided to just go down some random ridge. Andrew and I followed suit, Jose and Thessa came after me. There, we were going down to the meadow, the view was unreal, I mean unreal! It has to be top Ko’olau sites along with Poamoho lookout, Ka’au Crater’s three waterfalls, Eleao “wind tunnel meadow”, K3 “the bowl”, Sacred Falls, Skinny walls of Ma'akua, Vertical Falls of H3, etc. Of course, I haven’t done the sections from Laie to Manana and there are some waterfall hikes I still have to do, so I reserve the right to change my opinion.

We spent about 45 minutes on the meadow. Just chillin’. We ate lunch and just relaxed. Shiiit! 

After the meadow, we had to choose. Either walk across the meadow and meet up with the Ko’olau Summit trail or find it right away. Last time we went right away, I remember having difficulties getting up on the hill leading to the Ko’olau Summit because it was overgrown. But this time, someone must have blazed a trail because there was a good swath appearing right in front of us.

Honestly, this crossover section needs focus. Not as difficult as the three high end saddles of the Ko’olau Summit (Moanalua, Nuuanu, Kalihi) and I haven’t done any of them, I’m just going off others opinion, but this crossover section (Waimalu Middle-Waimano) has deadly drops to the windward side and the trail is very narrow. The first time I did this, I was like whoa, I could fall and die. Adding to the difficulty is the high winds and in a few parts was vegetation blocking the trail, although not as much as I remembered from the last time.

The crossover was surprisingly fast. I swear to god, it took us 3 hours last time, maybe because we were tired from spending the night at Waimalu. This time, it took us under two hours.

We finally hit Waimano at 3:30pm, nearly 9 hours into our hike. Now we had damn near 7 miles of Waimano left. Fuck, I thought. Merv led, I started hiking fast right behind him, but eventually Andrew and Jose passed me. I stayed with Thessa in the back. We all rendezvous at the picnic bench, but eventually the guys, who were motivated to finish pressed on at their blistering pace. Waimano is not fun anymore!!! I think I’ve done this trail enough, the only time I would go back is when OAG does the Manana-Waimano crossover. Then that’s it!!!, well maybe until my kids get older.

Nightfall fell, Thessa and I took our headlamps out and hiked in the dark. On the way out we heard a pig. I joked to Thessa, “you can go kill it with your stick”. She was carrying a nature made walking stick the entire time. We exited Waimano and said our goodbyes at a little after 7pm, 12.5 hours.

This was an awesome hike. It really is a must do if you are an avid hiker on Oahu. Not doing it is a crime, if anything a petty misdemeanor. The meadow, which I named Mystical Meadow of Waimalu. I stole “mystical” from Wing Ng who coined it back in the 90s is a must see. I do admit, the hike is hard, be physically and provisionally prepared to be out there all day even if you don’t crossover and have gear to spend the night. I would not recommend doing the crossover at night, that's crazy sauce!