Kulana’ahane State Trail – January 16, 2012

Being that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I decided to go hiking by myself. I haven’t hiked by myself in a while, well, since Aiea Bi-Sectional last December. With so many hikes still on my list, there were many choices. I wanted to do a hike I haven’t done before. In addition to that, I wanted to do a safe hike since I was by myself. In the morning, I went through Stuart Ball’s book Hiking on Oahu and chose a hike that I haven’t done yet. The hike I chose was called Kamananui, but a few years ago the state changed the name to Kulana’ahane Why? Don’t know, nor does it matter.

I woke up at my regular time and drove to Moanalua at about 8:15 am. I arrived at a loaded parking lot and started hiking at 8:30 am. When the parking lot is loaded at this time in the morning, it usually means the Korean Hiking Group is doing Kamananui Valley Road. As I walked along, I said “hi” to them.

Some background information about Kulana’ahane goes as follows. This is a two part hike. The first part is on Kamananui Valley Road. As mentioned on an earlier post, this road has become remnants of the Old Damon Estate. About 2 ½ miles into the hike, there appears the Kulana’ahane State sign. From the state sign, going left will take you to the following two trails: Moanalua Middle and Godek-Jaskulski (counter). The state trail goes right. You follow Kulana’ahane trail and cross Kamananui stream 20+ times until you hit a ridge. From the ridge you go straight up to the summit of the Ko’olaus.

Total mileage for this hike was 11. As I was hiking, I felt a little paranoid. I guess that is how you feel when hiking by yourself. After walking on Kamananui Valley Road for 1 hour, I took a left onto the state trail. The state trail follows the stream and comes and goes through a path of tangled hau trees. If you’re new to hiking, this trail could lead you astray. The key is to stay the course and pay attention to the ribbons. The stream is intermittent, and is usually dry. Not sure how many times I crossed the stream, but it was many times. According to Stuart Ball’s book, you cross the stream over 20 times. In this case, the literal reference to stream crossing is stepping over water or stepping over a dry stream bed. After the stream crossings, I got to the base of a spur ridge. Since I walked at such a quick pace, I was kind of tired already. Nevertheless, I made the jaunt up the semi steep spur ridge taking frequent breaks until I hit the summit. The summit featured your average summit in this area; a view of H3 and Haiku Valley. This rest area is also part of the Moanalua Saddle hike, which is as dangerous as it gets when hiking on Oahu. If I made a right at the summit, I would have started the Moanalua Saddle, which I’m in no way ready for yet. Many people in the hiking community have said that the Moanalua Saddle is for experts only because it is so steep and crumbly. I took a break at the summit for about 15 minutes, taking pictures and eating my energy bar. It was windy, but nothing out of the ordinary up here. After my break I made the hike back onto Kulana’ahane and tried to speed walk it.

In no time, I ended up on Kamananui Valley Road and in my car. The total time for this hike was 4 hours and 15 minutes. I question the length of this hike, as hiking 11 miles in 4 hours is too good to be true. However, the hike follows the valley floor with little elevation change until you hit the spur ridge. The hike up the spur ridge is short and only took me less than 15 minutes. Well, I get to check this hike off my list. It’s a good hike if you want to make the transition from a beginning hiker to an intermediate hiker.