True Lanipo – May 25, 2012

Last time I was here, I didn’t summit True Lanipo. This left a bitter taste in my mouth. With the first day of the vacation upon all teachers, it was time for me to take care of business. Not only was I going to do True Lanipo, I was going to explore and try to find the Waialae Nui trail as this trail is part of my hiking checklist.

The trail is called Lanipo, however the True Lanipo summit is about 25 minutes away from the initial summit which is Kainawa’aunui. Most hikers are content with Kainawa’aunui, but if you want to reach Lanipo, you would have to travel further.

After researching Dayle Turner’s  blog on the Oahu Hiking Enthusiast (OHE) website, I was able to figure out where the terminus point of the Waialae Nui trail was. Here are the clues. It is 5 minutes to the east of True Lanipo, but before the power lines. Using these points of reference gave me a clear picture of what I needed to observe to find the Waialae Nui terminus. My plan was to hike 5 minutes past True Lanipo and look for a distinguishable ridge heading down the mountain on the leeward side. Then, I would look for some power lines ahead of me and hopefully a small clearing. This would undoubtedly be the Waialae Nui Terminus.

I dropped the kids off at school and was off to Whilemina Rise in Kaimuki. There was a section where the road was closed, so I had to take Sierra drive and get back onto Whilemina Rise. I got to Maunalani Heights and parked near the trailhead. 

I knew Lanipo was going to have ups and downs. There were many. After a mile in, the uluhe came into play and scratched the hell out of my legs. I’ve been avoiding the uluhe by wearing pants, but I wore shorts today with tube socks. I thought the tube socks would help, apparently it didn’t. Since my legs weren’t used to the scratching, the uluhe did what it usually does, tear skin. My legs were bleeding. I ignored the pain and continued on. The ups and downs were killing me, but I controlled my breathing and continued towards the summit of Kainawa’aunui, took a very short break, took the right and proceeded to Lanipo. It was great! The trail becomes overgrown and narrow. But it was your basic swath on the KSRT. No biggie. In about 25 minutes, I summited True Lanipo. I was relieved. It took me about a year to do this and now I can move on. After a short rest, I continued to Waialae Nui. The clearing is not marked, but easily distinguishable. I started walking on the Waialae Nui trail, but the overgrowth was so thick, I decided not to further progress.

I decided to head back. It was hot going back. I was low on water and rationed it very well. The sun was so hot and I was dying. This reminded me of Kamaile’unu last year. I staggered back to my car, just like last time I did Lanipo, and drove off to Foodland in Ewa Beach. I did want to eat at a restaurant in Kaimuki, but preferred to get the hell out of town to avoid the afternoon traffic. The spicy ahi poke bowl at Foodland was good, but the soda I bought was even better. I drank a Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew.