Wailupe to Kuliouou - June 2, 2014 

The initial plan today was to get to Pu'u Eleao. But with Central Oahu socked in, we bailed on the plan and decided to do a hike in the southern Ko'olaus. E needed to do Wailupe-Kuliouou to complete the section known as Manoa Middle-Makpu'u which is about 8 miles of the Ko'olau Ridge trail. 

I staged my car at Kuliouou, E picked me up and we went to the Wailupe trailhead on Hao Street. The walk through the valley was pleasant, but we had trouble finding the middle ridge of Wailupe. Though E, Proo, and I have done this hike before, we all did it with HTMC and although we could remember details of the hike, the Wailupe trail can get confusing because of the many side trails. Long story short, we ended up on the southern end of the valley and had to back track to the middle ridge. We lost about 45 minutes of hiking time, but hey, more calories burned. I have a good feeling I'll be losing a lot of calories this summer. 

No wind today meant that it was going to be really hot. As we ascended the middle ridge, we all were sweating uncontrollably. Proo and I were just finishing our flu and the congestion really bothered us. Really going up the middle ridge was uneventful and brutal. I drank my water like no tomorrow and probably drank over 1 liter before we hit the final ascent. 

Getting to the top was such a relief, it took us 4 hours. E brought out fried Ahi and chicken + musubi's. OMG, it was so good and gave me a huge boost. After a long break, we started the crossover. A small burst of wind came through on the crossover. The trail is wide open making things go much quicker than I remember last time. I had fun looking at my backcountry app. Here was the breakdown: Wailupe-Hawaii Loa took 40 minutes, Hawaii Loa-Kulepeamoa took 20 minutes, Kulepeamoa-Kuliouou West took 45 minutes. The wind and semi-socked in conditions made things much easier.

E took some really nice pictures of the crossover. For some reason I put my camera away, I guess I didn't really want to lug it around anymore around my neck. Going down Kuliouou West was an unreal experience. I've been on this trail many times, but today felt different. I've never seen the trail near sunset time. It was beautiful! I didn't take any pictures for some reason, but E did, and his pictures came out nice. We finished Kuliouou West in about 1 1/2 hours. The total hiking time was about 8 1/2 hours. 

The PHM was at CPK. I couldn't believe how good the food was there. E said the food was always this good. I haven't gone to CPK in a while, looks like I've been missing out. I had a huge salad, capitalizing on a bunch of calories I already burned. Today was a great hike to start off the summer. Nothing beats calorie burning, beautiful nature stroll, and spending time with friends.