Makua Rim (Peacock Flats) – February 17, 2013

I always thought that Makua Rim was near the Makua Overlook. After today, I became even more confused. Previously, I’ve done Kealia and Kuoakala which both led to the Makua Overlook. The Makua Overlook doesn’t give a great vantage point of Makua Valley. In fact, Makua Valley is a bit away from the overlook vantage point. Wanting to understand the Northern part of the Waianae Summit Trail, I figured the Makua Rim would be the final piece of the puzzle. In my mind, this hike would connect Kealia and Kuoakala. Crap, I was wrong.

The day started off on the Mokuleia Access Road, a long 4 mile road which goes past the Peacock Flats camping grounds and the Mokuleia Trail. At the meeting spot on Farrington Hwy, I met E, Sensei, and DJ – mainstays in the HTMC. Leading the hike was Fred. Fred in my mind is old, but legendary. He is probably best known for his expertise of the Manana-Waimalu Valley area. Today, he was leading this hike.

Since the hike involved a 4 mile road walk, I assumed it put off many hikers, thus the small turnout for today’s hike. But true hikers are not deterred and we were determined to walk the 4 miles up the road. The walk up the road wasn’t too bad because of the overcast skies and howling winds.

As we got half way up, it started to rain. I busted out my brand new yellow poncho and put it on. As I was walking, it ripped. WTF I thought, I paid 4 bucks for this piece of shit.

Upset about the ripped poncho, I let it go. Our group finally hit the Peacock Flat Camping ground and the Mokuleia trail. From the peacock flats camping grounds, we went back on the road and hiked another mile to the Missile Station. Before the missile station, a junction appeared with a sign that showed that Kealia and Kuoakala were far away. O shit, I was wrong in my assumption. We hit the missile station, but there was a locked gate inhibiting further progress. Eventually we saw ribbons heading up a ridge and took that junction. At this point, I truly believed that this was the Waianae Summit Trail. I may be right, but would have to do some research. As we walked on the ridge, we took the left junction. I wondered where the right went? We eventually hit a nature preserve, the Pohala preserve.

The hike now became enchanting because we could see the North Shore and the Waianae side of the island. This is also where I think we could consider ourselves on the Makua Rim. We hiked many ups and downs eventually culminating in one of the best views on the island. The Makua Rim, look at the picture below; that says it all.

Depending on your interpretation, this can be considered the western part or northern part of the rim. Anyway, the other side is Ohikilolo ridge. I know this because I got the money shot of Makua valley while I was hiking Ohikilolo. All bragging aside, we spent at least ½ hour up there soaking it up. Erik said that it was amazing, so did the others. I did agree.

We went around the rim meeting hiking guru Stuart Ball and his wife Lynne. We went up and down the ridge a few times paralleling a fence line until we hit a junction that went left towards the HTMC campsite and the Mokuleia trail. There we met about a dozen of HTMC hikers who were staying the weekend. After a while of talking, we continued on the Mokuleia trail until it terminated at a fence line, we made a left going down a spur ridge heading into the valley. I remembered going down this steep spur ridge the last time I was on this trail. We hiked down what felt like forever and my knees were hurting. At the bottom we encountered a massive group of hikers, apparently they were rock climbing, although at the time we thought they were trying to find a pool in the dry stream bed, which made no sense to us at the time.

In a little more than ½ hour, we exited the valley and onto the Mokuleia Access Road. E and I waited for everyone to come out of the trail. DJ said his experience in the valley was awesome. I guess you can say that because it is all forest and quiet. We walked another 40 minutes on the road before exiting the trail. The total mileage of this hike was 12 miles, and took us near 7 hours to complete.

This hike also is similar to the Three Corners hike. To do Three Corners, you’d have to go to the HTMC campsite and find the junction that gains the summit. At the summit, the choice is to head left to Three Corners.