Kea’au Middle-Ohikilolo Rectangle – November 11, 2012

This hike was the flavor of the month sometime last year. I’ve been invited many times, but wasn’t able to make it. During March of this year, the HTMC did Kea’au Middle Ridge. At the top of Kea’au, Patrick R. (OHE) member asked if the group wanted to join him to Ohikilolo. That would have been awesome hiking with him. But I declined because I had to get to a party. All this time has passed, and I never did the rectangle known as Kea'au-Ohikilolo. Over the years, my skills have gotten a little better and I have much more experience.

Today would be the day. Last week, I asked a bunch of my hiking friends if they wanted to join me, but in the end I would go solo, which was fine with me. My plan was to hike with the HTMC up Kea'au Ridge, then break away from the group and head towards Ohikilolo, hit the cabin, and follow the fenceline down Ohikilolo Ridge. I just needed to let people know the situation. I let Ralph, the HTMC coordinator know as well.

We all met at the Makaha Beach parking lot. I love talking stories with HTMC members, good conversations. From there, I dropped my car off before the gate of Our Lady of Kea’au and hopped in E’s truck. We drove to a parking area, and started walking on the dirt road. It was a very hot day, which meant choke sweat. The dirt road was a pain because of the dust in the air and the gradual incline. After the dirt road, we went into the forest, crossed a dry stream and headed up Kea’au Middle Ridge. The steep climb was unrelenting. We managed to get to a rest point right before the narrow rocky dike sections. The dikes can either be hair raising or fun depending on the type of hiker you are. If you are afraid of heights, it’ll be hair raising. After the dikes, it became a steep climb to the summit. Finally at 2 ½ hours, we got to the summit. The view was nice, but short lived as my objective was Ohikilolo. The connector to Ohikilolo looked daunting, but I’ve done this kind of thing before. Everyone wished me good luck and I was off. Immediately, I knew what to expect on the connector, a narrow rocky dike.

My plan of attack was simple, just go, and don’t over think it. If you don’t like what you see, then find a safer way. That was my motto, and I stuck with it. While on the connector, I saw 3 goats, one of them was the Billy, he had a beard. When they saw my presence, they stared at me. I froze. After a few moments, they still did not want to move even with my presence. I started towards them, but still no movement. As I was walking towards them, another goat appeared a few feet away from me. It startled me for a bit. I needed to do something! So I grabbed a rock. I contemplated throwing it at them, but wasn’t sure if goats have revenge in their personality. So I just waved at them to go away. They listened, and walked down the vertical mountain. On the way to the perilous dike section, I held a rock just in case more goats came out. When I felt safe, I let it go and charged the perilous dike section, which I call the "staircase". A fall on this section and it is over. The drops are vertical. The climbs weren’t too difficult, but believe me you do not want to make a careless mistake on this section.  I believe that the connector is the most dangerous section of the hike. Eventually, I had to scramble to gain Ohikilolo Ridge. The scramble was tiring because it was over loose dirt. My legs were game today, no cramping at all.

One thing about getting to Ohikilolo Ridge from this part, you still need to make a right and hike 15 minutes to the summit. So I did. But when I got to the top of Ohikilolo, a brush fire somewhere created smoke in Makaha Valley, making my pictures shitty. The crossover took me a little over 1 hour.

The view at the top of Ohikilolo is second to none, fricken gorgeous! I went down Ohikilolo Ridge to the cabin. Everyone who does this hike has to go into the cabin. It would be a nice place to spend the night there, plus there is water. I thought about refilling, but I still had 2L left, so I figured that would be enough. After the cabin is the hot grueling hike down Ohikilolo Ridge following a fence line that follows the entire ridge. The trail is very narrow in some spots, proceed with caution. I was so tired while hiking on the ridge! In about 2 hours, I started looking for a bail out ridge down the mountain. When the trail decreased in elevation, this was my chance. I blazed a trail down the mountain, following goat trails. Like any ridge you bushwhack, there is overgrowth (not too thick though). I pushed my way to a dirt road; the problem was that this wasn’t the dirt road that we started on. I started walking on the dirt road,  just then a pack of wild dogs without leaches started chasing me. I bailed down the road, makai way. Since I was so close to the highway, I exited the valley that way. The big problem was that I ran out of water at this point and was so thirsty. I knew it would be at least near a mile back to my car. It was a pain, but I just put my head down and charged it. In about 20 minutes, I got to my car and got the hell out of there.

I don’t think I want to repeat this hike ever again. The view is world class, but the hike is super hot, especially on this day when the heat and humidity was in full effect. It was not a great experience for me. Ohikilolo Ridge has very little to no shade making it hotter than a mutha. With all that being said, if you haven’t done this hike, you have to try at least once just for the view and to check it off the list. Also, there are some narrow spots on some rocky dikes, so if that is your cup of tea, then it will be worth it.