Kuaokala to Pahole - June 5, 2018 

Being on hiatus from this website since March to pursue my passion for native Hawaiian plants, I decided to revisit and do a write up of this hike because I haven't done this specific hike before. 

I got the permit in May and the goal was to look for native Hawaiian plants on Kuaokala. However, on June 3, I took my family to Kuaokala until the mounds and didn't find much native plants. I figured the native plants would be at Pahole. I asked DJ and Dan if they wanted to come and join me at Pahole. I also took my daughter M. 

We met at my house at 8am and drove the hour to the satellite station near Yokohama. We were escorted up to the trailhead and started hiking at around 9am. It wasn't too hot and that helped. Although there are ups and down on the road, the hike to the mounds is quick. From the mounds we continued on the WST towards the Nike Missile Site. It was far away, but we covered ground quickly. Again it wasn't hot making it bearable. 

The hike to the missile was on a jeep road with not much elevation gain. M was exhausted at this time, about 30 minutes from the missile site. She and DJ took a break while Dan and I went up to Pahole. I didn't want to keep them waiting, so we saw what we saw and headed back. Going back was quick. I think it took us less than two hours. The total distance was 10 miles, which is quite a bit of walking and hiking. 

I probably can get to Pahole in two hours from Kuaokala, however there aren't many native Hawaiian plants which makes it not worth it. It might be better to blast up Peacock Flats in two hours, but that might not be as great.