Hike: Kuli'ou'ou Valley to Ridge Date: Sunday, February 1, 1998 Weather: Sunny with some Clouds Time Started: 11:08 PM Time Finished: 5:35 PM Round trip duration: ~ 6.5 hours Party: Grant Tokumi & Alex Okihara The trail starts off here on a dead end street in Kuli'ou'ou. We decided to take a group shot by the Board of Water Supply sign. Here we are on the trail near the beginning of the hike. Our plan was to go on the Ridge trail. Unknowingly, however, we missed the sign and ended up on the valley floor next to a dry streambed. After 15 minutes or so of walking, we passed some people who confirmed that we were on the Valley trail. We were about to turn back, but we were told that there was a waterfall not to far away. So we headed down further. After some time, we eventually made it to the waterfall shown here. As you can see, it was only a trickle. Not wanting to retrace our steps in search of the missed fork, we decided to climb from the valley floor to the ridge line. The trail was steep and overgrown. Pink markers guided us along. Here is a shot of the waterfall during our ascent. We continued on, battling the steep climb and thick bushes. The climb was fun at first, but then dragged on. The overgrown vegetation hid the ground from our view, causing us to mis-step at times. Some sections were very sketchy because of the crumbly ground, and I found myself slipping and sliding a lot. At times, I thought it would be impossible to reach the top. However, going back down was not an option. It was very steep. After about an hour of intense climbing and losing the markers several times, we made it to the top. However, we weren't on the main ridge. We found ourselves on the next ridge over. From where we were, we could see the correct ridge on the right side. We continued on, and encountered some very narrow sections with steep drop-offs. Here, Grant stands after overlooking one of the very narrow sections and the steep climb up. We then encountered some very gusty winds at the top. Here is a shot of me on next to the steep clifs of the Ko'olau Range. The climb was very steep at times, and would be followed by a steep descent. The trail continues on... Along the way, we were greeted by some delicious thimbleberries. Yum, yum! The Ko'olaus are truly breathtaking. Here is a shot looking toward Makapu'u. Further, we encountered some very loose gravel. Here is one of the scarier descents down one of the loose gravel sections. The winds whipped at us as we tried to keep our balance. There is a very thin piece of rope for assistance. Finally, we made our way past all of the treacherous spots to the lookout point (map point D in the Hikers Guide). We decided to leave our mark in the note bottle and then break for lunch. It was finally time for lunch! The winds continued to whip at us, and Grant got some crunchy furikake (pebbles) in his bento. After lunch, we continued down back to the car. From here, the trail was nowhere near as treacherous. However, it was very steep going down, and not very good on the knees.