Kului Ridge 1st ascent
Kului Gulch is located just to the west (ewa side) of the Hawaii Loa Ridge Trail. On a day that started off beautifully but later deteriorated weatherwise, Wing and I hiked partway up HLRT and crossed Kului Gulch to gain the ridge on Kului's ewa side. We then pushed our way up this ridge, which I'll refer to as Kului Ridge, to the Koolau Summit. We met at 8:30 at the end of Anolani Street in Niu Valley. Plan A was to hike up the trail in the valley then climb up the guava spur club route to the HLRT. But since the only hikers to show up at Anolani were Wing and I (several others were invited), there was a change to Plan B, which was to drive up Hawaii Loa Ridge and start there. So Dr Ng and I jumped into his aging but dependable maroon Mustang, leaving my aging but dependable blue Cherokee at the Anolani Street terminus. After signing a liability waiver--one of the stipulations being that we refrain from ti leaf sliding (yup, really)--and showing proof of Hawaii residence ...