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The HTMC is hiking the Castle Trail this weekend (Sunday 6/13). It's a members-only hike and with only a limited number of hikers allowed. The limit is very likely a result of a requirement of the landowners, the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, who probably are concerned about environmental impact and liability. In any case, it is good for the hiking community that KS/BE is allowing access to Castle as well as other trails, such as Kawainui, Kawai Iki and Opaeula, that are on KSBE properties. I have hiked Castle a number of times, the first being back in the early 80s when I really wasn't into hiking at all. On that occasion, I joined two friends, Bob Benham and Guy Kaulukukui, who both worked for KSBE at the time and hence were able to get access. During that hike of Castle, I remember a particularly dicey section where we had to inch across an exposed waterfall section of the old switchbacks. At the time, I thought that was the craziest thing I had ever done in my lif...

This hike took place back in June 2001 and involved three trails: Malaekahana Ridge, Koolau Summit Trail and Kahuku Ridge. The whole thing had to be at least 12 miles but it could have been as much as 15. Whatever it was, we all had a sweaty, muddy workout. Ken Suzuki even said the plants along the Kahuku Trail are better compared to sister ridges, Laie and Malaekahana. The hike started at the Laie ballpark on Poohaili Street, the trailhead for the Laie Trail hike. The first phase was a romp along a dirt road that passed the Laie trailhead and crossed a (dry) stream. There are several side roads on the left and right leading to farms. One concern along this stretch is harassment by dogs. A couple barked and growled as we went by in the a.m. but no dog hassles took place in the p.m., at least when I went by. Not long after the stream crossing, we headed mauka on another dirt road. This road eventually becomes eroded and rutted and then transitions into the Malaekahana Trail, whi...

While I haven't read the book Solemates: Lessons On Life, Love, and Marriage From the Appalachian Trail , it sounds like an interesting read.  Maybe someday I'll write a book similar to it and call it Solemates: Lessons On Life, Love, and Marriage From the Trails of Hawaii . Well, today is my wife and I's 6th wedding anniversary (the picture to the left is us above Poomau Canyon [Kokee] on Kauai).  As I reflect on the years I've been married, I can say that they've been good years on the whole.  Yes, there've been lots of trials and challenges along the way but I can say that I love my wife and I love being married to her.  While it is true that I am hiking a lot less than I was in my pre-married days, I have no regrets.    Hiking, as it turns out, has played an interesting part in my life.  I met Jacque in 1993.  Up to that point, I had hiked very little, perhaps less than ten times in the 30+ years of my life.    Interestingly, J...

Tomorrow (6/5/10 Saturday) is my wife and I's sixth wedding anniversary.  On 6/5/04 at 3:21 in the afternoon, we were married at the chapel on the campus of the Kamehameha Schools, my alma mater.  Happy anniversary to us! Tomorrow also is National Trails Day .  In tribute to the day, the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club will be conducting three (count 'em) hikes tomorrow, all in the mountains above Aiea. The options, from longest/most difficult to shortest/easiest include Aiea Ridge trail (12 miles) Aiea Loop trail (4.5 miles) Aiea bisectional trail (3 miles) Meeting time tomorrow is 8 a.m. up at the upper trailhead in Keaiwa State Park . Dunno if the missus and I will be hiking with the club, but we do plan on celebrating our 6th!  BTW, the pic you see of my wife and I on this blog is taken at the upper trailhead aforementioned.

One of my favorite workout hikes is the Makiki-Tantalus Loop which is actually a circuit of several trails including Moleka, Makiki Valley, Kanealole, Nahuina, Maunalaha, Kalawahine, and Manoa Cliffs.  Sound confusing?  Well it is, that is until you have gone out and done it.  After that, no problem. The hike starts at the Nature Center in Makiki where there is a bathroom and water.  Parking is down the road from the Nature Center in a gravel lot on the left.  Since this is a loop, it can be done in the clockwise direction (starting with the Kanealole Trail) or counterclockwise (starting with the Maunalaha Trail).  The latter option gets the pulse climbing more quickly because of the climbing commences right away and with greater steepness.  Most times, I prefer to get the hard stuff out of the way right off the bat. The Maunalaha Trail climbs up a dry, rocky, tree-covered ridge (see photo at right) to arrive a big junction with a sign and a bench....

Most of us who live in Hawaii or have an interest in the islands are familiar with the TV shows Magnum P.I. and Hawaii Five-O. Remember scenes from a high vantage point with Rabbit Island and the Waimanalo coast in the background? If you were wondering, those scenes were filmed at the Makapuu Lighthouse overlook, a site accessible via a 45 minute walk from Kalanianaole Highway. After years of driving from Honolulu to my windward side home in Kaneohe, I finally decided in the summer of 1994 to check out what lay beyond that gated roadway at the bottom of the long hill on the Hawaii Kai Golf Course side. What had taken a lifelong Oahu resident so long to explore this place? Probably like many others, I had a notion that access to the road beyond the gate was not allowed. Even though more times than not I saw cars parked along the roadway fronting the gate indicating that people were tramping around up there, I categorized these folks as trespassers who'd placed themselves at the me...