November 2011

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [View Gallery] Yosemite Valley is recognized as one of the most popular climbing areas in the United States, and is heavily responsible for the development of climbing as a sport. Of the many sites to boulder in Yosemite, Camp 4 (where we camped) is probably the most popular, as it has the highest concentration of problems in a given area. If you aren't familiar with "bouldering," the sport is different from traditional rocking climbing as it involves quick "problem solving" climbs consisting of dynamic / technical moves and involves little equipment....

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [View Gallery] Yosemite Falls is the largest two-tiered falls in North America, having a total height of 2425 feet (lower falls not shown). The upper falls is 1430 feet alone, and is the sixth largest waterfall in the world (shown above). After a cold night at camp (~33 degrees F), Luke and I started out early on the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail. You'll encounter a sign with a breakdown of several directions/destinations about 10 minutes from the trailhead. Today, we were just trying to reach the bridge just above the upper falls and would be ~ an 8 mile...

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] Driving to Yosemite in the early AM from Los Angeles allowed us to easily secure a campsite at the walk-in campgrounds (Tunnel View Lookout). However, this early arrival also allowed Luke and I to explore Yosemite by moonlight (Forest behind Tunnel View Lookout)... The camping trip was planned as close to the full moon as possible, to illuminate the landscape and exploit night photography to it's fullest potential (Half Dome and Merced River from the Sentinel Bridge). This colder time of year allowed for yellow and orange meadows,...

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [View Gallery] After setting up at Campsite 4 on Day 1, we went to the visitor center to ask the National Park Service rangers about trails in the valley (since we did little planning prior to arrival). The workers were very friendly and provided us with a wealth of information. Based on the intel, Luke and I decided to hike the Vernal and Nevada Falls Trail (see below), and the Yosemite Upper Falls Trail (See Part 4, links above), while in Yosemite. The Vernal and Nevada Falls trailhead starts near Happy Isles, in the Southeast part of the valley...

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] Yosemite National Park is one of the greatest spots in the Western US for hiking, climbing, backpacking / camping, or even just site-seeing. Barely remembering Yosemite as a kid, it was imperative that I returned to the national park to redeem my lack of memories there during my Fall 2011 stay in California. Though many of the trees are evergreen, Yosemite in the fall still has quite a few perennial trees... Reds, oranges and yellows, from the ground to the sky give you a sense of aesthetic warmness... which is exactly the opposite of the air temperature,...

Lowe Trail and Echo Mountain are well known mountain trails in Altadena, CA. For those of you who are not familiar with this city, it is just outside of Los Angeles, north of Pasadena. The first of my California adventures this year; friends Luke and Merilee (new LA residents) and I packed for a short over-nighter on Lowe Mountain. The trailhead starts at the top of Lake Avenue, in the mountains above north Altadena. You can either take the main trail up to Echo Mountain (east "switchbacks" route), or do the more direct, steep route (west route) at the bottom of the photo. Most of steep,...

After a great hike at Kaau Crater Rim, the Lost Trailblazers (Seth Eason, Jen Liu, Reanne Solomon and I) decided to check out the Mu Ryang Sa (Brokem Ridge) Korean Temple in the back of Palolo Valley. The Buddhist temple is located on 2420 Halelaau Place, just off of Waiomao Road, and is open to the public daily. As typical with many other Korean temples, the colors of the structures are much more vibrant when compared to other places of worship. The architecture is also equally elaborate, i.e. the complex desing of this awning / roofline. There are several places where...

Combining valley, waterfall, ridge and summit hikes into one, Kaau Crater Rim Trail is by far one of my favorite trails on the island of Oahu. There are a couple different routes you can follow to hike in Palolo. (1) You can either go up to the summit via the valley trails to the waterfalls on the east side of Kaau Crater and to the Koolau Summit, descend the same way; (2) Go UP the previous described and descend on the ridge trail at the south of the Kaau Crater; or (3) Go UP the previous described and travel around the crater rim (in either direction) at the top of the waterfall and descend...

After seeing a plethora of waterfalls at Moole Valley earlier, the three of us (Baron, Justin and I) headed to Manoa Valley to complete the "Waterfall Marathon" we set out to do that day. The main waterfalls included Luaalaea, Naniuapo and Waikeakua Falls... all of which are located east of the well known, Manoa Falls. To access Luaalaea, we started from the Manoa Falls Trailhead. Within 10 minutes, we jumped off the main trail and to a connector trail to Luaalaea... Once you get to Luaalaea Stream, the trail is well-worn and apparent... much more-so than the last time I had been...

With the increased frequency and duration of rains in the past couple of weeks, waterfalls have been popular trend in the local hiking community. Instead of doing a rain dance, Baron Yamamoto invited me to do a "waterfall marathon" with him and his friend Justin Chu. Despite not knowing what to expect of a waterfall marathon, I decided to tag along for 15 waterfalls in Moole and Manoa Valleys...see Luaalaea, Naniuapo, and Waiakeakua Falls write-up for details about Manoa Valley Waterfalls. The trail to the 8 Waterfalls of Moole Valley started along the Pali Highway, across the street from...