April 2012

Located < 1/3 mile offshore of Kuuloa Beach Park, Chinaman's hat (Mokolii Islet) is a common place for kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders and snorkelers/swimmers to travel to either explore or just to have a fun day in the sun... With a crew 15 strong (Justin Ugalino, Clayton Childs, Jennifer Liu, Lance Fujioka, Angie Ou, Jason Lee, Patrick Liu, Jenelyn Castillo, Reanne Solomon, Troy Takara, Seth Eason, Lenie and Franco Gallardo), we did just this. We started out our day meeting at 830 at Kualoa Beach Park. Loading our kayaks at the cars, we were able to easily wheel them "one-by-one" to water...

Lahilahi Point (or Black Rock) is a well known fishing spot to locals, and there is also a popular surf site adjacent it's west side. The significance of the name is due to the rocks at the westernmost point are "black," as opposed to the rest of the rock which appears brown. Lahilahi has considerable cultural significance to Native Hawaiians and is a site that is sacred to Kāne. In addition to ancestral burials, it has rare petroglyphs and astronomical significance (ie, the recognition of the June solstice). Lahilahi is also known as "the eyes of Wai'anae," meaning, "if you have not been to Lahilahi...

Conveniently situated near/on the University of Hawaii at Manoa's campus, the UH boulders are a short ~10 minute hike off of Dole Street, at the base of Waahila Ridge... I recently had the opportunity to visit two bouldering walls (East and West) here, that have been well-known for sometime. There are several traverse and top-out problems on either. The "West Wall" is slight graded in the mauka direction, and landings can be precarious. However, there are several somewhat weather-resistant mattresses that are there for use in addition to your own crash pad(s). The landing for the "East Wall" are pretty...

Waiakeakua Stream is one of the most scenic valley hikes in Honolulu. Rumors of there being a ridge extension beyond the falls were validated, as we (Stephanie, Kay and I) continued up the ridgeline between the two stream forks of Upper Waiakeakua. We then intersected the Koolau Summit Trail, headed north towards Konahuanui and came down Manoa Middle Ridge (adjacent ridgeline) to loop back near our starting point. An amazing combination of summmit, ridge, valley, stream and waterfalls in one compact hike. There are several entrances to Waiakeakua, but the most popular is probably access...