Waimano to Koolau Summit to Waiau, and Trail Clearing with the HTMC

One of the closest trails to where I grew up, Waiau Ridge trail, is a 6 mile grinder of elevation changes… as opposed to the nearby Waimano Trail (~7 miles), which steadily contours it’s way up to the Koolau Summit Trail (KST). A few months in advance, Josh asked me if I’d help clear the trail with the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC), knowing that it was in my hometown. “Of course” I said, thinking that would also be another chance to see Waihee Valley from the KST, as well as help maintain a nearby Oahu Trail. Unfortunately, this view was not to granted to us, as we were forecasted with heavy rain for the entire day. Knowing that the HTMC needed help (especially on such a stormy Sunday like this) and was expecting us to clear Waiau from the top down, we were surely not going to bail out on them. Starting from Waimano trailhead, we made the 15 mile journey in the pouring rain, trail clearing on Waimano where we could and getting buckwild on Uluhe fern and Clidemia as we descended from Waiau Summit.

The day started at 730am at the Waimano Trail trailhead for most of us (*cough* Josh), though we (Scott, Nate, John, Katie and I) had staged several cars at the Waiau trailhead earlier that morning.

Descending into the valley via the contouring trail was pretty monotonous, especially since a lot of the view was masked by heavy rain and low clouds.

However, there were a few breaks in the formidable weather where I could take out my camera to snap a photo.

Before reaching the valley floor, we were drenched from head to toe… at least everyone still had smiles on their faces!! 🙂 Josh voices out that he could here the stream pretty loudly at this point, and was concerned if the height was make it difficult to cross.

When we got down to the valley bottom, we were lucky that it wasn’t very high… but somewhat higher than usual.

After a second stream crossing (much smaller than the first), we slowly started to ascend up the trail toward the Koolau Summit.

The ascent was actually more of a stream hike, as several inches of water rushed down the slightly incised, contour trail. Some steeper scrambles even felt like small waterfall climbs, haha. Wish I could have documented the “inclement topography” better, but it was raining too hard to take photos very well.

Before long we were at the Waimano terminus with the Koolau Summit Trail, where we would take a well deserved break from the stream hiking. Although there was no view of Waihee Valley at the top, it was still surreal to sit in the clouds on the edge of a steep pali (cliff).

Since we had only done mild landscaping on the Waimano Trail, we were eager to make the cross over to the Waiau terminus to get started on some intense trail clearing.

The elevation changes on the crossover weren’t too bad, except for this “lung-buster” near the summit of Waiau.

Soon reaching the Waiau Trail, we adjusted our gear and began to bring out our trail clearing tools of choice… which consisted of sickles, machetes and loppers.

On our radar were the non-native / invasive Clidemia hirta (left), and aggressive growing native fern, Uluhe [Dicranopteris linearis] (right).

What we were to avoid cutting were native plants like Ohia (Metrosideros spp.),

Pukiawe (Styphelia tameiameiae) and Koa (Acacia koa)… and many others that I would have difficulty naming.

Using a machete, Josh clears back the Uluhe that started to cover the trail… Katie looks for Clidemia sprouts to cut with her sickle.

Realizing the difficulty of cutting some of the larger Clidemia stems with a sickle, she ends up switching over to Uluhe clearing.

Loppers were much more appropriate to cut the Clidemia, especially at the base where the stems are thick.

We cleared for several exhausting hours as we descended the upper reaches of the ridge trail.

A short while later, we ran into Nate Yuen, who was the hike leader for the HTMC trail clearing event that day. His presence was most welcomed, as that meant much of the trail below us had been cleared up until where we were.

Hiking down the trail, I was amazed to see how much work the HTMC had done… especially compared to our work up higher.

I believe that most of the obvious work was done by using gas-powered “weed-whackers,” though not to discredit anyone who only wielded hand-tools.

Like we had been instructed, the HTMC only clears vegetation as ~wide as the trail (left)… despite the presence of invasive plants just off the trail which they could not get to (right). It was also emphasized that we not clear the trail too wide, as vegetation (even non-natives) decreases runoff and erosion… although natives are thought to fit this role better.

I and several of the others were glad that the HTMC got as far up as they did, as we were pretty gassed from clearing under such stormy, muddy conditions at this point.

So happy to have helped out such a great club, with so many dedicated members. Mahalo nui loa for all that you folks do for the hiking community in Hawaii. Though I didn’t get to see / meet all of you on the trail, I hope to hike and clear trails with you all again soon…

But before that, well-deserved grindz at Aiea Bowl to replenish the deficit calories.

Much mahalos for the invite Josh! Grinding, but was super fun!

Questions??? Just Ask!!!

To check out the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club website and their upcoming events, CLICK HERE.

NOTE: Hiking to such remote areas of Hawaii can be amazingly gratifying, especially when encountering high densities of native plants. Please do your best to be able to identify them and not trample them while on the trails. Also please be responsible and inspect your gear / clothing for seed stowaways before entering upper reaches of watersheds, let alone before putting on your shoes at the trailhead. It is ironic that we often see the highest densities of non-native / invasive plant species within a few feet of hiking trails. Let’s make it easier for those people who help maintain Hawaii’s trails and do our best to minimally impact the environment while enjoying the outdoors. Stay safe and happy hiking!!!

Aloha and mahalo nui for visiting… Come back again soon!