Tag / backpacking

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Hike Map] The day after we arrived at Lonomea, the crew decided to hike up Koaie Stream to look for a waterfall marked on the topographical map Baron had on his smartphone. Unfortunately, the mapping application malfunctioned, so we would not know how close (or far away) we were from the […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Hike Map] Baron, Josh and I had been talking about backpacking into Waimea Canyon for some time, so we finally committed to doing so on the weekend of Josh’s birthday in June. Though last minute forecasts suggested thunder storms in Hawaii’s “Grand Canyon,” we (Baron, Katie, Rhonda, Paul and I… JOSH […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Hike Map] Since our first campsite was closed due to “controlled burning” near Zion’s East Rim Trail on Day 1, we stayed at one of the “walk-in” campsites at the Coal Pits Wash. Conveniently, our campsite was only a few minutes from where we parked, so we […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Hike Map] After taking a day off to rest and pack for our next adventure, my buddy Luke and I drove up to Utah to do some backpacking and hiking around Zion National Park. Although arriving there later than we had expected because of road work on […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] The last leg of our ~20 mile backpacking trip was to hike from the Holua Campsite, out of the Halemauu switchbacks to our staged vehicle at the Halemauu Trailhead (~4 miles). The last time I hiked out of here I had one of the worst […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] Although we were socked in the clouds for most of the afternoon, once the sun set, the fog burned off and opened up to a open canopy of stars. Within a few hours, the moon rose in the east and lit up the landscape like […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] Hiking from the Paliku to Holua Cabin was probably one of my favorite parts of this trip. The landscape for much of trek was reminiscent of what I remember seeing in the movie, “Total Recall…” at least the first one that mostly took place on […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] With several months of planning invested, the epic Haleakala 2012 backpacking trip was executed flawlessly by the Lost Trailblazers et al. (Baron Yamamoto, Aaron Toma, Katie Ersbak, Troy Takara, Reanne Solomon, Jennifer Liu, Jenelyn Castillo, Justin Ugalino and I) on Maui… I’ve never laughed harder […]

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 […]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Photo Gallery] [Mapped Photos] Waimanu Valley is located in the Kohala Forest Reserve on the northern coast of Hawaii Island. To access the valley, you either have to helicopter, kayak or hike it in. On foot, it’s approximately 9 miles from Waipio Valley to Waimanu via the Muliwai Trail. A permit […]