Beyond the Sandbox: Kalauao

Quiet pool awaits the rain

DATE: 30 June, 2010
TOTAL TIME: 4 hrs
DIFFICULTY: Easy-Medium
PARTICIPANTS: "Hangover" Lynnale, Me
REHIKE VALUE: 0 (Dry Months), 7 (Rainy season)

First of all, always fill up on water before any hike. There were only two of us and my camelback was filled to the max, but someone ran out of water very quickly. Not saying who. Just saying.

This is one of those fill in the blank hikes I chose as an easy midweek excursion. I knew that Kalauao during rainy season would be a better hike, but I wanted to see it dry to gauge how deep the swimming holes would be when it was flowing. I could only imagine what the valley would look like as there was evidence of multiple waterfalls and swimming holes along the way to the main destination. Would probably look like Rivendell out of Lord of the Rings, without the whole Mordor doomsday factor somewhere in the background.

"Hangover" Lynnale and me

Trekking below a towering canopy

Walking to the endpoint was easy enough, but making the loop back up to the main Aiea trail was a female dog of a task. The hiker’s guide said to look for an ‘obscure’ junction, but it didn’t mention anything about an obscure trail after the obscure junction. Climbing uphill and breaking brush aren’t fun activities by themselves, but when you combine them into an all in one package, it just plain sucks. It probably could have been avoided if the trail was a little clearer, but I knew that as long as we kept moving uphill, we would eventually end up on the main trail.

Here is a useful piece of advice. Unless you know the exact route passed down from your loincloth ancestors, don’t do the loop. If you do not possess some sick desire to conduct a fun uphill walk through thick fern fields, get to the falls and go back the way you came. Oh, and avoid this hike altogether during the dry months. Highlights are stagnant pools of water, lots of mosquitoes, and yummy-looking dead boar guts hanging from trees. Ketchup anyone?