Lanihuli – September 11, 2011 

Today was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Many hiking groups honored the fallen by hiking. Most notable was the Koko Crater Memorial hike where people went in teams to hike up Koko Crater. With all that being said, I decided to do a hike that only a few years ago was highly coveted. The Lanihuli trail once lay in a watershed area. Even today, you have to go on private property to gain access. Access to the trailhead is on land owned by Kamehameha Schools. Of course, some hard work by the HTMC in recent years made this hike a yearly thing. Coordinating the hike was Grant. For those of you who don’t know, he is a long time member of the HTMC and is stuff of legends. He emailed me that there will be two groups: early bird at 7:30 am and regular start time group which starts at 8:00 am. He also provided some directions.

Lanihuli is the massive peak between the Pali and Likelilke Highways. Although vegetation blocks the view most of the way, at some point you can actually see both highways at the same time. The size of the peak stands at 2,760 feet tall. The hike is about 9 grueling miles round trip. HTMC website post claims that the hike can take up to 7-8 hours to complete.

The day started off terrible. I had flu-like symptoms, you know: green flem, runny nose, chills, congestion. Since Lanihuli was the showcase hike in the quarterly schedule set out by the HTMC, there was no way I was going to miss it. Michelle told me that it would be a bad idea to go, although I did agree with her to some extent, my spirit trump all rational judgment. I prepped my bag the night before, chilling 3 liters of water and 32 oz of powerade. I knew liquids would be the key to this hike as I was severely dehydrated from flu-like symptoms. I woke up at 6 am and got ready. I wanted to be in time for the early bird group. I got into my car and headed towards H1. Just then, a thought raced through my head. Shit! I forgot my water. I was running low on time, but now I had to turn around. I went back home and retrieved my water; I also grabbed some cough drops on the table. Now I was running late. While on the road, I typed the directions on my iPhone. Directions said to get off on Vineyard Blvd. Low and behold, I passed Vineyard Blvd. "Damn it!" I told myself. Now I was really running late. I got off on the Pali, made a few illegal turns and ended up driving on Alewa drive and parked at Na Pueo Community Park. I put on my shoes and signed in with Grant. He said that the early birds left, crap, that meant I had to wait. Just then I saw Marcus and his crew driving past me, Caveman was yelling, “we are doing Pali Puka to Lanihuli”. I thought that is Caveman all right, doing crazy shit. For those of you who don’t know, Marcus’s hikes are extremely dangerous and you need to be a great hiker to do his insane hikes. I’m not at that ability level yet, however I think my potential will be around there one day. I will see how I progress this year.  One thing good about Marcus, is that he will be a good mentor and will help you become the best hiker you can be.

I waited for about 15 minutes at Na Pueo Community Park. We had a small group. Grant gave directions. It seemed a little complicated, but he assured us to follow the pink ribbons. At 7:45 am I was off to a side trail in the back of Na Pueo Community Park. After walking for about 20 minutes, I realized one thing, the flu was killing me. I was sweating like crazy. I had to drink water, which was not a good sign. Michelle laid out medicine for me to take in the morning which helped out immensely. The side trail overlooks the Oahu Country Club and takes you along a fence and to a point on the Kapalama trail. According to Stuart Ball, the Kapalama trail is a loop, but how long is it?, well that is the question. I walked on the Kapalama trail for about 1 hour until I hit a junction. Going right starts the Lanihuli trail, going left is the continuation of the Kapalama trail. At the same time, I ran into President of the HTMC Jay Feldman. I talked to him for a little while, mainly about nothing and I was off on the Lanihuli trail. The Lanihuli trail is a bunch of ups and downs, just like Manana Ridge. It takes strong hiking stamina to go over hill after hill. This is what makes it an advanced hike. In about 1 hour came a steep drop into a saddle. I bumped into a few hikers who said that they did not want to descend into the steep saddle. I told them that it didn’t look that bad. I took my time and easily got down to the saddle. Just then, I saw Will working his way to the top of the saddle. I yelled out his name, but he couldn’t hear me. After a few moments, he turned around and I waved to him. I rushed to where he was at, shook his hand, and exchanged some recent hiking stories. We tackled the rolling ridge together. Will was tired, I had the flu. I eventually went ahead and tackled the super steep climb to the summit. It was like climbing Mt. Ka’ala. I had to take many breaks and was breathing heavily. The trail was muddy as hell. Doubt crept into my mind for a second and I took a reasonably long break. After my break, I walked about 5 steps, peaked through some vegetation and saw people sitting at the top of the Lanihuli summit. Who knew that I was there already? The view was spectacular. I’ve read that the view is similar to the Bowman trail. I have still yet to do the grueling Bowman trail, but one day it shall be done. You can see all of Kaneohe and below is Hoomaluhila.

I took a break at the summit at the 2 hour and 42 minute mark with about 10 other HTMC members, Will came about 15 minutes later. After 30 minutes of taking pictures, eating, and enjoying the summit I went back. 

Going down was steep, but since I’ve done so many hikes, descending down the mountain wasn’t too bad. I went at a furious pace and got to the Kapalama trail and the junction in only 1 hour. At the junction, I was supposed to go left, but with all this energy I thought to myself, “what the hell, I must do the Kapalama loop”. I didn’t know how long the loop was, so I hesitated for a moment then took off. I was far ahead of everyone, so I figured I had some time to waste. The clockwise portion was heavily overgrown. I guess the HTMC maintenance crew did not clear the clockwise portion of the loop. There was a big difference between the clockwise and the counterclockwise portion of the trail. Below in the picture, you can see the big difference. You can see the great job from the HTMC maintenance crew on the counterclockwise portion of the Kapalama loop.

Since I had pants and a long sleeve shirt, I knew the uhule ferns wouldn’t bother me. I ran the trail for about 40 minutes and ended up at a dead end at the top of the hill. Okay, hiking instincts told me to follow the ribbons, but the ribbons ended. So I committed a cardinal sin, I went down the hill. The hill was covered in leaves which made footing slippery. I started to slide down the hill. I slid too far down and had to stop myself from going all the way down. I panicked a little and tried to make my way back up the hill. To no avail, I couldn’t get any grip whatsoever. I took a short break, and with one big explosion used my feet and dug my hands into the dirt of the mountain and climbed my way up until I got hold of a root. But the root was brittle and tore off; I started sliding back down the hill. I was sweating like a mutha, adrenaline was pumping. I took another break and exploded up the hill again. Just then I started to cramp my right leg. The pain was excruciating. I finally got hold of a tree and navigated my way towards the top of the hill. I started limping back onto the trail. OMG, the pain was unbearable. I walked for about 10 minutes and remembered that I had a bottle of Satohop External Analgesic Spray. I bought a bottle after my debacle from my cramped North Shore Marathon in May 2011. I sprayed it on my right quad. A few minutes later the cramp went away, it’s a miracle. I started to run on the Kapalama trail. After a while, I started doing switchbacks down the mountain. Okay, I don’t remember this??? The trail led down to what looked like Kamehameha Schools, but I wasn’t sure. Hiking instincts told me to go up and find the trail and head back towards the junction.  I went back up the hill and found the pink ribbons and headed back towards the junction. I walked for about 40 minutes and stopped at the junction. I went the correct way this time. I lost so much time, I checked my iPhone and I was at the 6 hour mark. Shit! What a drag. At the junction I knew that it would take me another 1 ½ hours to get to the trailhead. I walked on the Kapalama trail, extremely tired and my water supply was almost gone. I walked and walked and walked until I neared the fence. I was relieved. However, this wasn’t the fence I remembered seeing when I took the side trail. I walked until the ribbons ended. OMG, where the hell was I now! I walked along the fence and saw some houses. "That’s not the way", I told myself. I panicked for one second and calmed myself down. I thought for a moment and realized that I went too far. Hiking instincts told me to go back and find the pink ribbons, follow the pink ribbons, and look for a critical junction. That is what I did. 10 minutes later, I found the critical junction. Another 30 minutes, then I ended up at the side trail. What a relief. My body was in pain. I ended up at Na Pueo Community Park and in my car. I was physically exhausted.

I was so hungry that I found a taco bell drive thru and pounded a burrito and taco in 5 minutes. I picked up the kids at my dad’s and went home. I cleaned my clothes and took a long shower. I laid down and started to shiver. Michelle checked my temperature, 102 degrees. I had Michelle put the AC on to try and regulate my body temperature.

I realized one thing about today. If the spirit is willing the mind will follow, no matter how the body feels.