Nanakuli Lookout – March 5, 2011

Watering the grass in my backyard in Kapolei, I look 45 degrees north and see a bunch of peaks that contribute to the Waianae Mountain Range. Time for exploration.

On this wet day, Mary and I took a trip up the road to Makakilo and Camp Timberline. We tried to get onto this trail a few weeks ago, but the gate was locked. Wondering how to get in, I emailed the receptionist from Camp Timberline. It took a while, but we got it settled. There was a $5 per person fee to hike on the trail, in turn the receptionist emailed me the gate combination. Wonder if they change the combination from time to time?  We signed in by the office and waited for one of the staff members to help us. She pointed us to two trails 1) Nanakuli Lookout 2) WWII Bunker.  She said that Nanakuli is easier. Since I had Mary, I decided to do Nanakuli. 

The trail is marked with yellow paint every 10 yards. It should be noted that the trail comes and goes and if it wasn’t for the yellow marks, you'd get completely lost. It's less than a mile to get to the lookout and there are beautiful views of Nanakuli Valley.  At the lookout, there was a closed off section to the left, where you could walk on the ridge and hit up another section of the mountain. I didn’t go because I had Malia, but it would be a good idea to go next time and to the WWII bunker. 

After the hike, Mary wanted a shake, so we went to Wendy's for a frosty dairy dessert.