Na Ala Hauoli: Kaluanui (Mariners Ridge) to Kuliouou

Mariners Ridge, also known as Kaluanui meaning "the big pit", is one of the shortest and has one of the best summit views of east oahu. So one morning, Tracy, Lacey, Mei, Erika and I set out about 830 on a sunday morning. Partly cloudy, but for the most part pretty clear. I have never done this trail before so I really didn't know what to expect. The hike I planned for us to do was from Kaluanui ( Mariners Ridge) to Kuliouou, meaning "knee sounding"- referring to the hawaiian knee drum). So we parked Meis' truck at the Kuliouou trail head and Erikas' car at the Kaluanui trail head where we began our hike.

We started out on a grassy hill heading mauka toward the summit. On the trail, on the right hand side, is a good view of Koko Head and Koko Marina. As we pushed upward we passed through some Ironwood and other various native and non-native plants. The hike is fairly short to the top, about 45min or less. So I really haven't much to say about the trail itself. Except that the higher you get the better the view is. When we finally reached the summit. It was crowded with other hikers. So I suggest getting an early start if possible. Anyways, the view was awsome. We could see from Waimanalo to almost Kualoa, due to a little haze. We took some pictures and caught our breath and headed down a steep hill side toward Kuliouou. I headed down first so I could get some pictures of them coming down. In the process, I've forgotten how much Erika hates steep narrow and somewhat dangerous hikes. I got a few words and "fingers" from her but for the most part she did awsome. So after getting Erika off the hill side, we continued along the ridge. The ridge is pretty well groomed so the hike was very enjoyable. The whole way to Kuliouou is not too bad. A few roped sections to aide the way, and a few wash out areas. So I just made sure everyone knew to have a good foot hold before attempting the more dangerous sections. When you look at the ridge it looks deceiving, but on the small peaks there are contours around them, so we chose to take the safer path and remain on the main trail. A little after we got up to the first power line, we came upon the Hahaione trail. Its about midway between the two power lines. I almost got confused at that junction, but I remembered that Kuliouou has a giant washout from the rains. When got to the second power line, it has a concrete path that leads up to the poles. Too bad it wasn't in some other areas where it may have better use. After the power lines, we could see the Kuliouou summit trail. I was glad just to know that we were almost there. It took us about 3 hours to do just the ridge line from trail to trail. When we took a look back, it looked more crazy than it really was. Plus if you looked South toward Molokai, we could get a good view to about Maui.

After resting up for about 10 minutes. We headed back down the Kuliouou trail. We had a good view of Koko Head, Koko Marina, Diamond Head and Honolulu. Kuliouou is a state trail so it has steps to assist you on the way down. About half way down the trail there is a nice rest area with a little pavilion area nestled within some Cook pine. After the Cook pines, it was all switch backs. And boy was I glad once we hit the road. I was getting flashbacks of Kealia.