Pu‘u ‘Ōhi‘a and Pauoa Flats
Another hiking entry. Chris and Kirk were in town so I took them, along with Lillian, Chris, and Tommy, to the Honolulu Mauka Trail complex. We started with the Pu‘u ‘Ōhi‘a Trail, went up and over the top of Tantalus, turned onto the Mānoa Cliffs Trail for a brief connecting leg, and then finished by traveling the Pauoa Flats Trail to a lookout above the Nu‘uanu Reservoir.
It’d been raining off and on for the last few days, so I wasn’t surprised that Mānoa and Makiki looked clouded in. But seeing as this was just a Tantalus hike, the rain wouldn’t be more than a nuisance. If we had been heading up into the Ko‘olau ridges, with their narrow knife-edge paths and steep dropoffs, now that’d be a different story. I’ve cancelled Ko‘olau hikes due to bad weather.
The sun was peeking in and out of the clouds. At the Pu‘u ‘Ōhi‘a trailhead, on the highest part of Tantalus Drive, the ground was damp but it was still sunny. We started by climbing up a steep set of erosion control stairs, followed by a set of switchbacks taking us up above the road in no time.
We passed through the first of what would be several stands of bamboo. A light misty rain began to fall, and I couldn’t resist taking a picture as the sunlight filtered down through the leaves.
Thinking ahead, I stopped to cut a walking stick for Tommy. With all the rain that the area had been getting, it was sure to be muddy and slippery up there.
After a short while longer, we reached a paved maintenance road and followed it up to a microwave repeater station at the top of Tantalus.
The trail skirted the fence and headed back down the other side, through more bamboo. I’ve been told that the bamboo groves on Tantalus have spread through the years, taking over more and more land. There’s certainly a lot of it up there.
While Tantalus is mostly populated by alien plant species, there are still a few natives around. I saw a couple of good-sized koa trees, and quite a lot of ‘ie ‘ie climbing up other trees’ trunks. Chris stopped to take photos of some.
The Pu‘u ‘Ōhi‘a trail ended at a junction. We turned left and headed along the Mānoa Cliffs Trail for a short distance, almost immediately running into the next junction with the Pauoa Flats Trail. The signage at Pauoa Flats read:
Notice: Pig Control in Progress. Hunters with dogs may be on hiking trail Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, sun-up to sundown. Hikers should wear bright clothing. Dog owners should hike other trails during control period. Non-permitted hunters will be prosecuted.
This was not very comforting, even though we were there on a Sunday. Wear bright clothing? I guess if you’re hunting a pig, you might end up shooting anything that moves if it’s not fluorescent orange. Yeesh.
A little farther up the trail, past the junction with the ‘Aihualama Trail heading down to Mānoa Falls, and as I had been expecting, it got very muddy. There were huge mud wallows in the middle of the path — rooted out by wild pigs, perhaps? — which the trail managers had tried to fill in with cut branches. This was better than nothing, but still not very effective.
A few steps more, and we reached our destination: the end of the official Pauoa Flats trail. There was a great vantage point overlooking the Nu‘uanu Reservoir. We managed to get a good view of the reservoir as the clouds swirled around, like gray curtains opening and closing on the stage far below us.
A cool wet day for a hike, but all in all it was still a lot of fun. After returning the way we came, and descending back down the road into town, we warmed up with excellent ramen at Taishōken on Ke‘eaumoku. A good hike, good views, and good food. What more could you ask for?