Kamilonui Trail: Where No Man Has Gone Before?

I hiked up a Star Trek ridge (i.e. where no man has gone before) in Kamilonui Valley (Oahu, Hawaii) recently. My hiking colleague for the day was Wing Ng, a local attorney and hiking enthusiast. Kamilonui literally translates to "the large milo tree." I can imagine that at one time this area was populated with groves of milo, but are present I couldn't find any.

Wing has done a lot of pathfinding in the valley. As a result, I know of three different routes to the summit from Kamilonui. To see a topo map of the valley, go here. An "x" marks the spot where we began our hike.

We started hiking from the end of Kamilonui Place in Hawaii Kai on Oahu's east end. Hawaii Kai is an affluent community. By the looks of untramped state of Kamilonui, it appears that Hawaii Kai folks don't do much hiking, at least in this neck of their woods. Kamilonui Place is a public street, though signs ("Private Road-Keep Out") we passed along the way seem intended to make people think otherwise.

There are a string of farms along this road and the story is that these farmers have 60-year leases that expire in 2025. In the meantime, a developer, Stanford Carr, has been trying to purchase the farm land (83 acres) from the landowner Kamehameha Schools. If he is successful, Carr's plan is to build a couple hundred homes in the valley. The catch is that Kamehameha will only sell if Carr can get all the farmers to turn over their leasehold interest to him. From what I have gathered, some farmers want to sell their leases to Carr; however, a few are steadfast in staying on the land until 2025.

I also found out that a cemetery--Paradise Memorial Park-- in Kamilonui has already been approved. Phase 1, which will encompass 23 acres in the valley, is scheduled to begin this coming spring (2008). Eventually, the cemetery will occupy 69 acres.

What does all this mean? For one, we probably won't be doing much hiking in the valley once the development begins, so I was thankful to Wing for inviting me to hike with him yesterday.

The route we climbed has been christened "the left ridge" by Wing because of its location relative to the two other spurs to the summit. The first picture I have included is of Wing making the initial ascent of the steepest section of the left ridge.

On our hike, the climbing was not overly steep nor were there any technical sections. Probably the most technical section is in the second picture I've included with this piece.

The ridge was populated by dryland vegetation, mostly haole koa. But I did notice a noni plant and took this shot of it (see Picture 3).

Our climb eventually brought us to three powerline poles on the ridge. Just upridge of the poles was a clearing (see picture 4) carved out helicopter landing area, undoubtedly for the workmen who maintain the lines. That is Koko Crater in the background in the distance.

The climb to the summit beyond the poles involved more clearing. Part of the time, we made our way through stands of tangly ironwoods. Some sections were brushy. It was apparent to me that no one had hiked this ridge in recent times for I saw no signs of humanity such as trash, ribbons, old cuts on trees, and the like.

We reached the summit at just past noon, a little over three hours after we began hiking. The summit was covered with trees hence there were no good views to either side. It's a nondescript spot. Summit hikers would like trudge on past this top-out point, not realizing they had just gone by the peak of a ridge. Picture 5 is Wing at our summit lunch spot. He is tying his shoe, readying himself for the hike along the summit.

After lunch, we headed in the Makapu'u direction along the summit (the other direction would have taken us to Mariner's Ridge summit). Along our summit hike, there were some nice views such as a profile of Bear Claw Ridge, recently climbed by local hikers Dave Webb and Peter Clines. Along the summit, we also had nice views of Waimanalo town and Waimanalo Bay looking toward Lanikai.

Our plan was to descend the middle ridge of Kamilonui partway (Wing and friends had marked and cleared this ridge on previous outings), then slab over to the right ridge and descend it into the valley. The descent of the middle ridge was steep at times but not dangerous. We passed by small groves of all-spice trees on the way down. The leaves are very aromatic.

After about 30 minutes of descending, we slabbed over to the right ridge from the middle ridge. We then descended the right ridge to the valley floor and hiked back out to Wing's car at the end of Kamilonui Place.

To sum up the hike, it was interesting and different. I can imagine that this valley will someday be populated with homes and a ton of people. As I mentioned earlier, I am glad that Wing invited me to hike with him in Kamilonui.