Hawaii photograph

Tiki Ridge – Waianae Kai Variation

Posted: March 15, 2010

I joined the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC) to do a new variation on the Waianae Kai hike — Tiki Ridge — which leads to rock pinnacles on Kamaileunu Ridge before connecting with the Waianae Kai Trail.

After consolidating ourselves into a smaller number of vehicles, we drove to the end of Waianae Valley Road and split into two groups.  Those who would hike the traditional Waianae Kai route and those who would climb Tiki Ridge to the rock pinnacles.

The Waianae Kai Trail uses parts of the old Kumaipo Trail, an historic trail used as a short cut between Waianae and Makaha over a low point in massive Kamaileunu Ridge whose 3,270 foot summit can be seen in the photo above.  The Kumaipo Trail was used since ancient times and is one of the oldest trails in continuous use on O`ahu.  The Tiki Ridge route on the other hand takes hikers over a new route forged by Waianae Steve (in the yellow shirt above).  So we would be hiking some of the oldest and newest trails on the island at the same time.

Not a single cloud shielded us from the sun  as we ascended the paved road that leads to two Board of Water Supply Pumping Stations.  According to tradition, Kawiwi, the peak in the middle of the photo, was a refuge in times of war because of its defensible topography. When the King of Maui, Kahekili, invaded O`ahu, the vanquished defenders made their last stand at Kawiwi.  Kahekili became the undisputed ruler of Maui, O`ahu, Moloka`i, and Lana`i until his son, Kalanikupule, was defeated by Kamehameha.

Tracing the Kamaileunu ridgeline beyond Kawiwi is much smaller ”No Name” Peak, and then what looks like from this perspective to be nothing more than an insignificant bump on the ridge.  The red arrow points to where a pair of rock pinnacles – “tikis” — are balanced on the ridge top between Waianae and Makaha.  Tiki Ridge is the side-ridge of Kamaileunu that climbs directly to these rock formations.

When we reached the second pumping station at the end of the paved road, we dropped down into a dry streambed — Kumaipo Stream — and headed upstream through groves of kukui trees, toona trees, and honohono grass.  After passing an oxbow in the dry stream bed we reached the foot of Tiki Ridge and began the climb upwards.

The trail up Tiki Ridge is marked by bottle caps painted white and red.  Most of the ridge is covered in strawberry guava, silk oak, christmas berry, and other introduced trees, but I saw a number of native plants as I climbed the ridge.

One of the more eye-catching native plants was ko`oko`olau (Bidens torta) which produces dozens of yellow-orange flowers at a time.  The leaves of ko`oko`olau were brewed into a tea by the Hawaiians for medicinal purposes.

While making my way up through groves of christmas berry, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this branching pattern made by lichen.  What a stunning pattern!

The higher we got, the steeper the ridge became until we were confronted by an exposed rock face.  Although the climb was no more than 20 feet high there was a steep slope beneath that continued to drop-off.  This climb is not for the acrophobic or faint of heart.

Many thanks to Gene Witte who coached each hiker from above pointing out the footholds and cracks to exploit up the rock face.

Parts of the rock face were covered with lichens that allow endemic cliff dwelling plants like this `ala`alawainui (peperomia tetraphylla) to gain a toehold and spread up the rock face.

After making the final climb to the ridgeline — at about 2,800 feet elevation — I was astonished how precariously balanced the ”tikis” were on the ridgeline!   But while it appeared they could teeter over any second the rock pinnacles were solidly affixed to the ridge.  Miyo Kimura climbed up the larger of the two boulders while Pat Rooney stood in the space between them.

During the short span it took to climb to the pinnacles, clouds blew in from the northeast, enveloped Mount Ka`ala, and spread out over the coastline.  It was surprising to see just how quickly a cloudless morning could transform.

The space immediately around the giant boulders was large enough for 20 hikers to sit under the formations, admire the view and enjoy each others company.

When I dropped down to explore the base of the pinnacles — where more mositure collects — I saw a miniature community of lichens and mosses and cute little pakahakaha ferns (Lepisorus thunbergianus) and `ala`alawainui (peperomia tetraphylla).

Pushing onward, we descended the ridgeline along a fence to connect with the Waianae Kai Trail.  When we looked back, we had a good vantage point to see the “tikis” sticking out like some prehistoric monoliths.

Native koa (Acacia koa) and ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha)  trees thrive along the Waianae Kai Trail with kupukupu ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata spp. hawaiiensis) in the understory.

Several sandalwood or iliahi trees (Santalum sp.) with reddish-pink liko (young leaves) grow in the mesic forests along the trail.

About 5 years ago, a fire in the Waianae Kai Forest Reserve scorched several acres.  While it was sad to see the big koa trees that died in the fire, it was good to see many young koa trees growing where the big trees once stood.

While making my way through the forest reserve I stumbled on a native philonesia snail no bigger than 3/8ths of the inch crawling on vines of hoi kuahiwi (smilax melastomifolia).   These endemic snails are arboreal and have round flat shells.

Clouds descended from Mount Kaala and swirled just above us when we reached 3-Poles.  While we relaxed and enjoyed the view, I learned from Waianae Steve that the Tiki Ridge route was originally an old hunter trail he rediscovered, cleared, and prepared for us to use.  Many thanks to Waianae Steve and his trail blazing crew — CHASM (Crazy Hikers Ascending Steep Mountains) — for creating this fun new route.

While making our way back down the Waianae Kai Trail, I reflected on the great time we had climbing up steep Tiki Ridge to the amazing rock pinnacles, passing historic sections of the Kumaipo Trail, and seeing cool native plants and animals on the trail.  What a great hike!

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SOURCES

Kahekili, Wikipedia

Native Hawaiian Plants, University of Hawaii, Department of Botany

Sites of Oahu, Elspeth P. Sterling and Catherine C. Summers, Bishop Museum Press, 1978, pg 76-77

5 Responses to “Tiki Ridge – Waianae Kai Variation”

  1. dave thornton says:
    March 15, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    Hey Dave… glad you enjoy the hiking reports and the HTMC calendar. How great to live in Britich Columbia — now that’s a place for hiking! Nate

  2. Gavin Terukina says:
    March 15, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Climbing up those rocks was fun! I’m also glad that I was able to finally meet and hike with you that day! :-D

  3. Nathan Yuen says:
    March 16, 2010 at 7:38 am

    It was cool meeting you too dude. Too bad you couldn’t do Godek-Jaskulski with us this past weekend. But good you got to do Waimalu Ditch. I enjoyed reading about your adventure.

  4. Jill K. Moratto says:
    March 16, 2010 at 11:22 am

    Nathan,
    as always, your photos are beautiful! I’m going to buy a few for my guest room when I get set up in my new house. It was good to see you again on the hike too. Mahalo.
    Jill

  5. HELEN DANO says:
    March 16, 2010 at 6:14 pm

    Hi Nate! I am so enjoying the hikes. Any chance you could give a pull-back view of the ridges you are climbing to –like an orientation of where you are for us chair hikers to orient ourselves.
    And you asked about resources once and I just happened on the most gorgeous, thorough tree book you and your readers will enjoy when the weather forces you indoors:
    TRADITIONAL TREES OF PACIFIC ISLANDS: THEIR CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT, AND USE by Craig Elevitch//and since it is out-of-print, you can find it online at agroforestry.net.
    It’s over 800 pages, extensive photographed specimens as well as researched. The details into almost every aspect of the specimens will blow any plant lover into
    high happiness. It’s out of print, as I said but also available on google books and they have a listing of libraries where it is available.
    Thank you so much for your beautiful work. I have been a fan for a long time!

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