OHE March 30, 1998 (b)

Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 13:47:19 -1000
From: ALEX H OKIHARA 
Subject: Aihualama-Ohia

Date:  Saturday, March 28, 1998
Hike:  Aihualama-Ohia
Party:  Wayne Shibata, Alex Okihara 
Weather:  Cloudy, occasional rains
Time Started:  11:00 AM
Time Finished:  3:42  PM
Round trip duration:  4 hours, 42 minutes 
Time to Puu Ohia:  2 hours  

Summary:

We started out by parking our car at the intersection of Waakaua St. and Manoa Road, as suggested by the Hikers Guide. As we came around the bend to the trailhead, there were many cars parked on the side. All the tourists park there. I should have parked closer! Oh well, we got a good warm-up by walking to the trailhead.

The trail starts off at the end of Paradise Park. It was a nice 30 minute stroll to the waterfall from the place where we parked our car. The waterfall was not flowing as much, despite the recent rains, but it was very relaxing nonetheless.

After some pictures, we headed up on the Aihualama Trail. Along the way there are several nice views of Manoa Valley.

We reached the Pauoa Flats Trail/Aihualama Trail junction at 12:15, about 45 minutes after we left the waterfall. After a snack, we proceeded on to Puu Ohia. The Hikers Guide gives good directions, and we were able to find key points along the trail.

At one point, we reached a display made of recycled plastic that showed the different trails around Manoa and Nuuanu. It was pretty cool to see everything laid out for us.

From there, we continued on, reaching the first Hawaiian Telephone installation at 1:00 PM. We walked down and then up a road before reaching the second Hawaiian Tel installation about 5 minutes later.

The lookout point is just past a utility pole and offers a concrete platform to eat lunch on (or hide under when it's raining). It was about 1:06 PM.

The view was nice, but was obscured by some trees. Toward Konahuanui, it was very cloudy, and we could see rain approaching us quickly. We ate lunch underneath the concrete platform.

After lunch, we headed back and arrived at the car at 3:42 PM.

Notes:

This was a nice, mellow hike. It's a good place to take beginning hikers. Puu Piei is a nice place to take beginning hikers too... if you don't want them to come along with you again! =)