23 intense hours on a ridge including one wild whipping windy wet night on the edge of an insane precipice of the Ko’olau mountains!

On my most extreme adventure to date with my twinsie Emsy we decided to hike the Mau’umae ridge to the Ko’olau summit, camp for the night, then turn right and hike the hairpin mother mountain to the next ridge offshoot, Wiliwilinui, which we had staged a car at the end of.

We made it about halfway through our journey and had to turn back at the Lanipo peak because the trail ceased to exist. We tried busting through the vegetation for a few minutes to see if we could pick back up on the ridge on the other side, but considering that’s how hikers disappear we decided to play it safe and go back the way we came. Good thing that only added two hours to our plan that day, for a total of just under 9 hours hiking in two days.

We started our journey on Wednesday with the warm afternoon sun hiking up into the white-out clouds, then as evening approached and got chillier we reached the summit where the wind is always stronger. We were able to get the tent set up and change into warm clothes before snuggling in while feeling our tent get whipped around like there was a full grown man jostling it from the outside.

We didn’t want to carry too much weight in our packs so we opted for multiple clothing layers rather than blankets or sleeping bags. Unfortunately the tarp under our tent didn’t quite keep the rain from seeping in the bottom so about mid-way through the night we both found ourselves with chilly wet pants. We half-slept til morning with the rain luckily abating and the sun welcoming us with a view looking down upon practically the entire island.

After a light breakfast we set off to climb the Ko’olau range, which has been a personal goal of mine, and let me tell you that is one skinny ridge line! Whew! The trail is mostly directly on the tippy top of the ridge with plenty of it being less that 1 foot wide. There are lots of bushes of ferns surrounding the trail which give you a sense of security, however the rooting can be deceitful. Certain areas can look like a good place for your foot but can really be disguising a hole that could send you straight down the side of the mountain under the shrubs should you place your weight in the wrong position. Needless to say this Birdie had no problem utilizing her 3 points of contact continuously. As we made our way back to the car on Thursday the sun was really blazing by noon and those last two hours sent us shimmying to get back into the shade.