On Friday morning, camping seemed like a fun idea, but I hadn't made any plans. I began to reconsider my camping idea around 5:00pm when I was still working and had made no effort to pack/plan/etc. I briefly thought about Sand Island as an easy after dark option. The hazards of getting there are no worse at night than they are during the day. However, the thought of sitting under the 747 flight line was less than appealing. After this week of work, I really wanted peace and quiet. Then Laukahi St popped into my head. The ridge is only 30 min from our house. The climb is tough, but do-able, and although I hadn't camped there before, I knew there was lots of hammock potential. I decided to eat dinner at home, so I didn't have to bring dinner items with me. I opted for the new Esbit stove, since I only needed to boil water for coffee. I squirreled out about which bike to ride for a while- handle bar bag or not, knobbies would be nice, but probably not necessary because its dry. I settled on my CX race bike since is has a crazy 2x10 set up with mountain bike gearing. This would be good for climbing.
My initial departure was at 7:15. Fortunately as I rode through campus, I remembered that I never saw tent stakes with my tarp. I made a quick return home for stakes and was back on the road at 7:30. The ride to Laukahi St was phenomenally fast: 23 minutes! On my road bike without a pack, its usually a 20 min ride. That was when all of the fastness ended. The climb up the ridge starts with ~ 2.5 miles through a neighborhood with ~ 1100 ft elevation gain. Towards the top, the neighborhood becomes a private, gated community. I wish I had a photo of the security guard's face as I rolled through the gate at 8:15pm. I gave him a wave and was completely prepared to show him my camping permit. He gave me this look of total confusion and disbelief and then a slow nod. Guess they don't see much night-time camping traffic on bike. When I got to the trail (access road), my legs were pretty spent, so I elected to walk my bike up the hills to my camping spot.
My camping spot was ~ 1 mile in on the access road (1600 ft) in a stand of mature guava. Guava are a funny tree. They are really sturdy despite their small branch diameter, so they are pretty good hammocking trees. However, you have to contend with guavas dropping all night, sometimes hitting the tarp, thud.
I set up camp in about 10 minutes, changed into dry clothes, and hiked up to a spot with a view to enjoy a brew.
I'm looking a little wiley here.
I slept fairly well- 8 hours, but not solid. There were a lot of chirpy critters in the forest last night. The wind was nearly calm, so I was toasty warm. Actually a little too toasty at one point. Definitely didn't need to sleep in my hat! In the morning, I pushed my bike to the end of the access road where the hiking trail starts, and hiked to the radio tower for coffee, breakfast, and sunrise.
Pre sunrise
Sunrise in the clouds
The morning was perfect except that I couldn't get the Esbit stove to light. After an hour of trying, I finally gave up. Even without coffee, the views were worth it. I like the long shadows at dawn.
Looking Ewa. You can just barely see the reef runway.
The windward side- K-bay and Kailua.
Straight down the ridge, looking in to Diamond Head crater. You can see the telephone poles on the ridge, the trail and access road follows the poles.
Ohia Lehua in bloom, something you don't see all the time on Oahu.
Almost time to head back to camp and return to civilization.
Camp.
My ride home only took 40 minutes. I was relieved to get some coffee into my system. I was unpacked and showered by 9:45am. Not a bad way to start the day!
2 down, 28 more nights to go!
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