Almost as bright as the sun!

Before the rain and stormy weather comes the night before was a fun one to remember.  On Saturday January 27 we decided to hike up the light house trail for some social time and to watch the full moon rise.

We met at Jason's house and piled into his truck while others decided to do a short bike ride to the light house.  We got dropped off and pick up by Jason's mother.  (Thank you)  We enjoyed each other company and saw a really bright full moon.  Some drank adult beverages and others enjoyed the full moon.  I shot some photos and here they are!  Enjoy!


-Ryan

Sunset before nightfall

Full moon and the lighthouse in the foreground. 

The group enjoying the view.

Night time photo opportunities! 

Of course Pete had to come with a costume!  (Blinking man)

Full Moon from Ryan Chang on Vimeo.

Multiple choices... Hope I picked the right one.

On Sunday night I still wasn't sure what hike I wanted to do on the holiday Martin Luther King day.  There were so many options of ridge trails because the sky was so clear!  So I told my friend let's keep our options open and see what Monday brings us!

When I woke up the skies seemed gray.  I was quite disappointed but as I started to drive to meet up with them the summits were clear of clouds.  It was a perfect day because the sun wouldn't be beating down on us as we would climb the ridge to the tallest peak on the Ko'olaus.

When I arrived at our meet spot I suggested we do the hike to the tallest peak and told them how long it'll take, they were hesitant at first but they agreed.  We piled into one car and made our way to the trail head.  In order to do this hike you have to connect multiple trails to get to the trail head of the main trail we needed to take.  We raced through the forest and got there in less than an hour!  When we got there I was ecstatic because the weather at the top seemed to be clear!  Since we hiked so fast through the forest we slowed down the pace to a more moderate pace and took breaks as we climbed our way to the top.  We took in all the town side views as we made our way up too!

After three hours of hiking we took a long break at the summit.  When we reached it the clouds started to sock us in but soon cleared because the trades were blowing at a moderate pace.  We saw all the windward ridges and the main trail along the summit.  We were supposed to hike out the same way but I threw in that we should at least cross over to another ridge and make our way down a different way.

We hit another trail to cross over to Manoa Valley.  It took us a little over an hour to cross over but we still had amazing views of the windward side.  We made our way down to Manoa Valley and took a quick swim in one of the stream holes and made our way out.  Our friend Kyle had managed to get us a ride from her friend back to our car.

Enjoy the pics

-Ryan

 Group Go Pro Photo at the summit!

Looking up at clear summits but soon got overcast!

 Town side shot!

 Honolulu International Airport

 Ugly guy ruining the pic! 

Summit Trek to Manoa from Ryan Chang on Vimeo.

Failed but connected a few days later...

On Sunday January 20th I decided to take advantage of the beautiful Hawaii weather and go hike with two of my buddies.  We decided to hike one of the ridges on East Oahu and find a trail that has been in disuse for quite some time.

We pushed off around nine and luckily one of the big well known groups had just cleared the trail and was hiking on the trail that day as well.  So there was plenty of company and plenty of conversation at the summit.  After a forty five minutes of conversing and eating lunch we decided to head back down and find that ridge and a way down to the valley floor.

The walk back was windy as the walk up to the summit but even more windy once we got onto the ridge heading down into the valley.  So windy that as I was filming I almost rolled off the edge of the ridge! 

We went on a two or more hour search for the right and safe route down.  Unfortunately we couldn't find a safe way down so we bush whacked it back to the ridge and headed down the way we came that day. 

But today on Monday January 23rd we decided to try and find out what we did wrong on the way down.  The idea was to connect the valley trail to where we last ribboned off from the top, and today, we did just that!  So hopefully in the near future we can do a loop where we start on the ridge and drop down to the valley floor with some dry waterfalls =)


Please enjoy the pics!

Framing the backside of Diamond Head with an Ohia Lehua tree!  

The awesome ocean view!  

Our view from the lunch spot!  Shot with Iphone Panorama... I must say pretty good!

The Rant...

WARNING: (Rant)

I'm using this blog as a look back and a journal, not an informational guide on hikes/surf/eat spots.  If you take it as an informational guide hope you do your research and ask the right question to the right people. 

I like taking people on hikes and informing them on what is right and wrong.  I do it for a living where I teach young adults right from wrong.  I try my best to teach people how to take care of the land; place names are important to me!  I hope that everyone gets out there and enjoys nature in a SAFE manner!  These past few years I've hiked with lotsa different people.  Some of the people I've hiked with are starting to close these things down or update it less frequently.  For good purposes too! 

I'm trying out blogging for 2013 cuz that was my New Years Resolution.  But lately over the past few years there has been tons of rescues and people passing away from POSSIBLY an indirect link to blogging and giving directions to people to hikes they MAY not be able to complete.   So if you have questions on anything I do just ask. 

My hikes are named differently to protect YOU!  I'm not saying you cannot do the hike or surf the spot, I'm just saying that I don't know everyone that frequents this blog and I'm trying to protect those people from getting hurt/killed/rescued.

 So again please enjoy my blog for its pictures and videos! =)  

P.S. Sorry my thoughts were just scribbled down and not really thought out in a paragraph form... you don't care right?  If you do no need look! k shoots!

Hot bunkers

If you follow me on instagram and or facebook you probably already know that I hiked, surfed, and climbed at the gym yesterday!  Here is the write up of yesterdays hike as my tired body rests in this comfy chair.
Yesterday I finally got a chance to hike with my regular hiking partner Lei! I was pretty stoked because I hadn't seen her since before the holidays... you know... everyone is busy right!?  We met up at her place and joining us to our long ride to Wainae was Jason.  We piled into her car and met up with Pete, Jenny and Dave.  As we were driving there the weather was a bit unusual because it was actually raining in Waianae!  Lei was worried because she didn't have any rain gear but turns out that the weather cleared and it was really hot.  We decided to do some peaks next to the ocean to some bunkers.  I called them "Hot bunkers" because it was so freckin hot.  The hike had a pretty clear path on where to go but some of us decided to do a little rock climbing and scrambling here and there!  When we finished our hike we all decided to grab a few drinks at Jamba juice and head up north to surf a little.
It was my first time at rocky point but I was happy there were waves.  Jason, Lei and I jumped in and surfed for only an hour because our legs were cramping from the morning's hike!  So we called it a day and headed back to town.  Enjoy the pics!

 The group pic! 

 Hot Bunkers view!

Lei down climbing a rock face.

 Super hot ridge line

 Not quite sunset but caught some rays coming through the clouds

Hot Bunkers from Ryan Chang on Vimeo.

2nd is best

I love hiking to waterfalls and today was no different.  This weekend I thought the showers would go away and there would be clear summit views with cloudless skies.  I was wrong!  Last night I made a last minute decision to hike again with a new group.  I was invited again by Kyle, we hiked to some waterfalls in Palolo other wise known as Ka'au Crater or Waiamao stream.  I got to meet a new group of hikers today and they are called W.H.O.R.E.S. (We Hike Oahu's Really Enjoyable Summits) led by Del.
Today I noticed at the trail head that there were so many cars.  More than I had ever seen before for this hike and it made it difficult to find parking.  I quickly got ready because the group had been waiting for me for the past 5 or so minutes and I noticed that the ground was really muddy, water was flowing down the street and light rain was falling.  I was stoked because that meant there was going to be some nice waterfalls.  We pushed off a little after 9 and hiked down to the stream and followed the river bed and pipe.  About 15-20 mins we ran into a few groups of hikers.  These were the guys that had taken up all the parking at the trail head.  I had some small talk with them, asking if the had done the trail before... A lot of them haven't even done it and I told them that they were in for a treat today!  Our group passed a group or two and we made a single file line behind another group arriving at the first waterfall.  I and a few other hikers from our group decided against it because literally there were about 15 people down at the first falls and in front of the pool.  All I wanted to do was take some pictures alone or with the company of my group.  We arrived at the second falls and it was really gorgeous today!  (I had always thought the second waterfall is the best on this hike.)  The rest of the group followed suit and came up shortly after us.  We took a group picture and some shots of the waterfall; we exchanged stories of previous hikes and such.  After snapping some pictures we decided to part ways and a few of us had to return for lunch plans, I on the other hand had to start some homework I've been procrastinating on.  So me and two other hikers from our group trodded back to our cars all muddy yet satisfied on our mornings journey.

 Stoked to see her flowing (shaka)

 Of course the group picture

 Where unicorns drink water from

 Sheeting on a cliff

Busy city

I really wanted to shoot Waikiki at night and on Wednesday night I got to do it.  I give credit to all the people that can shoot these kind of shots because it's so difficult to work with this kind of lighting!  I only really liked 3 of the shots I took throughout the night.  Enjoy!

Waikiki Fountain

Bus and some cars passing by.

Over on the beach shooting the city

Climbing into the 2013

I've been on a 5-6 month hiatus from the climbing gym I used to frequent.  The reason was that the surf was good and I was spending LOTS of time in the water either shooting or bodyboarding some pretty sizeable waves.  But finally I got back into Volcanic Rock Gym and got to climb again.  I thought it'd be an easy task to just start off where I left off; I was wrong.  When I got back I flashed a few V3's and some V2's but as soon as I was done with those few problems I really started to struggle.  Even with V1's!!!  So I definitely have some catching up to do!  They also added a whole new room that I had never even seen before so I'm really excited to get back into the game.  Anyone else want to join?

5-6 months of this has been keeping me away from the gym.

Struggling with a problem.

Some encouragement and spotting from Cory Yap

Defeat in the new cave.

Pictures in VRG were taken by Aprille Manzano, Thanks!

2012 Pepper Concert

I went to one of the best concerts and best local bands from the islands in my opinion.  I love their rock/alternative music!  Pepper played at The Republik on December 28th.  Here is a few pics and a video of the night!  If you haven't heard them go ahead a google or youtube them! They are awesome!  Caution: Explicit language!

 Kaleo and Bret rockin' out at The Republik

Yoko and I enjoying the concert.  Almost front and center. 

New hikers and broken glass.

My New Years resolution was to be more open to people I don't really know.  Befriend them... even if there is hearsay about them... whether good or bad... find out for myself.  So I took a step forward today and met some new hikers; Kyle Higa, Staci Nakayama, and Brenda Jane.  They agreed to hike with me on a rainy Saturday morning.  We started off on the Manoa Falls trail and ended up at Jackass Ginger otherwise known as Iwalani Pool.  By the end of the day I had staged my car at the end of the hike, when I returned my car had been broken into.  Luckily a police officer was passing by and I filed a report.  So just a heads up if you park on Nuuanu Pali Drive to hike often!

The start of the hike in front of a famous waterfall that was loaded with tourist! 

Bamboo forest!

Streams that wouldn't flow flowed today

Everyone got in because we were soaked from all the rain throughout the hike!

Broken glass and stolen contents stuff... just a heads up!  Happened to me could happen to you!

Rainy weather hiking...

Since New Years day its been pretty rainy and cloudy weather.  It was no different on January 4th.  Our original plans got cancelled so we went to our back up plan.  My friend Aprille  joined me on a hike to a waterfall.  We ran into some of her friends at the base of the waterfall.  Darren Ito, Christian Young, and Erik were at the base of a waterfall taking pictures.  We all exchanged names and talked for a little.  I snapped a few shot and we all decided to hike to head back to the cars and go to another waterfall since the flow was really nice on this one.  Enjoy the pics!

Base of the waterfall

The real base... long exposure

Stream falling onto some rocks

Last waterfall

Happy hikers!

Random acts of kindness...

Got to go to a birthday party at Shokudo last night for my friends birthday. 

Kelly in front of her honeytoast!

The awesome thing that happened that night was one of her friend's dad paid for the entire parties bill!  I couldn't believe it.  Her friend just insisted that we order what we wanted to eat and have a good time.  For this blog I just wanted to thank her and her dad!  So thanks!  We had a great time and we ended up playing apples to apples and celebrating the rest of the night at Kelly's house!

Her first legal drink!

Group picture at her house!

Last but not least... Just a short clip!

Happy 21st birthday Kelly!

New year old hike.

I absolutely love hiking, since I had the day off I decided to check out a hike that promised to be good.  It is my most favorite hike and never gets old to me! 

It had been raining for the past 24 hours or so and the rain didn't let up this morning either.  I made my way to Manoa Valley and trekked Waiakeakua by myself.  Little did I know my friend and a bunch of her friends were on the same trail too! 

It ended at this waterfall! Can you see the droplet on my lens?  The rain didn't let up!

Manoa still has her secrets!

Was a great hike and I think I'm going to add to my New Years resolutions... Try and join HTMC this year!

New Years!

 Bringing in the new year with fireworks!

"2013" With our phones!

"2013" with sparklers

So I've decided to blog all of my adventures from now on.  Mostly gonna be about things I do such as hiking surfing and photography.  If you don't follow me on instagram, twitter, youtube, facebook, and vimeo please go follow!  My sn is all the same "Ryanschang"  Enjoy!