Winter '13 - '14

Just wanted to compile a video together of all the places I've been since Novemberish and March.  Winter is winding down and it's been pretty good.  Our trip to the Big Island during Thanksgiving was extremely fun, hiking and exploring an island I hadn't been on since I been to Waimanu in 2011.  The rest of the video was mostly waterfalls and canyoneering deep in the Ko'olau's.  It's pretty amazing to see the streams of the islands flowing through the forest cutting a path to the top of the Ko'olau ridge trail.

It's been a really rainy season with 4 or 5 straight weekends of rain.  Finding waterfalls that don't normally flow everyday has been at the top of my list since I've started hiking.  There's been a lot of scouting during this season and going back to places we had already been to numerous times just to get past obstacles and to go deeper.  One project I was working on was scouting a stream people don't usually go up.  The first time there was just to see if there are waterfalls.  The second time a bigger group and a bigger payout with an end at a large waterfall, trying to probe up a right contour trail to go higher but with the afternoon sun setting we headed out.  The third time here was the last time.  We headed up to the last point and actually contoured left and made it above.  We kept going and going with some navigation with topographic maps and google earth we reached the Ko'olau summit!  It is probably the best waterfall loop here on this island.

Other places I visited were a few falls in Nuuanu that I hadn't been to.  It wasn't that great of a flow but it's good to know that it flows year around and is probably a spring that's feeding it.

We backpacked twice.  One of them was a route that I had gone on back in 2011ish but in reverse.  It's good to see that the Ko'olaus are getting some love with all the groups going up there and working on rare and native plants.  Learning from snail and plant expert Nate Yuen along the way is a plus.  The other time was in the Waianae mountains.  That overnighter completely changed my mind on the Waianaes.  I always thought the Waianae's were some where hot and miserable and not much to see but shrubs and dry plants.  In the upper regions there is a huge forest and lots to see there.

Our latest adventure was tubing which could be found here.

Surfing was the last thing I added to the video.  This winter I surfed a little up on the north shore, not as much as I would like but enough.  I surfed a bunch at Ehukai with a huge sand bar!  I also surfed up on the North East side of the island for the first time.  Let's just say that place is a gold mine for empty great waves if the conditions are perfect.






Winter '13-'14 from Ryan Chang on Vimeo.