There's actually two places to start this trail.
There's Kolowalu at the back of Manoa and Wa'ahila at the top of St. Louis Heights.
We took the higher route. The plan was originally to only do Wa'ahila to
Kolowalu but of course when we started the hike I had already planned on heading up to
Olympus!We started off on the Wa'ahila trail and passed by quite a few people heading
back the way we came. Have no idea whether they came from Kolowalu or just turned
around at the junction. The beginning of the trail is rocky and there is some small
climbing down rocks here and there. Parts of the ridge are a bit narrow but there's
tons of trees on both sides so all it does is give you the feeling of walking on a more
narrow path.
At the junction you can either continue on downwards to the left on the Kolowalu trail
or you can take the narrow path upwards to Mt Olympus. As far as hikes to the Koolau
summit go, I'd say this one is pretty short and easy. There aren't too many ups and
downs. It does get a bit steep before the summit but no more so than any other
ridge-to-summit hike. Just before the top you can see parts of Ka'au Crater on your
right.
It was pretty cloudy for a lot of our way up, but once we got to the top, the windward
side was actually quite clear! You can see east to Lanipo and west to Konahuanui!
From here, the summit walk to Konahuanui looks pretty insane, but as I found out
later it really isn't that bad.
Date: June 21, 1998
Time Duration: 5hours
Difficulty: Green
Danger: Green
Notes: A relatively quick and easy jaunt to the summit. About a third of
the way up there's a huge fallen koa branch on the cliff side of the trail...we were there
when it broke off! I know, boring...but it was cool when it happened! Also if
you find a yellow Kenwood 2-way radio, please let me know!
