Wiliwilinui Ridge Hiking Trail
How was your weekend? I know mine was crazy and not because of my usual Saturday Night club scene but because of a hiking trip on Sunday. My friends invited me to go on a hike Sunday morning and I was able to come out and join them . At first, we planned for Hawaii Loa Ridge but since it was crowded, we ended up going to Wiliwilinui Trail not too far from that area around the Kalani-Kahala area. Luckily we had parking because by the time we got there, it was almost crowded. it was about 9am when we started and the weather conditions were good, a sign that we would be ok up in the mountains. This hike however, was very moderate to above normal. Since I was out dancing at the club the night before, hiking this trail made my legs even feel more dead. Overall I give this hike a thumbs up and definitely a place to visit to see this part of Hawaii.
Rolling out sometime after 9am, a lot of walking and it was quite busy too. Rosie, Raquelle, Andrew, and myself.
All of us stopped to take photos along the way up, the view was too beautiful to not capture the moment. Three of us had our cameras so we had to take advantage of this hike.
Gotta love them stairs! This is when, "Leg Day", comes into play. There is so much stairs to the trail, this was only the first part of it. There where more sets of stairs like this and some didn't have dirt filled in the spaces. `
I took so much breaks on this trail, I never have felt this worked on a hike i a while. This is nature at its finest.
Overlooking the valley and the rest of the East Side of Oahu.
We made Raquelle our, "Model" for the day haha. We kept making her pose at different parts of the trail and each of use were getting out photos in. She didn't bring her camera too so she felt left out lol.
Were barely halfway there! I kept saying this about three times before we reached this par too the trail.
I would never thought to see Ohia Lehua up this far on the island and also always thought they were on other islands more than here. These are one of the few native plants you'll see in Hawaii and these trees are often the first ones to grow on new lava fields. Reaching upwards to 20-80ft, these trees tower over the trails and most of them were hugging along the side of the cliffs. I was always told to never pick these powers because it would start to rain and with that it was part of a legend that involved Pele. Ohia Lehua derives from two peoples name, a man named Ohia and a woman Lehua. They were lovers at the time and Ohia rejected Pele's love for him before in the past. Pele, in rage, turned Ohia into a tree and Lehua was devastated by her loss. The other gods felt pity for her and helped turn her into a flower so that she could rest on Ohia for eternity. Whenever you pick off these flowers, the rain is suppose to symbolize both lover's tears as they wept for each other. (A little Hawaiiana for your reading. Im not no professional though but always good to learn and read up about.)
Thanks to Raquelle for bringing this dress up on the hike, it really made for epic portraits and moody photos. Its not often you see a girl in the middle of the mountains wearing a dress and going out there with it, on a hike. She pulled off these shots perfectly.
Were closer now!!! Thats the part of the trail where you know you made it that far and the end is a few more minutes down over the hill. Thats also an active radio tower for probably it was for but its important for all of us.
Another look at the radio station/
Right over that hill id th end
Right over this hill is the end of the trail. It opens up to a small loot area with a bench and splits up to two other trails on the left and right. Those trails go along the edge of the kooloau mountain range to travel West or East.
I barely had to use the ropes along the trail but they did help and also helped me out because I didn't have my strap for my camera and was carrying it around majority the time.
Andrew venturing into he unknown.
Looking back and we started all the way down there somewhere.
These clouds made for an epic moody cliff shoot, so we took the time to pose and make those arts photos. I recommend to not be too crazy up here because you could fall off and not make it back.
The kind of stuff we do just to get the shot, but its what sets us photographers apart from one another and to see how much willing we are to take one photo. Also you can see how devoted we are in what we love to do. Also all four us are very adventurous people and live for the thrill to do stuff like this.
Andrew about to get covered in the clouds. The weather changed every minute or so and would be super cloudy like this for one moment and then open up to where we could see Kaneohe, Kailua, and Waimanalo.
This photo gave people anxiety when I posted it on my instagram lol . Yes I am on the edge of a cliff and this is somewhat hundred of feet in the air or maybe a thousand.
The rest area and viewing point for the rest of the East Side.
Who wears Vans to a hike??? Obviously Rosie does.
Shaka into the weekend.
Sometimes you gotta jump pose just to have fun.
Our crew for the day, looking like were taking family portraits or something like that.
Rosie just doing her thing, making those epic portrait poses as always.
Now we start heading back down to call it a day. A least downhill felt better than uphill.
Getting every bit of photos we can before we finish up the trail.
Taking a photo of the photographer taking a photo of the photographer taking a photo of the person. #MindBlown!
Andrew actually risked himself for climbing on this tree that sat on the edge of the cliff. He wanted to do it so bad and we made sure he didn't fall off. Look at that view though, its pretty crazy to see the island from up here.
Found some Orchids growing up here, one of the most beautiful flowers I know of since my grandmother used to have them around her house and they would be the nicest ones I've seen growing up as a kid.
Raquelle had so much fun on this hike, it was her first time up here as well as a few of us, and she enjoyed herself posing for photos.
Using the tree tunnel way as a backdrop for those epic 85mm shots. The trail looked a lot different from going uphill and then when we went back down it looked differently as well.
Thats the end of the trail folks, hope you love seeing these photos. I'll be on another hike again soon nd feel free to come and joining us on our next one!
