Getting by with a little help from friends: Braving Olomana's 3rd peak

By Nik Streng
Special to 3D Travel

You learn a lot about people when they are faced with a challenge. For my friends and me, the challenge was hiking Olomana. And what we learned was who was in shape and who wasn't.

The Olomana trail is one of the most difficult hikes on Oahu — about 2.5 miles long with a 1,643-foot elevation gain that ends at three peaks. Most of the hike is strongly vertical, marked by natural stairs of dirt and roots and big rock faces with rope aids. Most will be satisfied with hitting the first peak — the tallest, it is an accomplishment — but others will go for the challenge of the other two, especially the treacherous, narrow-passage of the third. Olomana can be dangerous: just this year, a woman broke her leg and had to be air lifted off the mountain, and a Kaneohe resident fell to his death while hiking the narrow ridge between the second and third peaks. (View from the first peak of Olomana's second and third peaks. Photo: 3D Travel, Inc.)

Undaunted, my friends Todd (University of Hawaii law undergrad, avid hiker) and Maxx (engineering major at Seattle University, non-hiker) and I went to the edge of our wits and completed the third peak on a bright Saturday morning.

Maxx and I, largely out of shape, complained all the way. (At least Maxx was smart enough to bring a CamelBack for easy-access water.) But Todd, with his mountain-climbing gloves with the sandpaper-like palms and his five-finger toe shoes, scaled the vertical rock faces like Spiderman. We've been friends since we were kids, now separated by college; the hike was one of the few times we've seen each other this summer. It was our chance to catch up: talking about school, what we've been up to. But the steeper it got, the less we talked — and it gets very steep, scrambling up hillsides, large tree roots and boulders.

Going up the first peak is fairly similar, vertically speaking, to hiking Koko Crater — adding in some rock climbing that you'll want to carefully traverse. (Ropes and ample hand- and foot-holds will get you there.) Once we got to the top, which took us about an hour and a half, we got a 360-degree view of the ocean and the Windward side of Oahu. (Photo: 3D Travel, Inc.)

This is where most people stop and go back to their car. But Todd egged us on: from the first peak to the second, then to the third. Just off the second peak is a vertical face that requires Ninja Warrior-esque skills to descend (see video). For those of us who aren't freaks of nature, there are ropes for assistance. Once you hit the halfway point, you have to climb up the other side. Although it is not at such a vertical angle, the path is narrow and is almost entirely rock climbing, including a part where you have to maneuver around a large rock. It's extremely dangerous: one wrong step could send you plummeting.

We made it. There's this exhilaration of accomplishment, and then it hits you: we have to go all that way back. A feeling similar to the realization that you forgot to do an assignment for a class. (Thanks, Todd.) We talked little traversing the peaks on the way back, especially from the third peak — I was trying to avoid cardiac arrest from a mixture of exhaustion and anxiety. (The view: Oahu's Windward side. Photo: 3D Travel, Inc.)

But we did it. Regardless of how tough Olomana was (and how unworthy fitness-wise two of us were), it was a great experience. As we get older and our lives change, it gets harder to hang out with friends from high school. I'm glad we had our moment at Olomana.

BE PREPARED

• Make sure your shoes have proper grip — I would not chance hiking Olomana with worn soles. I also recommend hiking gloves. I didn't wear any, but with all the rope and rock climbing, I wish I did. My hands were hurting afterwards.
• Make sure you are properly hydrated and well fed before you hike. Our hiking time was five hours and it was physically challenging throughout. There isn't much shade past the first peak and the sun is strong. Wear sunscreen and bring water and a couple of energy bars.
• This is not a beginner's hike. The first and second peaks are challenging, the third is difficult. Know your limits. And, as I did, hike with friends.

Editor's Note: This is Nik Streng's last post as a 3D Travel intern. Thanks, Nik! It was great to have you on board this summer.