Includes 12 trailed peaks on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. All 12 are exciting climbs, accessible, and have trails leading to the top. 9 of the peaks lie in the Ko'olau Mountains and 3 in the Waiana'e Mountains. The peaks vary from easier hikes to more challenging climbs; it's hard to tell which peak is the hardest to climb since all have a different character and pose different challenges. Created by peakery member Nandor Szotak.
Highest peak
Mount Ka'ala
4,040 ft / 1,231 m
Most prominent peak
Mount Ka'ala
4,040 ft / 1,231 m prom
Most summited peak
Koko Crater High Point
96 summits
Most difficult peak
no info yet
Difficulty breakdown
no info yet
Highlights
- As always, on Hawaii trails always expect humidity, rain, mud, and never forget about the strong heat of the sun.
- The two big boys, the Ko'olau tallest Konahuanui, and Oahu's tallest Mt Ka'ala, will test your cardio, scrambling skills, and "mud resistance".
- Work your way up from easier hikes like Pu'u O Hulu and Tantalus Peak to harder, more advanced hikes like Pu'uo'hule'hule which includes a longer jungle trekking, or Ahiki which requires more climbing/scrambling skills.
- Climbing these mountain peaks will introduce you to real Hawaii hiking. From beautiful jungle treks to exposed ridges, from amazing ocean and mountain views to bird's eye views of Honolulu, you will have it all!
Latest summits
"*Can't add photos "unsupported file type"?...ugh.
Awesome Advanced hike so kids & pets not recommended, too many steep climbs. Hike stars off with gradual incline walk but you'll know when the real hiking begins and it's constant uphill from there on.
The last push to the summit was daunting for this once-a-week (if lucky) hiker as it's very steep. When you summit you'll be awestruck by the views. Being a minimum of 2L water and snacks. The Westside heat / humidity is brutal. Luckily, we were blessed with sunny weather with bouts of overcast..TYJ 😁" — elpuaatuua • Oct 21, 2021
"Se Ohulehule to NE Ohulehule.
Something new, something fun with a great crew. Some part of this trek is trespassing if you don't get a permit, so do it at your own risk.
Narrow, gnarly ridge line with huge drop offs both sides, crumbly rock, not for the faint of heart :D" — nandorszotak • Jul 17, 2021
"Tried a new route leading through 3 high peaks in the Waianea range.
Was very hot on the exposed sections, mostly between Ohikilolo and 3 Corners. Thankfully we found some water catchments by the cabin so we could refill some water before the long section." — nandorszotak • Oct 10, 2020
"Another "interesting" route, what I would never repeat again Nukohe ridge to Lanihuli. I studied this route for a while on maps, but I had to actually ask Patrick Roarie, why nobody went up on that ridge? Always down.
Well, today I found out why! Because it is way too dangerous. There is one 60ft tall exposed, crumbly, narrow climb with an old cable on it, which is there for ages and can snap any moment.
When we got to the bottom of this rock face, I decided to climb it very carefully. Every step, every handhold was so fragile that I was just concentrating on not making a mistake. I had to use that cable couple times, but just with easy pressure on it. Took me probably 10 minutes to get to the top, but made it up safely. My friend climbed up too, the cable snapped, but thankfully I had a webbing set up before and he could rely on that. That 100' webbing got stuck there...
After that it started the physical torture with very steep bushwhacking up to Lanihuli...On the way down instead of walking nicely and easily on a set trail, we decided to use a spur tridge right off kamanaiki extension, and this way we made a loop back to the cars at the ice ponds.
It was a more exhausting ou..." — nandorszotak • Jun 17, 2020
"I was eyeing out this route for a while. Reading some older write ups, I knew that people tried to do this, but most likely no one got to finish the ridge all the way to Lanihuli.
We cleared the initial section uphill couple weeks ago to have a better start whenever we try to do the whole thing. That made the approach of the ridge so much better. The whole ridge is kind of miserable...lot of overgrowth, and mostly bushwhacking. There are couple drops where we had to use webbing for a safety descend, but other than that just fighting the ferns most of the time. Closer we got to Lanihuli the overgrowth got worst.
We managed to get to the top just before started raining. Our way out was Mo'ole valley." — nandorszotak • May 25, 2020