Nichol and I spent this weekend at the Hurkey Creek Campground. While there I got a chance to get check out some the trails that were impacted by the 2018 Charston Fire. I am used to the shock of post-wildfire landscapes but I was particulary taken back by some of the damage nearly three years later. It was not all gloom because at least a couple of the trails I checked out are only a little worse for wear. Others are still a complete wreck.
At the northern end of Coyote Run just before it gets faint.
I put notes on all the trails I checked out on my Hurkey Creek Page. The most encouraging thing I saw was the Johnson Meadow trail as it was minimally impacted and is pretty good shape.
Johnson Meadow
The most disheartening thing is the Keen Camp climb as maybe 50% of it is rideable and it will require a lot work to get it functional again. Without this trail there is no practical way to loop the trails together from Hurkey Creek Park.
Keen Camp Trail destruction
I did see some flagging in the Keen Camp climb corridor so hopefully there is some work planned. I don’t know about you but I would down to help out with that effort. I hopento chase down if something is indeed in the works.
$2500 Firm. No Low Balling
Approaching the top of Tunnel of Love. Trail used to be on left side of this rock.
Located in Pupukea, the short but fun “Urban Legend” trail that is just one of dozens of MTB trails in the area. It is unique in that it man-made built up features that is worth keeping around. Please read the petition linked below and think about signing it. Show our MTB brothers and sisters in Hawaii some Aloha by supporting the petition. And please don’t my lame ass attempt at riding this trail dissuade your thoughts on the coolness of this trail.
The latest of my older videos to be remastered is of an outing on the Cannell Plunge in June of 2006.
I’m overdue for a return to the Kernville area to check out some stuff I have not done as well as revisit this trail as well. The snow should be clearing from the top before long so the season is nearly here.
There is more than world-class surfing on Hawaii’s North Shore. There is also some mighty fun MTB trails to ride as well. I have ridden there twice so far and I had not been disappointed.
The Top of Bobwire
The place is a maze of interconnected trails and even though I had pretty detailed layout of trails from Trailforks, they were still kind of hard to follow as there was so many trail junctions.
This sign has some pretty killer classics on it
You ride out here you will eventually end up at Lilikoi Junction. It might be one of the coolest trail junction signs ever.
Is this organic wall ride?Iggy Squiggly
My second time out there, I had one of folks I have been riding with out here show me around and that was so much more fun as not having any navigation responsibilities.
View from an Old WWII pillbox
A trail less traveled
I’m not sure I will get back out there on this trip as I already running short on days and I still have some other stuff I want to hit up. I have some footage from both outing that I’m going to put together at some point, but I may not occur until after get back home. One thing is for certain, this is a fun place to ride.
Boy have I had a great week of getting out on the trails here on Oahu. I have a pile of pictures and footage to sort through already as well as great stories to share.
Jeep trail in the Mokulēʻia Forest Reserve
Last week I did the Peacock Loop. Sometimes just referred to as Peacock Flats. It is a big ride with big views!
On the Kuaokala trail
It starts at Dillingham Airfield on Oahu’s northwest corner. You will do a paved climb up to Peacock Flats and into the Mokulēʻia Forest Reserve will you will do some ridge riding (aka ups and downs) into the the Kuaokala Forest Reserve and Game Management Area were you will pick up the Kuaokala trail some amazing bit of single track before getting back onto jeep trails and more ups and downs.
Singletrack goodness along the Kuaokala Ridge TrailPointing to JapanWorking my way down the Kealia trail.Descending the Kaelia Trail
You will finish up the loop with the Kealia Trail which is a pretty serious bit of steep rugged single track that I have heard called a hiking trail that bikers sometimes ride. I was somewhere between pooped and cooked at this point in the ride which make technical riding that much more interesting. All together you will do 21.2 miles and 3,700 feet of climbing. If it is clear out, I say the price of admission is worth it. If you are a Trailforks user you can find the route here, but realize that this route over estimates the total ascent by a bunch. Here is my Strava from that ride which shows the elevation better.
Finally here is the video I put together from this day’s adventure.
Last week a few of the local boys were planning on showing me the Ohana trails over on the windward side of the island. It ended up raining all night so there was a change of plans to take in some stuff that is rain friendly. When ended doing some cool stuff.
Robert giving some pointers on getting out from under the Pali highway to continue on Old Pali road to the lookout
We started off with a bit of street riding to hookup with Old Pali road which has been replaced with the Pali highway. We were soon climbing on the road that is on its ways to be reclaimed by mother nature. We had one interesting scramble where Pali highway crosses over the old road.
I knew my quads were in trouble when Eric and Mike rolled up with these bikes. (On Old Pali Road)
Regrouping on the old Pali bridge.
We regrouped at the Old Pali road bridge. When I say regroup I mean the guys waited for me to catch up at this spot. I felt pretty happy about the climb I was putting down but these guys had a couple gears I don’t have (yet).
I set some PRs for sustained time in Heart Rate Zones 4 and 5 on that climb. I think this is my “Mommie make the bad men stop!” face.
Handing bikes over the gate
After the old bridge we made our way up to the Pali lookout with the last challenge being getting the bikes over the locked gate. If under a certain girth you can squeeze between the gate and the rock face to get through. I just managed to squeeze through, but I had to do an an exhale 🙂
At Pali Lookout
I have been to the Pali lookout quite a few times but it had always been via a car so this time felt special considering the views were well earned.
Mike showing off mad road skills by taking photos while cruising down the road.
After Pali Lookout we took Pali highway down back down into Kailua where we took a series of streets over into a forest. We followed along some old dirt roads and some trails that follow along an irrigation system.
Hey Guys, its this way!!
This was off the beaten path stuff and it had been sometime since of these options had been taken. There was some hike-a-biking done. There were quite a few bike hand ups and hand offs combined with some ropes along the trail to help you with the hike-a-biking. My arms were pretty pumped by the time we got we got off the trail.
“Exploration along the irrigation trails”
The irrigation trails bought out us onto a forest road called OGR (standing for Old Government Road) and a sustained downhill. Wet clayish soil, actively raining and downhill. Yep this is what my bike with its aggressive tires that I had been hearing churning against the old pavement of much of the climbs today was ready to get to work. I zipped down that section and was able to get my first (and only) photos of the guys coming towards me.
On OGR (Old Government Road)
These guys have a system and Mike texted ahead and had coffees waiting for us at a local shop when we rolled back into town. Robert, Mike and Eric were quite tour guides on this day. Rain, Mud, Hike-A-Bikes….yeah it was great day to be out on a bike!
(The photos with me in frame were provided by Mike.)
I have a work gig in Oahu, Hawaii for pretty much all of April. Getting ready for this trip I decided that my it was time to upgrade my luggage. My Trico hardshell travel case has already been long in the tooth and it was time to retire it after 16 years of service. I bought a the EVOC Travel Bike Bag Pro with the internal stand. What a difference this bag made. It was so much easier to wheel it around the terminal and getting out to the rental car.
EVOC bag all packed up.
After getting into Hawaii, I spent the afternoon checking into my accommodations and making the first run to stock up the fridge and cupboards. I was sacked out pretty early. The body clock was off which had me up pretty darn early. I decided to make use of the time and got the bike put back together just about at sunrise.
O-Damn Early Start
After a having a leisurely morning that included a nap I had to get going. I do not know the reason way, but often times a three hour time shift seems to hit me worse than a 12hr+ shift does. Maybe it is a matter of expectations. Either way it was time for a shake down ride with the bike and maybe shake off some jet lag.
The bike is ready to roll
I have been out near Ka’ena Point numerous times but have not taken the old road/trail out to and around the point before. I had read that some vehicle break-ins had occurred right at the trail head so I took some local advice and parked at Dillingham Airfield about 1.5 miles short of the trailhead which is considered less prone to that type of thing.
Happy Bike
The cruise along the road was pretty darn easy and I was soon out on the old road. Trailforks has the orginal old road shown as the trail but there are numerous trails and path between the original road and the ocean. On the way out to the point, pretty much any of the paths/trail closer to the ocean will be more interesting than the old road. It did not take me long to figure that out. The scenery was incredible.
Out at Ka’ena Point
The tip of the point has a long heavy duty gauge fence fit for keeping out vehicles and just about any land critter without opposable thumbs. Once in this area there are two major paths with one being much further out on the point than the other. The trail going out further out on the point gets really sandy and you will end up pushing your bike. On your way out its is worth it to do a little pushing to see the views that you will not get otherwise.
Trail is in the upper left
Once around point the two trails rejoin and you will soon go through the other end of the significant fence. The road now is much more interesting and narrow. There is a washout of the road about a couple hundred yards after the fence but there is a foot scramble trail that goes around it. Don’t worry if you miss it, When you run out of road, turn around and go back about 50 yards or so. After the washout the old dirt road continues to impress with amazing views right along the ocean.
Pretty killer scenery along this old road
At around 7.4 miles (From Dillingham Airfield) the dirt comes out to a gate and transitions to pavement. There are a handful of options to extend your ride from here but this is where I decided to turn around today. The ride back was just as amazingly beautiful. Out the near the point I did take the route that stays closer to the mountain and further from the point. Once around the “corner” I had quite a hard breeze in my face which caused a bit more work than on the out portion of this route. This is most likely the flattest trail you will find on the island and it well earns its “green” trail rating. It should not however be overlooked. This is an amazingly beautiful XC trail that provides a unique and quality outdoor experience.
Not a bad start to a work trip at all. It was a great day to be on the dirt (and lava rocks)!
I really enjoyed being back back on the bike for the last two months. I started out sticking to tamer trails as I was still dealing with some sternum discomfort related to the wires used to initially close up my chest. When the trails got chattery, it was uncomfortable enough to be distracting. Not where you want your head when getting into techy bits.
My heart surgeon advised me the discomfort was common beyond the 3-month mark with it typically subsiding by the 6-month mark. In some cases people have mild discomfort well beyond that.
The discomfort has indeed been getting better. I am pretty sure that early on after my return to the bike there was a fair amount of just building up my tolerance to the discomfort.
Nice to ride some tech.
Over the last few weeks, I have been riding more technical trails and getting more comfortable on them. The chest discomfort is nearly gone and no longer a distraction.
I don’t quite have my technical chops back yet and I know its mental thing about not wanting to deal with a superman endo to the chest. I’m sure that will come back as well.
Photobomber Alert!
Enough on recovery, I’m Calling It DONE!
While out riding with Steve last week we played around a rock formation for 15 or 20 minutes. We collectively rolled up on the entry rock about half a dozen times before noticing a sizable rattlesnake warming up underneath it. We both kinda wigged out for a bit as we had been scrambling all over the rock formation looking for lines to ride.
Another Spectator
We then took a closer look around and saw another rattler hanging out on the otherside of the same rock. It was time to call it a day for playing on the “Snake Eyes” rock.
Steve playing on “Snake Eyes”
Tasty Burritos closed out a great day to be on the trails.
Here is the latest of the vintage pre-GoPro MTB to be migrated over to YouTube. This is of the Hurricane Cliffs Loop which is comprised of the Gould’s Rim, JEM and Hurricane Rim Trails. This is a great and sizeable XC loop in the area. I have not done this route in over a decade mostly because of the build up of new trails JEM trail area you can pile up a bunch of miles in that area alone. Since this video was shot Over The Edge Hurricane was established and they helped to create a trail that connects from town up to Gould’s Rim. I’m sure that trail is going to be seeing some action this weekend as the Hurricane MTB Festival is going on now. I did not sign up for this festival this year as I did not think I would be recovered from the heart valve replacement well enough by now but after this past week’s riding I think I probably would have been able to handle the this trail system along with most of the other goodies in the area. Here are a few other pictures from the area.
So I have been riding around a killer Santa Cruz Bronson (Gen 1) for a handful of years now. Its a singletrack carving machine, excellent for climbing and holds its own in the chunky bits. I love it! I am often an in-between medium and large size bike guy. The Bronson was a medium and I probalbly should have went with a large. I really did not want to mess with a new bike at this point because all of them seem to be longer, lower and slacker. I wanted a tweak not a huge change.
New Donor Bike
So I have been looking for a large gen1 frame of the same color for a while at a good price. Nada, its been all complete bikes. I was pretty stoked when I found a complete bike with the frame I wanted at a good price. It was more than I wanted to pay for a frame but supply and demand rules. I did get some nice components and spares out of the deal.
New and Old Bike Boy was I amazed how much my frame had faded over the course of the adventures we had been on together. (Old bike in front)
I merged the best bits of the two bikes onto the new frame. I stayed with my wheelset(stans rims, Chris King hubs), drivetrain(1×11 30-50), Hope E3 brakes, CCDB air shock, Fox Transfer dropper, saddle and handlebars. Along with the frame I used the “new” bottom bracket and headset (mango color coordinated Chris King bits). I am also swapping out my Fox 34 fork and trying out the Rockshox Pike fork with the Push AC3 coil conversion.
