The Warrior Trek
Iao Valley to Olowalu Valley
Maui, Hawaii
July, 2015
Eight miles, three thousand feet of elevation gain and a dream since the 80’s. That’ll only take a day, right?
Karl has wanted to retrace the path that the ancient Mauians took over West Maui Mountains since the 1980s. As dreams sometimes do, they badger in the corners of the mind until they are released, the body, mind and spirit forced to follow.
In January we hiked up Haleakala on Maui: sea to summit, and back to sea, in one day. This journey was thirty-seven miles and 10,100 feet of elevation gain (and loss) round trip…in one day. While “relaxing” on Maui after the Haleakala adventure, the West Maui Mountain dream awoke and would not go back to sleep.
And so began months of planning: researching the internet, maps, satellite imagery, and any other bits of information we could find. Turns out, there really wasn’t much information on this trek, just one limited trip report, a couple of mentions of the trek….and a whole lot of warnings not to attempt it, to which of course, Karl replied “BAH!”
We flew to Maui to do what Karl had been calling the “Warrior Trek” based on the historical Battle of Kepaniwai in 1790 when the Maui warriors retreated from Iao Valley over the pass to Olowalu Valley and Lahaina.
We knew it was going to be a hard adventure with navigation challenges, steep jungle terrain, loose eroding slopes, and the unknown. It turned out to be harder than we anticipated and we used nearly every skill in our skill set to complete it successfully and safely.
Day one…5:30am
We were dropped off at the lower gate of Iao Valley State Park at 5:30am Saturday Morning. It was nice to have the park to ourselves. After navigating up Iao Stream and a tributary, we started up a ridge towards the pass over West Maui Mountain. The further up the ridge we got, we realized it ended at a nearly sheer cliff face and traversing across didn’t look like an option. So we rappelled down the ridge and went a different way up to the pass. The pass was a vegetated knife-edge ridge. In places there were “vegetation cornices” where the plants grew in such a way over the edge it might seem solid, but we could see air when looking down through the leaves. We had to traverse the ridge to a small sub-ridge it looked we could descend. Karl went first. Deb could see the plants shaking underneath him. We got to the sub-ridge and looked at the time…time to bivy for the night. The spot was not flat, so we left our harnesses on and tied ourselves and packs to the trees. Karl stretched out between two trees with his pack as support. Deb curled into a ball and used a root as a pillow. During the night we heard a bird flying around that sounded like a tarp flapping in the wind.
Day 1: 13.5 hours and 5 miles (long hard day)
Day two… 6:30am
Morning came with a delightful accompaniment of birdsong, though it wasn’t fully appreciated. We decided we’d continue down this small sub-ridge to the Olowalu drainage and stream. Over 5 hours, we dropped 700’ via 50’ rappels. The vegetation was of the sort it impeded forward movement, but when we relied on it for strength, it would break. We felt it was safest to rappel rather than deal with the brittle vegetation and eroding hillside. Once we got down to the drainage we celebrated, re-filled our water and ate a snack. We figured we’d just be walking out the stream and started fantasizing about the food we’d eat in Lahaina that afternoon. WRONG!
As we continued down Olowalu Stream we encountered obstacle after obstacle. Around every corner was a new unknown challenge. As we descended into the canyon we were aware of the clouds, is it raining up above that could cause a flash flood? Could we leave the canyon if the next waterfall is longer than our rope? Can we find a way around this waterfall that has no trees to use as an anchor for our rope?
In the afternoon, we were on the hillside going around a tall waterfall when Deb was bitten on the hand by a yellow jacket. She said “huh, it just bit me.” Not realizing what that meant (though we should have, having encountered plenty of yellow jacket nests in the Western US), we continued to set up the rappel. Moments later we were swarmed by them. As they bit us, we slapped ourselves, trying to figure out what to do. We were on a steep slope, had just rappelled to where we were and were going to rappel futhur down. We decided to just run tree to tree back up and across the steep slope out of their range. Once safe, Deb looked down her shirt and there were five clinging onto her chest biting. Karl looked back where we had been and saw them flying about. Fortunately, Karl had the wits to bring the rope with him when we retreated. We did abandon a chunk of webbing and a carabineer on the tree. No way we could get it back. We hope the mountain forgives us for leaving that.
We rappelled down to the stream and continued a little ways down…until we encountered yet another large waterfall. It was such a beautiful waterfall, and under normal circumstances we would have really appreciated how great it was. It was starting to get late, we knew we had to get out of the canyon and find a spot for the night, and a way around this waterfall. We started uphill, the only way we could see out. It was an 80’ vertical climb up loose rock and loose vegetation. Deb belayed Karl as he climbed up. He only had two pieces of webbing for protection along the way, but it worked and we both got up. Another 100’ up the slope was a really nice spot we could bivy. It was almost level!
After hanging up our wet clothes to dry, checking for a cell signal to relay the message we were safe (there was none) we settled in for the night. All day we were wearing gloves and hadn’t taken them off. When we did take them off we realized our hands were swollen from the yellow jackets bites. Neither of us is allergic, so we figured we’d be ok. We took some antihistamines anyway and hoped for the best.
Day two: 1.9 miles in 13-hours (brutal)
Day 3… 7:30am
Overnight we slept pretty good. It rained during the night, but not too much. We put on our dry clothes (thanks, wind!), optimistically put our harnesses into our packs, and headed down a small ridge to the stream. We continued down Olowalu Stream, coming across small waterfalls we could down-climb, deep pools we could go around, and the stream continued to appear to mellow and the vegetation became less thick. Not wanting to get our hopes up, we continued to be cautious just in case we encountered a new obstacle. After a couple of hours, we noticed some pink flagging on a small tree. Normally, we hate garbage and left over signs of people in the wilderness, but this time we were really happy. If we were seeing this, what lies ahead of us must be easy. A little bit longer down the creek we saw some garbage, abandoned camps, and eventually a trail. Yay, a trail! Even Karl, who is usually sad to leave bush-thrashing for a trail, was happy. We made it out to the highway at about 2:00pm Monday afternoon.
Day3: 5.5 miles in 6.5 hours
Day one…hard and scary
Day two…all about survival
Day three…yay! Success!
This trek forced us to use all our skills except snow and ice: navigation, bush whacking/cross country, rock climbing, and canyoneering. It was mentally very hard, though physically not too bad. We do NOT recommend anyone to attempt this trek unless they are very well versed in climbing, canyoneering and navigation.
In regards to pictures…both Deb and I were more concerned with getting out alive than documenting the trek, therefore the pics aren’t spectacular…even though this is a spectacular place.
Our resting place before the Warrior Trek…Thanks to Wim and Maris Van der Lee.
Dropped off at the lower gates of the Iao Valley State Park, we had the park to ourselves…
Let the Trek begin…
Starting out on a trail…along the Iao Valley stream.
At the confluence of Iao and Poohahoahoa Stream…
Sometimes climbing around the falls was the best way…
Before…
…after
Thick shit…
Map and compass work…where the fuck are we…?
Thrashing through the jungle, look hard you can see Deb…
Nope, not that way…
The way we came up…
Not that way either…
Yikes! I wonder how many of these we face-planted, that we DIDN’T notice…
Looking back down the sub-drainage that pours into the Iao Valley Stream…
As we finally hit the summit of the ridge, looking NW at the walls above the Olowalu Valley…
Looking down into the Olowalu Valley drainage, and our next goal, the Pacific Ocean…only 8-miles away…
We hit the passage exactly where we planned to…although it didn’t look anything like we thought…
It was like post-holing in 3′-4′ deep soft snow on a corniced knife edge ridge…although this was 3′-4′ deep vegetation with 1500′ of exposure on each side…freak’n crazy!!
We traversed the ridge for about 1.5 tenths of a mile…long enough!
Scary shit!!
Finally hit the small sub-ridge leading down to the main Olowalu Valley drainage…although we were running out of time and daylight, and decided…
…to call this small space near the ridge as our camp for the night…
The spot was at a steep slope with a drop-off so we anchored us, and our packs to a couple stout trees for the night.
In the morning this was our view of the Olowalu Valley below…and the Pacific ocean only 8-miles away. We actually thought we would be out in about 5-6 hours…man were we wrong!!
Zoomed in shot…
We descended about 700′ in 50′ rappels through thick vegetation…so thick we had no idea if the next step would be on solid or crumbly ground…or worse yet…mid air.
Knots in the end of the rope was mandatory…
Not enough rope to rappel this portion of the drainage…
Finally hit the main drainage…it’s all good, we’ll be out in a few hours…NOT!!
Water is filtered and we are ready to go again…
Looking up at 500′ of the 700′ we just rapped down…we thought the worst was over…
I said “looks like the Statue of Liberty” 🙂
One of many falls…
We tried to stay dry as we had no idea how long we’d be out…
Challenges around every corner…
After 13-hours of thrashing, rappelling, climbing, and a wasp attack, we found a semi flat area for bivy number two…
After we took our gloves off…our hands were swollen from the wasp bites…
Next morning we head out into more of the thick jungle…
…and back into the Olowalu drainage…
Finally, finally….a sign of man…
then more signs…
Then after celebration…
…we continued down the drainage knowing we were done with the time-consuming challenges…
Happy and now enjoying the beauty that surrounds us…
More signs of man…what a shame this all was just left here.
Large abandoned camps…kinda creepy, so much garbage left behind.
Whoa! Basalt columnar…
A man made bridge…
We crossed it…for the fun of it 🙂
Water diversion mechanics…
Out of the valley on the dry side of the West Maui mountains…
…looking back up the Olowalu Valley at the ridge we crossed over two days ago…
The next morning we drove to the summit of Haleakala…and wondered what all these people were looking at…
…Ahhhhhh, now I know! Sunrise in the crater…
Our Route…The Warrior Trek!! Zoom in for more detail…
Nice to finally see that. You are a couple of tough hombres. Glad you did get to enjoy some of that scenery rather than have to just make it all an endurance journey. The wasp attack would have been the end of most folks. Guess you couldn’t start running away. Such an ordeal to be trapped that way, but what a story and what a memory for you both.
Thanks Don! Yes, quite the ordeal. The wasp attack and the trek. Believe it or not, I think I’d do it again…a little different. I’d bring a fuck’n machete next time…
Wow, so enjoyed reading this. You guys are SO BADASS! 😊
We live near Iao, and I’ve always wanted to do this trail especially after watching Naked and Afraid or some survival show. Of course, we want to wear clothes though. Thank you for doing this and documenting with photos, so now I know what a terrible idea that would be. Looks insane! You are all warriors. PS I had a landlord in Laguna Beach named Pat Rinaldi, small world if same 🙂
You went the wrong way up the wall, you should have proceeded up the ridge to the west that tops out at the western peak of the two tall peaks close together in the middle of the wall. You went down the ridge of the Eastern peak into Olowalu, which was OK until you hit the headwaters and had to rappel through steep waterfalls. Just before reaching the western peak, you straddle to the right (west), bypassing the peak and arriving at the wall. Over another steep peak going west, you come down to the level ridge and proceed about a half-mile to a somewhat level area where you can see the slope down and follow to Olowalu stream, where it gradually descends to where the stream you came down joins it. From that level area on top of wall, you can follow the ancient trail to where a gigantic spur of hardened rock now obstructs the ancient highway as erosion has worn the soil away. Google Earth will show you that long, long ridge as it slowly descends into the southern watershed of Iao. That’s why it was an easy hike two hundred years ago, Christian missionaries walking it alone with no problems. There are tails of white women being carried piggy-back by 300 lb. warriors over the gap in those days. These were men trained to carry people over the gap, and they must have been quite impressive.
Where the f**k were you when we researched this…sheesh! Ah well, it was one hell of a thrash anyway.
You have my curiosity though. Could you take a topo map and draw a line where you say the route is? I would love to know. If so, you could send it to me at karlhelser@comcast.net
Are you one of a handful of people that have completed the Warrior Trek? I would love to have a conversation…
Yes, while doing the research we read many stories of the missionaries and warriors that used this route.
Karl, did you ever get further info from Steve?!
I would like to talk to about this hike in more detail. My name is Joseph and I live in kula. I am in Iao valley every weekend. Please email me back.
Thank you
Steve:
I won’t ever make the trek but would love to see your route/maps.
Been on my bucket list since ’88. Mahalos 🙂
Great post !
Thanks Tavis…!
Did Steve Lysen ever give you more details on the better route ?
I did an FPV flight in the Iao yesterday and though you might appreciate the terrain as you covered some of it on your hike.
I’d love to see your footage. I’ll make a donation 🙂
Been to the “meadow” (kukui groves) on Olowalu side 3X and wayyy up Olowalu stream but didn’t get the chance to cross over.
Now that I’m 69 with a bad knee, my bucket item of this hike will remain just a wish.
I wrote to Blue Hawa’ii heli-tours and others to buy their footage but never worked out.
Mahalos 🙂
Here is one from olowalu side https://youtu.be/8sBTiPhFTJg?si=OMDuH-blCjL_WNyY
Here is one from iao side https://youtu.be/bw6TrqF6flw?si=ofzEluJmysawlXPU
My cousin Mike says the U.S. military built up the trail over the Olowalu-Iao wall after Pearl Harbor attack as they thought the Japanese were going to invade Hawaii. I believe the original trail on top of the wall wore away, leaving a large outcrop of rock blocking the path. When you reach the top of the wall, you would turn left. You can see the ridge that goes gracefully down into Iao on Google Earth. It was common for white women to be carried piggyback by Hawaiian men 200 years ago until the 1920’s. Now you must turn right, go down the ridge almost to the top of the high peak, then skirt around the top and down the ridge. The problem with going up from Iao is you take one of the two ridges to the East of that peak, and then you cannot proceed over it but go straight down the cliff. People have been attacked by swarms of yellow jackets while doing so. My cousin fell 150 feet (not using ropes) and almost died, and had to be rescued by his friends who had ropes. You MUST have 200′ ropes to go down that cliff. It is much safer to go in Olowalu than Iao unless you are aware you must proceed up the ridge to the right that goes to the peak, not the two to the left of the peak. About 75 yards below the peak, when it becomes too steep, you shinny to the right and connect with the wall to the right of the peak.
I truly enjoyed reading your account and seeing the photos of your journey – especially as I can truly relate – since I, too, have made this trek. This was in November 1977 – our trip was written up in the Maui News. Unfortunately, the article focused on debunking Hawaiian legends – which was not our purpose. As you have discovered, the 6 or 8 miles between Ioa and Olowalu is a lot more difficult than most people believe it could be. – We had scouting both sides on many occasions without traversing the middle 1\2 or 1 mile which is the toughest part. We did set off on the Ioa side, we had good weather, we all carried machetes, There was no GPS – so we navigated with an altimeter to locate the streams we wanted to follow and the exit sites that would then lead us up to the ridge to the top of the pali. I was the only experienced climber and only brought 150′ of 11mm goldline, some webbing and carabiners. We spent the first night at the confluence on Ioa side as planned – but had to bivy late in the afternoon between two waterfalls – the next one too difficult to rappel late in the afternoon. We eventually arrived at the Olowalu store at 5:30 – half hour before it closed. I always felt that committing to the Olowalu stream too soon from the top of the pali facing Olowalu was a mistake and that a much easier route might be found to the north as it seems like a wider, less steep descent – but I wouldn’t trust that unless I had some real beta from someone who had made that trek. Steve Lysen’s info is intriguing – but I cannot decipher exactly how that relates to a topo map. Anyway, I was a joy to come across your site and your account of your trip – I did write up a story about our trip and I took some terrible photos with my Nikonos underwater camera. We will have to share some stories. BTW – you may be inspired to try another cross island trek – that I completed back in the 70s – crossing Tahiti Iti from Teahupoo to Tautira – on mostly animal trails – following two streams with a sharp ridge in the middle – it took two days on a solo trek. Cheers, Peter Bricca
I’ve often wondered if going from Olowalu into Iao would be easier?
Been deep deep into Olowalu but never made it over the ridge. Mahalos!
Awesome Trek, it has been a love of mine here on Maui for years. You two did a fabulous job of documenting it. I have never heard of the wasp problem. I don’t doubt it all. Ouch. It seems we are losing many more species than we are gaining. Watching Maui lose even the invasive species is sad. I liked the mongooses. The praying mantis I really miss.
Thank you for an excellent overview of your adventure. Remember, every 10 years it’s almost a completely new trek with the erosion and flood damage. The 2016 flood that washed out Iao, hit Olowalu hard as well.
Aloha and Mahalo