Hiking to the Pali Notches

Climbing out of the notch

Artist rendition of the Pali battle

Life on the ridge line

 High up in the Koolau mountain range here on Oahu sit two massive notches, carved out of the rocky ridge. The story is that the warrior chief Kalanikapuli had these notches cut out in 1795 in order to place western canons. This was all in hopes of stopping the advancing armies of another warrior chief name Kamehameha. The canons proved to be a huge force for the defenders of Oahu but victory in the end belonged to Kamehameha. With this victory high atop the Pali cliffs Kamehameha was able to unite all the islands and create the Kingdom of Hawaii. An artist's rendition of the famous battle of the pali cliffs still greets visitors at the lookout today.

Bigger, steeper second notch

Nu'uanu Valley

  I have been to the lookout many times and have even hiked up to the ridge line on the north side of the lookout where the famous Pali Puka is, but I had never tackled the hike/scramble up to the Pali Notches before today. I was almost turned around by a little drizzle when I first arrived so I spent a little time on the old Pali road, another hike that is in the area. Then as the rain clouds dispersed I saw my chance. I quickly snuck past the no hiking sign and climbed out of view into the forest above.

  After some very slippery scrambling up the steep trail I emerged onto an open area high above the parking lot. I looked all around but could not find the notches. It turns out that they were still a long ways up. So back into the forest I went following the trail higher still. Some parts of the trail puts you pretty close to the edge of these thousand foot cliffs, but luckily the rain had stopped and the wind was almost nonexistent. The views to the south towards Honolulu were amazing. Nuuanu Valley opened up underneath me drawing my view further in till it reached the ocean.

Continuing past the notches

On Top of the World

   When I finally did make it to the notches I was surprised to see other people. A group of Norwegian visitors were soaking in the sun on some of the rocky peaks above the notches. I guess I had figured that no one else would have scrambled up the slippery trail so shortly after a rainfall but I was wrong. It was a beautiful sight that reminded me of a hike I did back in Fiji with similar rock formations at the top. I made sure to climb down into the first notch just to say I stood in the same place the canons were so many years ago. The view opened up all the way to the Moke islands of Lanikai beach although I could see intermittent rainshowers in that direction. If I would have had more time I would have explored further but work beckoned. Going down was tough at first but after getting the hang of it I flew back down to the car.

Kailua from above