Surefire Kroma Mod

I recently became interested in flashlights because I've gone on a bunch of night hikes and realized I should carry something brighter than a mini maglite. Flashlights have come a long way since those huge baton style maglites everybody is so familiar with. I did some research and checked out some LED lights online and found out there are quite a few manufacturers of high powered LED lights. I also decided that I wanted some color LEDs in my light, such as red and blue, just in case I wanted to use those colors out hiking. After exploring the internet, I found a flashlight that had those functions: the Surefire Kroma. The Kroma still wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I did some research online and decided to modify the light. There are other Surefire Kroma mod threads on forums, and a google search of "surefire kroma mod" will bring up most of them. I've decided to document some of my Kroma adventures here in case anyone else would like to try to mod theirs. I'm a little late to the party, but the Kroma is still a cool light.

The list of modifications I planned for the Kroma are:
-Change the power LED to an XM-L
-Change the reflector from TIR to an orange peel reflector as seen here
-Change the infrared LEDs to ultraviolet LEDs
-Bore out the battery tube to fit an 18650 battery

Here's a picture of my Kroma milspec:

My First Time to Kaena Point

On Thursday night, March 29, I accompanied Kevin on a night hike that was more of a walk than a hike. The real purpose of the night hike was to create a memorial for Kevin's and many other hikers' good friend, Leslie Merrell. I never met Les, but he was an avid and experienced hiker who was killed when he fell from the bear claw trail. There is a cave at Kaena Point that he is known for, and our mission was to carry quikrete to the cave so we could create a memorial for him. Kevin bought a plastic plaque with Les's name on it and planned to set it in cement. Since this was not the trail Les lost his life on, the more expensive plaque is planned to be placed on the bear claw summit.

Olomana in the day and Kuliʻouʻou at Night

Last night, I went with Kevin and his friend, Aaron, on a hike up Kuliʻouʻou. We started around 6 in the evening and were on a quest to find a quick and easy way to get up the mountain. We didn't take the normal route but took a different route that was marked with ribbons instead. This was after I went with my friend Aaron T., a different Aaron, to Olomana and to the Pillboxes, so I had an adventurous day.

It's been a while

I haven't really done any new hikes since the last post because of work and school. Kevin and I have been going back and checking out that hike at the pali where there's supposed to be a wreckage of an old WWII airplane. We found it in lots of pieces scattered around on the trail, and most pieces are being overtaken by the plants on the mountain.

For this summer, I'm gonna be working everyday until next week, so if anything i only have time to surf after work and can't really hike. We've been going out to tongg's, which has become a regular spot for us because it's fun and there's almost always street parking.

If we go on any new hikes, I'll be sure to put some stuff up about them.

Pali Hikes

Yesterday, Kevin wanted to check out the hikes at the Pali so we went down to the Pali lookout around 1:00. We went up the right side then came down and checked out the trail to the left. after doing some research, i found out that the right side trail is the Pali Notches trail and the left is the Pali Puka trail. For detailed descriptions, check out the Pali Notches and Pali Puka writeups from Island Trails. Also see the Pali Notches and Pali Puka hikes from Martyna and Allegra's Hiking Blog. Since we just came to see what the trails were like, i didn't bring a camera.

Straight from the parking lot, we climbed up the side of the mountain where a trail was visible, and into a forest of ironwood trees that would take us to the Pali notches. On our way up, we ran into another hiker, Ian, who was also climbing up the mountain that day. The climb gains elevation pretty quickly and within 15-20 minutes we came upon an opening where the forest ended and mountain terrain took over. It was exceptionally windy that day, and Kevin, having climbed up the trail before, said it was out of the ordinary. We were getting blown around just trying to stand. With the gales starting and stopping randomly, we decided not to try the notches that day and come back when the wind calmed down. We went up a little more then came back down and chilled for a little bit before turning around and returning to the parking lot.

To the other side where the bus parking lots are, we tried the Pali Puka trail that was hidden behind a bamboo forest. The rock wall that lines the parking lot is damaged where the opening to the trail is, so it wasnt hard to find. The trail climbs through the bamboo forest then opens out to a path along the ridge that looks like most Koʻolau ridge hikes. When the path takes you along the ridge, the path is about a foot wide or less, so don't slip. There are many plants to hold onto that are stable so it wasnt so bad, and the wind wasnt trying to pick us up off the mountain as much as it was on the notches side. At the end of the trail, you reach a hole in the mountain - the puka, and if you stand in front of it on a really windy day like the one we went up, it'd probably be like sticking your whole body out of the car window going down the H3. The winds coming from the puka are cold and intense, and if you can't balance, you'll be blown down the mountain. The trail only ends at the puka because there's a huge vertical about 50 feet tall that prevents you from getting any higher. There didn't seem to be any way up or around the vertical so we might come back with equipment and find a way to continue past the puka.

We didn't even get to the Pali Notches because of the winds, but on a calmer day, the notches will probably be lots of fun. The puka was kinda disappointing but if there's a way to continue on upward, we'll find it. Both of the hikes together took us about 2 hours, so not very long compared to other hikes. The puka takes about 30 to 45 minutes and the trail to the notches took us over an hour because we were battling the winds to move around on the mountain.

The next time we do the Pali hikes, I'll make sure to take the camera and get some good pics, and hopefully that'll be soon because the notches seem like a worthy hike.