We hiked through a beautiful forest on the Leeward side of Oahu.

Following the ridge, we summitted Pu’u Keaau.

We hiked across a saddle in the ridgeline and descended Keaau Middle Ridge.

It was a long hike that took most of the day. Keaau is a Hawaii ridge hiker’s dream.

With the heavy rain we had in Hawaii this season, the Waianae Mountains were as green as I’ve ever seen them. It was a perfect time to hike them and my friend Pete had a hike planned.

There are a different ways to hike this area. We did a loop that goes up the front of Pu’u Keaau, turns left (sort of) into a saddle in the ridgeline and then back down Keaau Middle ridge. We were on the trail for something like 8 hours.

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This is photo was taken by Kevin Ford.

Kevin photographs people.

He’s an up-and-coming photographer with talent.

I know Kevin from the rock climbing gym here in Hawaii. Over the past few months Kevin has been building his photography portfolio. Much of it involved shooting photos of our rock climbing friends in Hawaii. Kevin doesn’t only shoot rock climbers though. His passion is photographing people in all types of environments. Kevin just launched his website KevinFPhotography.com and you can see his breadth of work there.

In this post, it’s my privilege to share a selection of Kevin Ford’s photos with you.

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We hiked along a dry stream bed through Makaua Valley in Kaaawa.

At the end, a trickling waterfall chute.

Then the rains came and the trickle turned into this.

And on our hike back, that stream bed was far from dry.

There are many waterfalls on Oahu that only flow during heavy rain. Makaua Falls is one of them. When we heard a storm was approaching the East side of Oahu, Kaleo (Island Trails) suggested we hike to the falls. I had never heard of Makaua Falls but when I looked it up I saw some photos of it on Josh’s 808 Goonies blog. I could see that when flowing, this waterfall is huge and I was stoked to check it out.

Please note though that bad things can happen when hiking through valleys like this. Especially in the rain. So, here’s my disclaimer…

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is for entertainment purposes only. It is extremely dangerous to go searching for waterfalls in the rain. You can easily die in this valley. The valley is narrow and you can be swept away in a flash flood. Also, rocks are constantly falling from up above. Even a rock as small as a golf ball can injure or kill you if it’s falling from 200 feet above. Do not attempt what you see in these pictures.

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Wai Yi  transfers her plants from pots to a planter.

She grows a bunch of herbs and veggies. This is mojito mint.

We’re at the Moiliili Community Garden.

Moiliili (pronounced moe-eelee-eelee) is a district of Honolulu that’s close to the University of Hawaii Manoa. Wai Yi, a geologist and friend from the rock climbing gym, lives there and recently became part of the community garden.

The garden is in a small plot of land between a strip of homes and apartments. The land is divided up into several 10 by 10 plots. If you live in Moiliili you can put your name on a waiting list and when a plot opens up you can use it for a fee of $75 a year.

If you live in a house, this might not seem all that interesting, but I live in a sea of apartments and high-rise condo buildings in Ala Moana. No one around me has a backyard. So, when I heard there was a community garden right down the street from me, I wanted to check it out and see what people were growing.

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