KH6/KU-011 Nonou Mountain

 We were on vacation in Kaua'i and decided to take a morning to hike up and do some SOTA. The only reasonably accessible peak on the island is this one, Nonou Mountain. It is also know as the Sleeping Giant because of its profile when view from the ocean side.

The west trailhead is a bit higher and a shorter hike, so we started there. There is a little bit of parking at the end of Lokelani Road, and we got a spot there. The trail starts up a grassy area until it enters the forest.

Start of the trail

Once you enter the forest, the mud starts. This is a muddy trail. Slippery and muddy. It is also quite steep in places, especially with all the mud. Be warned.

Heading up through the forest.

There were a fair number of people heading up and down, it seems like it is a popular hike on the east side of Kaua'i. Part way up there is a bench. As we climbed, a small rain shower blew through, which seems like the typical weather pattern on the island.

View down the ridge.

Once you get to the ridge the east side trail joins for the last part. There is a shelter with a picnic table and bench. This area would be great to setup at, but sadly it is below the activation zone, so we continued slipping along the ridge. Below the summit there are some rocky areas, class 2 (or a very easy 3). We decided to setup at a long outcropping just below the summit. It was long enough to run out enough wire for the higher HF bands.

View of Wailua and the ocean.

We had good cell service on top. Since it is a POTA area as well, we spotted for both POTA and SOTA. KN6REU only got one chaser on 10m. AA6XA had no problem on 15m cw. We didn't linger too long on top since there were a bunch of other things we wanted to do that day. The hike down was quicker, but still very muddy and slippery. We made it back to the car without any major falls, and headed down to Lihu'e for some lunch.

Trailhead: Small lot at the end of Lokelani Road. There is also another lot a bit lower on a different road, and on the other side of the mountain.

Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the trail up to the summit. 
Red Tape: None.
Video: ham_bitious youtube