For some reason I awoke at 5:30 am even though my alarm was set
for 5:50.
Since I was wide awake I got up and fed myself. Two pack of oat meal
instead of the usual one. Perhaps I'd eat less on the trail today.
Since I
was up early I fed my half golden retriever half Doberman and took a walk
around the yard with him. At 7 o'clock I left for 7-11 where my lunch was
waiting.
On the road I was thinking what a great day yesterday was, weatherwise. In
the late afternoon I drove to Wamanalo and the slide show by Kost Pankiwskj
at the club house. The skies were so clear, so beautifully blue. The
only
cloud I saw over the Ko`olau Mountains was over Konahuanui. I was wishing
for a day like that so I could get lots of pictures taken. But to my
surprise as I rounded Makakilo I saw thick heavy dark rain clouds all over
the mountains.
I arrived at Waiau District Park around 7:40 am to find Lynn Agena already
there. Soon the rest showed up, to save time typing names I just copied
and
pasted the names from Dayles write up. They were Ralph Valentino, Laura
Owens, Bill Gorst, John Hall, Connie Muscheck, Gordon Muschek, Arnold
Fujioka, Carole K. Moon, June Miyasato, Deetsie Chave, Tom Yoza and Lynn
Agena and of course da boss Ma Mabel.
We drove up just shy of the guard shake and everyone climbed into either my
truck or Ralph's. This way we only took up two parking space at the trail
head. Nice people that we are :-). At 8:30 we began walking first up
the
paved road and then the old Hawaiian Electric/Cattleman's road which ends
just shy of the first power tower. By this time we were beginning to
stretch out along the trail according to walking speeds.
The lower trail was not to overgrown and got some work. As Dayle reported
Tom and Arnold were way out in front. I didn't start cutting till I
reached
the Halapepenui Trail head. The ribbon I placed marking (with words) Waiau
Summit back last November was still there and readable, but was all
twisted
up. I untwisted it and stretched it across two branches. The
Halapepe
marked ribbon I left was gone. John Hall went down the Halapepe trail to
explore and see if perhaps it was started as a contour around the last pu`u.
I forgot to ask him what he found when I saw him at the end of the hike.
I walked along with Bill Gorst for a while and then passed him and Laura as
I wanted to get ahead and do some clearing farther mauka. I worked of and
on for a few hours by myself. Laura caught up with me a few times and as
she was working harder than I, I was able to get ahead and by myself again.
I found cutting uluhi easier if you cut into the thickness of the clump
rather than leaving the clearing behind you. Does that make any sense?
Anyway I wound up walking backwards and cutting what would be the left side
of the trail if you were facing mauka.
Laura caught up again and this time we worked together and both wondering
where the "Big Dip" was since neither of us had hiked this far mauka
before.
Around 12 noon we believe we spotted it and began going down. Over the
radio
Dayle had informed us that he and Peter were at the mauka top of the dip
eating lunch. I suggested to Laura that we go down and up and eat lunch in
the same place. She did not argue and off we went. At one point
Dayle and
I yelled out loud and heard each other discovering that we were not to far
apart. We hit the bottom of the dip around 12:25 and could imagine good
old Wing coming down to this spot with out a well defined trail and agreed
that it could have been somewhat confusing.
Around 12:35 on the way up the mauka side of the dip we ran into Peter and
Dayle. At this point I began to wonder why we were doing what we were
doing
when Laura and I had no plans of going beyond the lunch spot. We could
have
eaten at the makai end top! Whatever, we were soon at the top of the dip
and at the lunch spot by say 12:45. As we ate and discussed our personal
histories, since we had never talked much before, voices could be heard
mauka. Ralph and Arnold soon joined us in our little clearing.
After lunch I called my "brother" Mike in Washington State on my new
cell
phone to take advantage of the free long distance. Mike and his wife will
be flying over this week to attend their grandson's 1 year baby luau. My
mouth begins to water when I think of the great Hawaiian Kaukau that will be
served next Saturday. Of course I'll be happy to see them again and their
three kids and their families at the luau. Mike was in the navy with me
here and we hunted together for many many years.
Around 1:20 pm we began hiking makai. Laura, Ralph and Arnold were soon
far
ahead of me as I kept stopping to take pictures since the light rain that we
had off and on all morning had stopped. At the end of this I'll put a link
to the pictures I took This time all I have is 5 or 6 panorama shots.
I never saw those three again until I arrived at the park for our after hike
calorie binge. I kept in contact with Tom by radio as I wandered makai.
I
reached the main road around 3:20 or two hours after starting from the lunch
spot. Not bad, 4 hours in working, two hours out cruzin. As usual
Mabel
had great eats for us, and I was one of the guys who got walked on.
Carole,
with an e, walked up and down my back and asked if it felt good. No I
said,
but we'll see if my back feels any different in a few hours. It didn't but
thanks anyway! Earlier Laura was stomping on Ralph's back.
Considering the small crew we had today the trail looks really great and is
ready for the club hike on June 29th. In late August I will be taking a
few
of my hardest Pecos Hikers up Waimano and down Waiau following in the
footsteps of Dayle and Peter. I'll announce it when I firm up the date and
anyone who wants to come along is welcome. On June 29th we, the Pecos
River
Hikers will be doing the double loop in Kahana Valley hoping to find lots of
ripe Mountain Apples, O`hia ai, like we did last year. Feel free to join
us, we'll be meeting at 9:30 am at the visitor's center.
Pictures follow NEXT
