Pu'u o Kila

Kahana is broad. Kahana is green. Kahana is also home to Pu'u o Kila,
which we hiked to today.  Our main objective was to clear a
loop route the club uses to acquire Kila's summit, and 17 turned out to
tend to the task.  The members-only club hike will be on Sunday, March 4.

Roll call:  Mabel Kekina, Gordon Muschek, Connie Muschek, John Hall, Jay
Feldman, Bill Gorst, Roger Breton, Arnold Fujioka, Grant Oka, Georgina
Oka, Dick Cowan, Peter Kempf, Dusty Klein, Ed Gilman, George Shoemaker,
Tom Yoza, Dayle Turner.  

>From the hunter's check-in where we started, Kila is visible toward
the back of the massive maw that is Kahana. Jay, Dusty, Roger, Mabel, and
Connie crossed the dam and headed back on the valley trail to tend to the
left-hand ridge.  Meanwhile, a dozen of us headed up the watertank road
then continued down to the stream crossing by the bamboo grove to
eventually reach the right-hand (north) ridge.

Our group encountered a hunter and his dogs by the junction with the start
of the Kila trail.  A dark-skinned local guy, he was friendly
and later joined us for posthike refreshments.

The route to Kila was overgrown with uluhe, which wasn't surprising since
Kahana is quite rainy and the trail likely sees light traffic, if any at
all.  While our group worked our way up the ridge, we kept in
walkie-talkie contact with Jay, Dusty, and Mabel of the left-hand ridge
team.  While I'm respectful in my radio conversations with Mabel, I'm
prone to firing (friendly) insults at Jay and Dusty, and
vice-versa (though I'll admit I'm usually the instigator).  Jay, whose
group was using a hedge trimmer, volunteered me to carry it out after they
were done using it.  Of course, I balked at the suggestion and rained down
barbs on the glib Mr. Feldman.

Later after lunch, Dusty, in response to jovial hooting and hollering I
was doing while descending from Kila's summit, barked into his
walkie-talkie, "Shaddap and start working!"  Dusty has taken to
addressing me as "wimp," especially when I express my dismay for hauling
the hedge trimmer.  But it's all in fun (you are just kidding, right,
Dusty?).

Even with all the walkie-talkie insults, we actually did some work. The
majority of the right-hand ridge dozen reached Kila's summit before noon,
slumping down to eat lunch there.  Meanwhile, the left-hand team members
had yet to arrive, claiming heavy uluhe overgrowth was slowing their
progress.  Via walkie-talkie, we encouraged them to climb to the summit
and leave what was left for our larger group, but Jay and company, perhaps
spurred on by pride, ego and/or the possibility of insults from our group,
stuck to the task. Jay also requested that we dispatch members of our team
down the ridge to help clear, and, ever the loyal helpers, we responded to
his request. :-)

For those who've never hiked to Kila, be prepared for very steep
ascending & descending up to and down from the summit.  Ample
trees and roots are available for handholds but dislodged rocks can be a
hazard, especially on the descent of the upper part of the left-hand
ridge.

** Udda stuff **

Around lunchtime, we heard from Charlotte via walkie talkie. She was
assisting friends with an important mission on a nearby ridge.  It was
good to hear from her.

Georgina, just 16, hiked impressively today, reaching the summit of Kila
not long after the lead group.  The time may soon come when she will power
by me on a ridge ascent, and on that day I will kneel down to salute her
painted-toenail feet.

Georgina's dad, Grant, was on hand after having missed a bunch of
recent Sundays due to work demands.  It's always good to have
Grant and his mega-loppers on the trail with us.

Roger and Ed have plans to climb Kipapa Windward (from Waiahole) to the
Koolau summit tomorrow morning then head northbound on the KST to descend
the Waikane trail.  While I'd like to join them, I've entered the Great
Aloha Run and will be jogging along with 20K+ folks from Aloha Tower to
Aloha Stadium.

Peter reported having a successful backpack trip to Kalalau recently.  A
couple spells of wind and rain put a slight mar on an otherwise pleasant
four days.

After today's outing, George told me about topo map software he has from
delorme.com.  I just checked out the website and am giving serious thought
to purchasing software.

Tom is considering exploring Maunawili yet again tomorrow.  Anyone
interested in this can email him at tyoza@gte.net

Dick told us his wife Brenda is recovering nicely.  We all wish her well.

About a dozen regulars on the TM crew were taking part in a backpacking
outing in the Pahole area of the Waianaes. We look forward to having them
back with us next Sunday, when we tackle the route from Pupukea to
Laie.  Meeting time is 8 a.m. at the ballpark in Laie (some will start at
the Pupukea end--contact Mabel and/or Larry & Kris for details).

--dkt