I have to lead a hike in upper Nuuanu for the club next Saturday, so I wanted to cover the route to put up ribbons and make sure things were okay. While I like to have a few others with me when I do these hike-thrus, everyone else had other plans or preferences (many folks were helping to clear the Kipapa trail today), so I ended up solo. This morning at 8, I swung over to the trailhead at the top of Nuuanu Pali Drive. Steve Poor had indicated he would join me unless the surf on the north shore was up (it was), so when 8:15 arrived and Mr. Poor hadn't, I knew he was likely out in the lineup at Waimea or some other wave-riding venue. The weather wasn't looking pretty in Nuuanu, with blustery winds propelling drizzly sheets of rain. And with Steve a no-show, I wasn't enthused about going out alone. So what would be Plan B? It was too late to blitz over to meet the folks doing Kipapa, so that was out. However, the club had a hike on the schedule today (Waimano Pool), and I figured that wouldn't get started till 9, so factoring the time it would take me to drive over to Pacific Palisades, that option was do-able. So Pearl City bound I headed. Gathered at the end of Komo Mai Drive were about twenty hikers, the overwhelming majority females, most whom I hadn't met or if so, only in passing. I did know several of the gatherees, including Mabel, Fred Casciano, George Shoemaker, Clayton Kong, Andree Paradis, Joyce Tomlinson (hike coordinator), Janice Nako-Piburn, and Justin Ohara. While listening to Joyce's no-pets/firearms/radios manifesto, I noticed that the upslope conditions were gray and ominous. "Let's hope for no rain," I thought. The hike to the pool isn't a long one and in about an hour we had reached it, which I've seen with much more water. Because of the cold, overcast pall, and perhaps because of Janice's pre-hike warning about leptospirosis, no one was up for a swim. In fact, some just lingered a few minutes then headed back up the trail and back to the cars. Instead of following everyone up, I took a diversionary trip downstream for a few minutes then picked up a splinter trail through strawberry guava to get back to the main up/down route to the stream. I ground out the hike up cardiac hill (Mabel's term) then hiked back to my car, declining Justin's hospitable offer of fruits and drinks. On the drive back on H-1, I noticed the weather situation in upper Nuuanu had improved. Maybe I'd still have a chance to scout out the next Saturday's route after all. So I drove up Pali Highway and yes, indeed, the weather was much better than a few hours earlier. Feeling much better about hiking solo under improved conditions, I parked by the hunter check-in, shouldered my pack, grabbed my hiking stick, and dashed across Pali Highway to the start of the trail. A few steps into the forest, I noticed 8 to 10 young black pigs rooting near a hau thicket about 20 yards away. I stood silently, watching them for a minute, and then the wind shifted, and, boom, one of them caught my scent (ripe from the earlier hike, no doubt). That started na pua'a on a fleeing bolt through the forest away from me--a pig stampede, as it were. After the keiki pua'a dispersed into their muddy realm, I scanned the area for mama pua'a, who might likely be pissed off that I had frightened her youngens. Seeing nada mama, I continued on. Moving quickly as I am wont to do, I noticed ribbons on the ground. So instead of tying new ones, I picked up the ripped down ones and re-tied them to mark the way, which is jumbled and confusing. Luckily, I've hiked in this area several times, so I knew the general direction to head if I lost the trail. After a few minutes, the path descended a slope to cross a tiny stream (Makuku) then climbed a narrow gully to emerge on a trail along the Makuku Ditch. I continued to pick up and re-tie discarded ribbons and noticed that someone had come through and sawed fallen trees since my last hike in the area. The trail followed the ditch for maybe a half-mile and ended at a tunnel. The ditch fronting the tunnel often is muddy (usually very muddy), but today it was bone dry. I poked my head into the tunnel and saw that the ground in it too was as dry as my skin on a windy day. Going thru the 100-yard tunnel is the quickest way to reach Hillebrand Glen (aka Mo'ole Valley), but I was without flashlight and not in the mood to duck thru the 6-foot-high tunnel in darkness. So I made the short climb up and over the ridge the tunnel cuts thru and descended via a contour trail to the tunnel's farside in the Glen. >From there, I followed a rough trail that headed up a trickling Mo'ole Stream. In a minute or two, I came upon a small waterfall and climbed up a slope on the right to get by it. I continued upstream for a bit more and then again climbed up on the right to begin a bypass of a much larger waterfall ahead. There are many ribbons from past visits on the contour bypass, so the way is easy to follow. At one point, I stopped to do some grading on a section that had been swept away by a rockslide. Eventually, the high waterfall was passed and I descended back to the stream, noting multiple pig scat and areas pigs have damaged. I continued upstream, hiking mostly on the banks and crossing the stream occasionally. I then came upon another waterfall that I bypassed on the left. Upstream progression continued and I climbed to the right of yet another waterfall with the help of a long rope. Later, I bypassed another very high waterfall via a steep climb on the right. On a past hike, we put a cable in one section of the bypass. After descending back to the stream and heading up it a bit, I arrived at the point on the left where I could climb a steep trail up to Alewa Ridge. Pat and I pounded our way up this route a couple of years ago and though hikers have gone up this since then, the numbers have been relatively low. Add the passing of time and a good deal of rain, and what you have is a ridge that needs to be pounded open again. I did what I could on the way up, knowing there was only so much a single machete can do. I reached the crest of severely windswept Alewa Ridge and paused a minute to drink some water (I had eaten lunch on the drive over from Pearl City so I wasn't hungry--hunger would come later). I then dropped my pack and then headed to the summit of Lanihuli via an overgrown trail. I crested out in 20 minutes on a cloudfree summit. The wind was still blasting, and I was without jacket, so I quickly scanned civilization below to find my house in Kaneohe, and having found it, or what my mind told me was it, I departed and began descending. In twenty minutes, I had returned to where I'd left my pack. I gave thought to returning the way I'd came, but opted to continue makai on Alewa Ridge and descend back to lower Moole via Brandon Stone's spur ridge trail. That meant traversing the once-vaunted straddle ridge (now it doesn't seem bad at all), passing the junction with Kamanaiki Ridge (I'd hiked up to this junction with Wing a few years ago), and then the arriving at the junction with Brandon's trail. This was also overgrown but became more manageable lower down. Once at the base of the spur ridge, I was able to weave my way through a jumble of pig and hunter trails to arrive back at the tunnel at the end of Makuku Ditch. From there, it was a routine hike back to Pali Highway and my car at the end of Nuuanu Pali Drive. After a shower at home, I was ravenous, and I prepared myself a sumptuous meal, the kind that would make Wing pine for his favorite beef broccoli noodles. As a postscript, I've decided to return to put up some additional ribbons and do a bit more clearing this Wednesday. I hope some of the Wednesday hiking gang can join me. --dkt
Comments
Post a Comment