11-12-2013: Waiʻanae Summit Trail - Kealia to KPSTS

CAUTION: The Waiʻanae Mountain Range is located on properties owned by the U.S. government, the U.S. military of all branches, the state of Hawaiʻi via departments, and private owners. The mountain ridges and valleys are also home to a delicate and vast array of native plants, animals, and insects. Please take care not to disturb them or their native habitats and always seek permission to access these lands. Always do your research prior to setting out. And finally, once you are out there, always minimize your impact to the environment and of course, be safe.

Kalani and I hiked the section of the WST between Kealia and the Kaʻena Point Satellite Tracking Station.  In a previous hike, another group and I were hoping to cover the KPSTS in it's entirely from Kaʻena Point to Kealia but we were caught by the Air Force guys operating the station and were escorted down.  In order to continue the segment hike of the Waiʻanae Mountains, it mean't having to return to KPSTS.  I didn't like the idea of having to return to a restricted area.  So the plan today was to skirt the boundary of the installation, turn around, and head back to Kealia.  However, I had a flight that evening so time would pressure us on this day.

We began at 8am up the Kealia Trail.  The morning sun was already starting to get strong and weather called for partly cloudy skies and a light trade.  We took a short break at the picnic table just above the switchbacks.  Beyond on the dirt road, we came across three local guys in a white truck.  After exchanging pleasantries, they asked us if we came up from Dillingham Airfield and if there was a way to drive their truck down to a point in Waialua from where we were standing at the moment.  I pointed out that the road does head makai but I didn't know the exact location as I've only hiked up via the hiking trail.  We said our goodbyes and continued on our way towards the summit.

Shortly before topping out at the Makua Valley overlook, we came across a junction with a sign pointing in the direction of KPSTS.  We've figured this would be the route to take, but since Kalani has never been to the terminus before, we would skip this for now.  At around 10am, we were at the top and could see the valley below.  I scanned the summit ridge to the northwest and noticed another group of hikers coming in our direction.  I wondered if they came from KPSTS on the crest.  After exchanging waves, we headed back down to the signed junction.  We'll just follow the dirt road all the way to the facility.  

Little that we knew, this would end up being a much longer walk than the crest.  However, we were treated to some fine views of the North Shore on some portions of the road.  On the leeward facing side, we noticed how far the road takes us windward to the summit crest and how winding it was.  I glanced at the time and was starting to get concerned with my flight that evening.  Judging by the distance of this road, I wasn't liking the idea of heading back.  Looks like it's going to be plan b and intentionally getting the escort from KPSTS.

As we got closer, we could easily make out the white "golfballs".  We were getting close.  We soon heard a motorized vehicle.  Thinking it was military, we dashed off into the bushes.  Turns out it was a United States Department of Agriculture vehicle.  Apparently the driver saw us dart off the road and stopped to ask what we were doing and what our intentions were.  He said that the installation was about a mile up ahead and that it was restricted to hikers.  We acknowledged and he motored off in the Kealia direction.  We proceeded ahead and it wasn't long before we came upon the boundary of the installation.

Stop here, turn around, and head back the way we came?  Or push on and seek the nearest guard?  We opted for the latter and made our first steps onto KPSTS.  It didn't take long before I realized that we reached the exact location where we got picked up last time.  Around 100ft and we would have made the crossing without having to get the escort the first time, avoiding an unnecessary return here.  Nevertheless, we were here, our journey complete for this stretch.  There was a worker standing near a building so we walked there and raised him.  He was an older looking fellow.  After formalities about being on premises were stated and contacting an MP to escort us down to Keawaula Beach (Yoks), he was quite amazed on how we were section hiking the Waiʻanaes.  He said before the station was even built, he would hike around the hills here back in the day.  He was sadden that now the station was built, no longer could we hike around here now.

As we continued to converse with the worker, two uniformed Air Force guys in a truck rolled up and took us down.  They were hikers themselves and were intrigued about our intentions on the Waiʻanaes.  The drive down was incredible.  The views of Keawaula Beach down below is rarely seen.  They dropped us at Farrington Hwy., near the main gate, exchanged goodbyes, and off they went towards town, apparently their shift over.

I called Jerry in Ewa Beach to pick us up (Mahalo nui!).  While we waited, Kalani went to venture around the beach while I plopped down in a grassy area near the restrooms and looked back up at the white golf balls high above.

"Finally..", I whispered to myself and drifted off to sleep.

Video coming soon!

11-1-2013: Waiʻanae Summit Trail - Kaʻena Point to KPSTS

I want to wish all of you a Happy 4th of July, Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's Day, and soon to be Happy St. Patrick's Day!  That's because the last time I've updated this was back in June of last year!  I've been just so busy with life that I couldn't even keep up with this blog.  I am also extremely behind in video documentation.  Remember the time in late 2012 to early 2013 when the lava fields were active down by Kalapana, Big Island?  I still have video footage of that event that I still have yet to release.  The year in review video for 2012 and 2013 was a bust.  Talk about wishing that there were 25 hours in a day.  Will I ever get all of these out to you?  I'll stop making promises but someday, maybe 20 years from now, I just might.  However, during this long period of absence from the blog, I was able to document Oʻahu's western mountain range, the Waiʻanae Mountain Range or the Waiʻanaes for short.  The Waiʻanaes is the older of the two ancient remnants of the two shield volcanoes that formed the island of Oʻahu.  Both have had makai (ocean) facing flanks destroyed in massive landslides.  The Koʻolau lost it's windward flanks about a million years ago and the Waiʻanae lost it's leeward flank about 3 million years ago, forming the shape of the island that we recognize today.

Just like the Koʻolaus, I wanted to document the Waiʻanaes by hiking it's entire summit ridge in segments also known as section hiking (as opposed to thru hiking).  The first segment would be the northwestern most end of the Waiʻanae Mountains from Kaʻena Point to a point on the crest that contains the Kaʻena Point Satellite Station, which is operated by the United States Air Force.  But before you continue reading this write up, please read the following paragraph as I will also include this for all the upcoming write ups of this mountain range.

CAUTION: The Waiʻanae Mountain Range is located on properties owned by the U.S. government, the U.S. military of all branches, the state of Hawaiʻi via departments, and private owners. The mountain ridges and valleys are also home to a delicate and vast array of native plants, animals, and insects. Please take care not to disturb them or their native habitats and always seek permission to access these lands. Always do your research prior to setting out. And finally, once you are out there, always minimize your impact to the environment and of course, be safe.

On this cool clear November morning, Zack, Jon, Marc, Jani, and myself began the first segment of the Waiʻanaes.  Our goal today was to hike out to Kaʻena Point, climb up the ridge line that rises up from the nature preserve which makes up the point itself, and hike along the crest of the Waiʻanae Summit Ridge to KPSTS where there are numerous large white golf ball like structure that house the U.S.A.F. tracking equipment.  One can see these structures clearly from Keawaula Bay, otherwise more commonly called Yokohama Beach or Yoks for short.  From KPSTS, we were to continue all the way to the terminus of the Kealia Trail.  This trail heads down from the summit and north towards Dillingham Airfield.  We opted to start from Mokulēia side because the Keawaula side is too sketchy to stage cars.  The hike to Kaʻena Point was a nice walk under a cool morning sun.  Upon reaching the perimeter fence and it's elevator looking gate of the nature preserve, we headed left, following the fence line until it reached it's highest point.  Here, a faint trail heads upward to a few pillboxes and marks the start of the Waiʻanae Summit Ridge.  This trail appeared to actually receive quite a bit of foot traffic, at least up to the pillboxes.  Upon reaching the first pillbox, a view of Kaʻena Point not commonly seen awaits.  The shape of the point actually resembles a bow of a cruise ship, appearing to plow forward through the bluer than blue ocean of the Pacific.  There were probably around 4 or 5 pillboxes before the trail continues upward to a fence and a few structures of some kind behind it.  It did not take long to realize that we were approaching the KPSTS.

Being a military installation, we had to engage ninja mode for this next section.  If we were to make it to Kealia Trail, we were required to traverse through this installation in it's entirely as it sits completely on the crest of the summit ridge.  It's like in those classic Nintendo or Sega Genesis video games where you have to navigate your character through a set course through a level without being spotted by cameras or an enemy guard.  If you were to get caught, you get a message "Hey!  You're not supposed to be in here!", the screen goes black, and you find your character back at the start of of the level where you have to try again and again and again to progress further in the game.  Today, there would be no reset button or going back to the start of the perimeter fence to try again and again.  If you get caught anywhere on the installation, the military police will escort you down the road and drop you off at Keawaula Beach.  Since we didn't have any cars staged there, it made things problematic for us.

When we reached the fence perimeter of the KPSTS, we followed the fence line on it's northern side.  Soon a very smooth paved road came into view and we could see it head gradually upward, following the crest.  The fence line ended and we were soon walking on this paved road, following it.  Around us were some buildings that housed antennas of some kind and a white golf ball tracking equipment.  We continued to follow up on the paved road when we saw a truck coming towards us from the other direction.  We didn't think much to make an effort to hide.  We just simply kept walking up the road, towards the truck.  The truck stopped and the driver asked what we were doing here and if we knew this was government property.  He then told us that there was a dirt road that parallels the government paved road directly on the north side.  He appeared to be a contract worker and not an MP and pretended that he didn't see us.  So we hopped a ranch looking fence and started walking on the dirt road.  We later found out that this road belonged to DLNR, or the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

We continued on this dirt road for some time and came upon a couple junctions.  We chose the path that kept us relatively closest to the paved road.  Unfortunately, the dirt road ended back onto the paved road, which we were warned not to be on.  We tried to backtrack on a few of those junctions and see if there was any headway around KPSTS but to no avail.  We had probably less than 1,000ft before we cleared KPSTS and were back on hunting grounds.  Jani decided to scout ahead on this paved road for any guard shacks and sure enough there was one.  After a few minutes, she returned, saying the guard will pretend that he didn't see us and pointed to the direction of the trail that would take us to Kealia.  Unfortunately that mean't having to continue on the paved road until we reached said trail.  Off we went and we attempted to book it faster than normal.  We came across a parking area where we spotted some people in civilian clothing.  They said they obtained permits to hike the area so that is some good tidbits to know for the future.  We didn't waste time and continued on our way east on the paved road.  We saw more golf ball structures along the way, which made for a Star Wars feel.  We came across our last bend before we made it to the other side of the installation and back into hunting grounds.  I was following Marc when I noticed Jani and Jon far behind us.  Then we heard the sirens far behind us.  DARN!  We actually didn't see the MP but we also noticed that Jani and Jon were not coming up behind us.  We knew they got caught.  Marc thought for a split second to dash into the brushes on our left but I didn't want to leave them behind.  We stood there for a couple minutes, debating our next move.  Had we just simply continued to walk, we probably would have made it to the hunting area.  Regardless, the MP came up to us in his police truck and told us to get in the truck bed to be escorted off.  Behind him was another government official in his car with Jani and Jon.  We've been caught and knew our hike had come to an end today so we complied without second thought.

When we started down the road switch backs, we were treated to a cool view of Yokohama Beach below.  I thought about filming and taking photos but decided against it.  Upon reaching the bottom, we all got off and the guards said nothing more.  We walked over to the bathroom area of the beach.  Jani and Jon told us that the government official who was driving them in his car had actually debated with the MP in letting us continue on our merry way which could explain the long delay in getting Marc and I.  That would have been nice if they did, since we were only mere feet from crossing back into hunting grounds.  Then we all realized we were at the west side when our cars were staged on Mokulēia!  That meant we had to circumnavigate around the point to get back to our cars, which meant another 5 or 6 extra miles to hike!  Well, we did it and it was actually a pretty neat coastal hike.  When we reached the start of that faint trail again that we took up this morning, I jokingly said "Let's try again!".

With our trek cut short on this day, I had to think that if I were to segment hike the Waiʻanaes, that meant having to visit KPSTS from Kealia, which will be written on a future write up.  Stay tuned!

Wai'anae Mountain Range: Ka'ena Point to KPSTS (GoPro 3 POV)