Hike: The Dupont Trail Date: Saturday, February 7, 1998 Weather: Clear and sunny in the morning, overcast in the afternoon Time Started: 9:18 AM Time Finished: 8:47 PM Round trip duration: ~ 11.5 hours Party: Grant Tokumi, Wayne Shibata, & Alex Okihara The beginning part of the trail starts off on a road next to Waialua High School. The road is a couple of miles long, but luckily, we caught a ride with a group of people passing by in a truck. In the background is the massive Mt. Ka'ala. After hopping over a fence, we started our journey through the pastures. There were many cows along the way. We decided to take our first group shot at an eroded section. The trail climbed gradually from the bottom to here, where it started to get steep. After some time and some very steep climbing, we looked back at the distant North Shore. Here's Grant hanging on for dear life! It started to get very hot, so we decided to take another break and another group shot. Grant is so happy, he starts to dance! Along the way were some steep, crumbly, and badly eroded sections. Thin cables were there for assistance. Wayne and Grant approach the 30 foot drop, probably the most scary part of the hike. The section, however, is only near-vertical. After the steep drop, we started to encounter very overgrown blackberry bushes, which I call thorny bushes. The thorny bushes are EVIL. Luckily, I wore long pants and was armed with Wayne's machete. However, the machete was dull and proved ineffective in clearing the thorny bushes. After some trailclearing, we made it to the first radar installation. Further up, we encountered stairs and another shack. The climb was steep, and we started our walk in the clouds. Finally, we reached the sign marking the end of the hiking trail. However, we decided to continue up on the road in search of the bog. After going the wrong way, we finally made it to the boardwalk, and then to a sign marking the Ka'ala natural reserve. The boardwalk is there to protect the native plants. Markers are provided along the way also. There is also a lot of moss in the bog. Continuing on, we made it out past the bog, overlooking the Wai'anae Ka'ala Trail . The overcast weather made it very cold up there. After lunch at 4 PM, we decided that we didn't want to chance getting stuck in the dark on the way down. We decided to walk down the road and find our way back. To save our knees from excess abuse, we alternated walking forward with walking backward and walking sideward. The sun started to set, and we were still walking down the 6 mile long road. Finally, we made it out, climbing over a gate. Lights near Waialua High School guided us back safely to our car.