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Hike: 'Ohikilolo |
Time Started: 7:50 AM |
Party: Wayne Shibata & Alex Okihara | |
At the start of the trail is a sign warning about the explosives in Makua Valley.
Following the directions in the Hikers Guide, we found the fence on the ridge. On the
other side of the fence lay Makua Valley.
The fence is not the chain-link type, but looks more like chicken wire.
Early into the trail, there are some drop-offs to climb down.
There are many mountain goats on the trail. They ran away as we approached.
Looking back, you can see how black the first hill is due to some recent military
skirmishes.
The climb starts getting steep after the first hill, and there were many loose rocks.
I decided to go up first, while Wayne waited near the bottom to avoid any falling rocks.
After reaching the first peak, the ridge broadened and the sun started to shine brightly.
At times, the fence went off to the side of the ridge line.
Further on, the trail narrowed on the dike section.
In the background, you can see the fence rising to the top. For most of the trail, the
fence slowed us down. But in some instances, it became very helpful.
Wayne negotiates the narrow dike section.
We continued our ascent in the hot sun. There are very few trees on this trail.
There were many eroded spots along the trail. We continued to follow the fence.
We then decided to take a group shot before continuing on.
For some parts of the trail, I was on auto-pilot and not paying attention to the ground in
front of me. I almost stepped on the remains of a dead billy goat. The unfortunate goat
stuck his head into the fence and couldn't free itself before starving to death.
We reached a flat peak, which we had mistakenly thought to be the end of the trail. On the
right side of the photo, you can see the still higher peak which marked the end of the
trail.
Closer, the peak looked scarier. There was no fence to assist us in our climb to the
top.
Continuing on, there were many eroded sections with loose gravel. This photo marks the
end of the fence. However, the trail continues on.
I started my climb up the mountain. After hanging onto the fence for so long, it felt
weird to be without it.
I finally reached the top! It's a fast climb to the top, and the views are amazing.
Coming back down, we could see all the way down to Ka'ena Point.
The setting sun painted the mountains a brilliant shade of orange.
We decided to wait for the sun to set into the ocean before going home.
Summary:
'Ohikilolo was pretty grueling. It was hot in the morning until about 10, when the clouds rolled in and it started to drizzle. It was also very long. There were many times that I thought we were near the peak, only to discover that there was a higher peak ahead.
Along 99% of the trail, there is a wire fence (it looks more like chicken wire than the chain link fences that you see at parks). This is good and bad. The good thing is that there is something to hang on to on the really narrow dike sections. The bad thing is that it gets in the way. It takes the thrill away from walking on a narrow section. I also got pretty tired of seeing the fence for so long.
There were several cool things that happened to us. The first is that I got to see billy goats. About 10 minutes after gaining the ridgeline, we could hear there calls. In the distance there was a whole herd of them, and they watched us with caution. As we approached, they fled. For some reason, I wondered to myself how billy goats got their water, what they eat, and what happens to them when they die.
Proceeding further, we went through a number of saddles, first climbing, and then descending. Next we encountered the narrow dike section and much later, we encountered eroded sections. The worst eroded section was this part where the fence goes along a contour off of the ridgeline. It was mostly a pain to walk sideways on sloping ground. The rocks were very crumbly there.
A little past the eroded section, the trail got better. There was much more vegetation again. As we approached the flat section near the top, we came across a dead billy goat. I almost stepped on him because I wasn't paying attention. I named him Billy. He got his head stuck in the fence and couldn't get it out because of his horns. All that was left of him was his head, still stuck in the fence, and the a black carpet of fur that was his deflated body. I guess he must have starved to death.
As we climbed further, we came to the flat section that I had thought was the peak. However, in the distance, I could see yet another peak, much higher than the one we were on. The Hikers Guide verified that the top lay further ahead of where we were. So we continued onward.
A little later, we saw another heard of billy goats on the ridge to the right of us. Wayne busted out his binoculars, and we were able to see them close up. There were about 7 of them. One of the goats had really big horns. All of the goats were looking at another billy goat who appeared to be injured or sick. The fur seemed missing from the upper half of its body. When I saw it, it was standing. Then all of a sudden, it did this flip, and fell to the ground where it lay motionless. It was so motionless, that I wondered if I had really seen it flip, or if it was just my hands trying to stabilize the binoculars. I am pretty sure it did a flip though.
Anyway, back to the hike. The fence soon ended, and Wayne wanted to save his energy, so he decided to wait while I went up the peak alone. It was a great feeling to get away from the fence, but the climb looked extremely steep. In reality, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was, and it must have only taken about a minute to climb to the top.
From the top, the view was awesome. I could see rains approaching us from Mt. Ka'ala and Pu'u Kalena. It was 2:45. After taking some pictures, I decided to head back down because it was getting late.
Our journey back down was slowed by the fence. In many parts, we crossed over the fence so we could walk on a wider path. It started to rain, lightly at first, and then a little more heavily. It was also getting cold. I decided to throw on my disposable plastic poncho. About 5 minutes later, it wasn't raining as heavily, and I took off the poncho.
Since it was getting late, we decided to wait for the sun to set. It's not too often that I get to see the sun set into the ocean.
Further down, we came across more billy goats feeding on some grass. I managed to snap some pictures of them before they ran off.
As we got closer to where we had started off, the sun continued its disappearing act. The sky wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped, so after waiting for a while, we decided to head back to the car before it got too dark. Going down the initial rise, I missed a turning point, and instead continued to follow the fence. This was a mistake, because we ended up inside of Makua Valley. I came to this discovery when I noticed that the barbed wire on the top of the fence was facing a weird position. It was angled away from us instead of toward us. We quickly scurried around to the outside of the fence, hoping not to step on any unexploded mines.
We finally reached the car at 7:10 PM. What an adventure! Wayne said that he would never do that hike again, but I think it would be fun... if the fence was gone.