Finding the Plane Wreckage at Pohakea (by mistake)

Pohakea to Palikea - January 7, 2018

Baron invited OAG with him on this hike. He wanted to do a route from Pohakea to Palikea and make a loop out of it. Seemed a little ambitious, but he gave a 10 hour window for it, so there would be time to complete it. 

I was excited as this would be an opportunity to do this section of the WST again and get a chance to see more native plants which is rejuvenating my passion for hiking. 

Erik and Aprille picked Michelle and I at 6:15am and drove us to Walmart Kunia where we met with Baron, Darren, Kellie, Bernice, and Marilou. There would be 9 of us on today's trek. We would carpool in 2 trucks through the Kunia farmlands to the trailhead. 

Baron has mastered this area and so has Darren and Erik, they easily made their way through a maze of dirt roads to the trailhead. We started hiking at about 7:15am. The initial part of the hike was on a jeep road up a steep incline. The grade was like 40%, although that is my estimate, it coulda been worst. 

Coming off the flu, I was struggling with my breathe. We topped out at the Honouliuli Contour Trail and it only took us 10 minutes to get to Pohakea Ridge which Baron made up. There is no name for the ridge. About 1/4 the way up, we took a break. I joked that I seen a plane on the hillside. Everyone laughed, but when they looked, they couldn't believe their eyes, it was a plane! 

We found a faint trail heading towards the plane. The front of the plane was smashed in and the back was bent into a 90 degree angle. The middle of the plane was in tact. Darren was the first down and inspected the wreckage. On first inspection, it looked recent and Bernice did her investigation about what had happened. We thought there would be survivors because the driver's seat was on the wing. Aprille later found out while doing some research that all 4 people died in the plane crash which was in July of 2017. Article found here Kunia Plane Crash 

Back on the ridge, we had a steep incline that took a lot out of everyone. It took us 2 hours to get to a windy WST. Baron wanted to visit the Pohakea Pass to give Marcus Caveman a happy birthday. That is what we did. The Pohakea Pass is an amazing sight on its own which commands a 180 degree view of the Central Plains and Waianae Coast. 

After, we headed back on the WST towards Palikea. We figured the hike would take 2 hours, but it would take longer than that. We initially started on a wide open WST, but it got rough when we hit the uluhe. We bushwhacked for about 1 hour through the uluhe slowing progress. Erik was smart bringing his cutting tools helping open up the trail. It also helps to have 9 people creating a wide open swath for future hikers. 

With the bushwhacking behind us, we headed towards Palikea. The native plants started appearing in abundance and a lot of us were intrigued. We tried to name all of them, but fell short. One site of notice was that the snail enclosure right before the summit of Palikea was destroyed creating disappointment and confusing to why someone would do that. Where did all the snails go? Michelle wanted to see happy faced spiders and rare snails. After about 15 minutes of searching, we couldn't find any. Michelle was disappointed, and I told her you have to be persistent. I know she hates my advice, but not everything in life comes easy. 

On the Palehua-Palikea trail now, Erik found the first happy face spider and Baron found the second. And then, Michelle found 3 snails. She was so excited. LOL. I congratulated her on finding the snails. We wanted to stay forever, but with daylight dwindling, we had to go. Erik led us on the HTMC route that led down Palawai Ridge to the Honouliuli Contour Trail. HTMC hasn't cleared the ridge in a long time and vegetation has taken over parts of the trail. My knees were sore already and probably most of us was feeling pain as we made the steep descent.  

Happy Face Spider

We hit the contour trail at around 4pm and had at least 3 if not 4 more miles to the car. The contour trail was super long, but it beats backtracking and bushwhacking. We shared stories and plans on the 2 hour walk back to the car. We were so tired, but got out before dark. 

Post hike meal was at Thai Village. The food was excellent and I had curry again just like Bangkok Chef. 

Glad to have completed this hike. There was so much more that went on and I could explain it all, but that would be another 1000 words. I'll keep it at that and let the untold experiences stay with the people who were there.