When the Malaekahana Ridge Trail was Overgrown

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Laie-Malaekahana - February 13, 2016

It's February 2016 and this is my first hike of the year. With Jared's baseball and Malia's dance, weekends have been busy. I was invited by Kikaida (Kenji) to Laie-Malaekahana. He hasn't done it before and wanted to check it off the list. He invited his usual hiking partners and I invited Bernice from OAG's.

Start time was at 7am. I got there 5 minutes late because I had to go to the bathroom. The only bathroom before Laie field that I know of is Malaekahana Beach Park. I stopped there to pee, then headed off to Laie field. I was the last one there and met the crew for the day. Joining us was Kenji, Glen, Justin, Thessa, Dale, Bernice, and I. We started at 9:10am on the Laie trail. 

Since I haven't hiked in a while, my cardio was weak. I could run uphills with no problem, but try hike uphills when your not in hiking shape, its a difficult thing to do. After 2.5 hours, Bernice, Dale, Thessa, Glen and I got to the foxhole of Laie. Kenji and Justin was already waiting 30 minutes for us at the top. It was raining and I was freakin cold. But not as cold and Kenji and Justin who were shivering at the top. After a quick snack, we headed on the KST towards Malaekahana.

It was severely overgrown and I had a hard time making out the trail. Justin was behind me helping me out as the trail seemed to disappear from time to time. Not wearing my long socks was brutal on my legs as the uluhe scratched the hell out of it. I have to remember to always wear my long soccer socks. After hiking on the KST for about an hour, I started second guessing myself about where the Malaekahana summit was. Something told me that we were so close. After a few failed attempts, I finally pulled my track off my phone. It seemed we were exactly where we needed to be. However, I didn't remember the Malaekahana summit being at the top of nowhere, there was wasn't even a clearing to indicate a summit. 

Bernice found a trail that headed up, then down. This I though was the Malaekahana trail. It was way more open last time we crossed it back when we did Pupukea-Laie. Going down was more brutal than the KST. The overgrowth was at times over my head and at times the uluhe connected, making it difficult to progress. We bushwhacked for about 2 hours until we hit the strawberry guava tunnels. Bernice was having the time of her life, but so was I since I haven't hiked in about 2 months. The last part of the trail was fast. Glen and I were in the back and I thought we took a wrong turn near the end, but we heard Thessa voice from afar and new that we were okay. 

Kenji shivering in foxhole

Thessa & Dale eating snacks

KST towards Malaekahana


heading down the dirt hill of Malaekahana

We exited the farm road at about 5pm. I changed clothes and drove to the post hike meal at Papa Ole's. Bernice wanted roast pork, so I got a plate and Kenji did too. One thing good about Kenji's hikes is that he assembles a good crew. The way he picks his crew out is important because those are the people you want to hike with.  

group photo (p.c. Dale)

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