|
The Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Newsletter October - November - December 1999 |
|
|
The Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Newsletter October - November - December 1999 |
DRAMATIC RESCUE!
HTMC MEMBERS FIND LOST DANISH HIKERS!
On Sunday, August 22nd, volun-teer searchers from the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club found two missing young Danish women who had been missing for eight days and were the subject of an intense air and land search. Given below, are four reports by club members who were on the scene or in the valley on the day they were found. The first is by Dayle Turner, who was with the trail clearers in the valley and was able to provide an overview of the events. The sec-ond is a per-sonal account by Jim Pushaw, who was with the party which actually found the women. The third de-scribes a revisit to the mountain by Jim in an unsuccessful attempt to re-trieve some of the women's per-sonal be-longings, and the fourth is another account by Jim detailing a second return to the mountain to try to solve the mystery of where the two women stayed and why they made no attempt to come down for 8 days.
OVERVIEW Dayle Turner
HTMC members Ken Suzuki, Jim Pushaw, Thomas Yoza, and Naomi Nasu will be in the spotlight for their efforts today in Kahana Valley. Motivated by Ken's hunch, the group broke off from the main body of the HTMC trail maintenance crew to see if they could find any sign of the two young Danish women, Anitta Winther & Marianne Konnerup, re-portedly last seen in Kahana on Saturday, August 14th. HTMC mem-ber Joe Bussen and his wife Ruby were hiking in Kahana on that date and they recalled seeing the two women hiking up the road to the wa-ter tank around 12:30. Given that, along with reports from a city bus driver and some Kahana residents, there was plenty of evidence the two were somewhere in Kahana. But where? During the past week, po-lice, fire, and civilian personnel searched Kahana and nearby wind-ward locales without success.
As our trail clearers worked in the valley today (August 22), rescue choppers buzzed overhead while a small crew of police special forces officers searched valley trails on foot. Reports indicated the girls were inexperienced hikers, so the natural assumption was that they'd likely stick to the muddy but safe trails in the valley instead of at-tempting ridge routes to the south (Ohulehule) or north (Pauao). As we'd find out, this as-sumption proved faulty. While we did our work, we kept an eye out for any signs of the girls. Early on, Mabel reported smelling a foul odor on the Na Koa Trail (the extension opened up by Dick Davis). However, this turned out to be a false lead. At noon, most of us continued clearing and searching in the upper part of the valley.
Meanwhile, Ken, Jim, Thomas, and Naomi headed makai to pickup the trail leading over to Ohulehule. When they reached the dirt road leading down to the dam, a crowd of reporters, police, fire and state officials, and family members of the girls were assembled for a press conference. Based on the circum-stances and the search efforts so far, today would likely be the final effort by rescue personnel to look for the girls. If they weren't found today, they probably would never be, at least not alive.
Around 1:30, Ken, Thomas, Jim, and Naomi began the ascent of the spur leading up to Ohulehule. For those who haven't done this, the climb is steep and strenuous, with fixed ropes in a couple of places. While going up, they decided to set a turnaround time of 2 p.m., taking into account their energy level and the time needed to hike back to the cars. While climbing to a saddle in the ridge (elev. 1,560), Jim whooped out, and heard a faint reply of a female voice upridge, something like, "We're here. Can you see us?" Subsequent whoops netted a reply like, "Please help us!" Infused with adrenaline after hearing the cries for help, Thomas, Jim, and Ken pow-ered up the spur to the girls (Naomi was further down the spur). When the girls came into view, they were slowly descending the lowest cable section on the steep face of Ohuleh-ule, encouraged and coached by Thomas, Jim, and Ken. The girls later revealed that they had decid-ed to deal with their fears and at-tempt a descent today, for they felt they wouldn't last much longer if they didn't. Somewhere in all of this, Thomas radioed Mabel Kekina (trail mainte-nance boss) via walkie talkie that they'd found the girls. Meanwhile, Jim tried hailing 911 on his cell phone without success. Ken, at or about this time, was able to get through on his cell phone to 911 (the 911 operator at first was skep-tical about the veracity of the call and took Ken's cell number and called him back for confirmation). Convinced that Ken was on the up--and-up, the operator dispatched a chopper to the valley. While the girls waited for the chopper, they talked about their ordeal. They climbed Ohulehule (summit 2,265) without incident but when it came time to head down they were too afraid to attempt it. I'm not clear if their original intent was to climb Ohulehule, or if a wrong turn from a valley trail led them to the moun-tain. The girl's trepidation about descending is understandable since they were confronted with the se-vere steepness of the mountainside while going down (when heading up, all they needed to focus on was the slope dead ahead). Displaying some rational thinking, the girls thought it would be better to stay put on the summit instead of descending and risking getting hurt or worse.
For food, they had a bagel, an apple and some chewing gum. I'm not sure how much water they be-gan with, but when it was gone they had to resort to sucking water off moss and leaves or, when a rain shower passed, opening their mouths to capture any water they could. And once the bagel and apple was gone, the girls relied on thim-bleberries and the berries from clidemia for sustenance. Fortunate-ly, Ken, the master of preparation, makes a point of carrying a can of soda or two and snack items (usual-ly cookies) in his pack, and the girls were thankful for this, along with water offered by Jim, Thomas, and Ken.
The rescue chopper arrived around 2:30, guided by Ken via cell phone to the saddle lunch spot (for-merly used by the HTMC on club hikes). A first then a second fire-man rappeled from the chopper to the lunch spot clearing. The chop-per then left, returning some min-utes later with a rescue basket attached. Accompanied by one of the two firemen, one girl was whisked away in the basket to a clearing by the watertank where she was moved from the basket into the chopper for the ride down the valley to a clearing by the Kahana visitor's center where a crowd of officials, reporters, family members, and passers-by were assembled. Repeat the process for the second girl. Tried-and-true hikers, Thomas, Jim, Ken, and Naomi opted against a chopper ride out and hiked down the mountain, across the valley, and back to the parking area by the hunter's check-in. When the rescue foursome arrived, a cheer rang out from members of our proud HTMC crew, waiting with drinks and snacks. Mabel gave each a big hug while reporters from KHNL and the Honolulu Advertiser snapped pic-tures and shot video.
THE RESCUE Jim Pushaw
Thanks, first of all, to all of you for the kind comments directed to the four of us that were able to ex-peri-ence a once in a lifetime event. I can tell you that I am emotionally drained from this one, but love it at the same time. (?) The story has been told at length, but I want to share some of my observations with you.
I will never forget the shock, the rush of emotions that seemed to go through every fiber of my body when the girls answered us back. It is very hard to put all of this into words but what an absolute thrill it was. Even though Mabel Kekina had briefed us earlier in the morning about the sad possibility of finding only their bodies, we had been let-ting out our usual "whoops" every 20 min-utes or so, with some hope that the girls were still able to hear us. Sadly, it seems that we were getting used to hearing nothing but silence. But then, after what became the last whoop that we actually needed, we heard not just a faint whisper, but shout-ing--loud shout-ing--as if they both had mega-phones! They must have gathered up all the energy that they had when they yelled back! In fact, I don't even remember all that they said, the thrill was so great, but I did hear the word HELP! somewhere in there. We knew that it HAD to be them. They really are here! They really are OK! A moment of hesita-tion as we thought that it could be someone else, but that was quickly dismissed. I yelled "Can you see us?" and waved my hands. Their answer "No, can you see US?" We couldn't. From where the sound came from, they were quite a bit higher than us and in looking, all we could see is green, green, green - just the foliage. I yelled to them to hang in there, that we were com-ing. Thinking that they may be somewhere down the side of the ridge facing the ocean, I asked Thomas if he had any rope with him. He said yes, but we never needed it. It took us another 20 minutes or so to get up to the old "lunch spot" which could now be more accurately called the "helicopter rescue spot." It was some relief to reach that spot, as it is nearly level there com-pared to the strenuous ridge climb that we just finished. We were mov-ing faster toward them, but before we even got to them, we hear "Do you have any water?"
Then, just a little bit further and we could finally see them! I will never forget the sight - both of them were stopped in their tracks, Anitta in front and Marianne above and behind her, looking like she was down on one knee, sort of slid-ing down a slight hill. Anitta's eyes were piercing, looking with almost disbe-lief, it seemed, and at the same time happy, sad, stunned and I guess mostly relieved. I asked if they were OK, or if they had any broken bones. They said no, that they were all right.
I reached Anitta first, and not sur-prisingly, the first thing she asked for was water. Handing her the tube from my camelbak, she was trying her best but couldn't get any water flowing. I got it started and she just loved it. Next was Mar-i-anne. We all then started back to the lunch spot to have a little more room and to get away from the tree cover. When we got there, (sure enough, Dayle) Ken had Cokes and some chocolate chip cookies. They ate and drank lightly, also sharing a peach that I had forgotten from my lunch, and more water. Only after the brief snack and some talk-ing did they finally seem to be more relaxed, showing us that they final-ly must have felt that things were going to work out for them, that all would be OK. Their legs were heavi-ly scratched and bruised, as they were wearing shorts and their arms and hands were very dirty with some cable or rope cuts on their palms. But considering what they went through, they looked pretty good.
Thomas had kept in constant touch with Mabel with the small radios that each had since we first heard the girls. When he first told Mabel that we had found the girls, we thought that Mabel was out by the police and firemen, so we figured that she could just walk over and tell them. In later discussions we realized that she was still some-where back in the valley. So I tried calling 911 on my phone, but had no signal. Ken then got busy with his cell phone be-cause his worked! ( I am going to call Honolulu Cellular to find out why mine didn't work and Ken's did. Which service do you have Ken?) About this time Thomas start-ed heading down to go and tell Naomi what was going on. She had stopped to rest and wait for us to come back, probably thinking that we wouldn't be too long. Now that there was all the commotion of the helicopters, Thomas was con-cerned that Naomi would be worry-ing about what was going on. (When we met up with her again, we found that she WAS wor-ried and actually had come half way up to us until she met Thomas coming down.)
The 911 operator must have thought it was a prank call, because after asking for Ken's name, he asked him for the girls names! Sat-isfied that it was "for real," they then took Ken's phone number and passed it on to the police and fire dept. who ended up calling Ken several times during the ordeal. One interesting note, when we saw the helicopters taking off, they were headed straight up into Kaha-na valley. We were all yell-ing "tell them to turn left, turn left!" They finally did and the first helicopter to go over us was the police who flashed us a big "thumbs up" and continued on their way to make room for the bright yellow Fire Dept. helicopter who hovered, almost mo-tionless, some 20 to 30 feet directly above us. One fireman then dropped a rope and rappeled down effort-lessly. He explained that they were going to first bring up anoth-er fireman, so each girl had a com-panion to ride down with in the basket. They did, and then he ex-plained that they were then going to go back to get the basket. After the 2nd fireman ar-rived, Ken and I decided to get going.The girls gave us all some hugs again ( I forgot to say earlier that there were plenty of hugs - won-derful hugs) and we started down.
All the way back to the HTMC crew we kept thinking and talking about what an unbelievable experi-ence it was and it seemed like we were walking two feet off the ground! And then what a thrill to come around the bend to the cheers of our fellow club mem-bers. What a proud day for all of us, the Sunday Trail Clearing Gang, truly the best darn team in the state.
I want to now say that all of us involved Sunday's "miracle" are certainly and rightfully happy for such a wonderful conclusion to what could have been an unforgettably sad day. Finding the girls was something I know we will never for-get, but I want to personally say to all of the HTMC gang that I am glad to have found YOU, the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club. When I first came into contact with you at Kualoa Beach Park less than a year ago, I had been hiking some 28 years here in Hawaii and I had nev-er even heard of you! I now think that the Hawaiian Trail and Moun-tain Club will finally get the atten-tion that it truly deserves. I guess that we will now be much more than a "well kept secret" and that is absolutely wonderful! Con-gratu-lations to us!
AFTERWARD[The following is based upon an OHE article by Dayle Turner, in which he describes Jim's return to the moun-tain.]
On August 28th, Jim Pushaw went back up Ohulehule, accompanied by Dayle and Robert Bettencourt. Jim wanted to shoot some video of the trail and summit area as rememb-rances of the rescue, and the two Danish girls had left some personal effects on the mountain, including a camera, and they wanted to find and return them. They also were anxious to find out where the girls had spent most of their days and nights, thinking the spot would be easy to locate by flattened vegetation or some other signs. (In the past week, there had been speculation that they spent most of the eight days at the summit and part of the time on the steep slope where the cables and ropes are located).
At the summit, the trio found no signs that the girls had spent much time there--no camera, and no trace of a flattened spot or matted vege-tation where they might have bed-ded down. From the summit, Jim was able to reach one of the rescued girls on his cell phone, and he dis-covered that the girls had spent only a brief time at the top, perhaps only part of the first day. Also, the camera had been left hanging in a tree at the spot where they'd slept and spent most of their time. Through more questions, Jim dis-covered that this spot was some-where on the steep hillside where the ropes and cables are. But de-spite a thorough search of the trail and the trees on the way down, our HTMC trio was unable to find the camera, or any sign of where the young women had stayed.
THE MYSTERY SOLVED Jim Pushaw
Ken and I met at the lower parking lot in Kahana valley at 8:00 AM Tue-sday morning to hike up to Ohule-hule and then down the southeast ridge trail. We would be searching for the Danish girls' few belongings that they had left behind and to see where they had "lived" those 8 days. We were happy to see that Kost and Gina were waiting to join us for the trek. The skies were gloomy, with low clouds, and though the ground was wet, no rain was falling at the time. (In fact, the day looked questionable as I drove over the hill near the Valley of the Tem-ples, because my first view of Ohul-ehule showed the summit to be com-pletely covered in clouds). While the rest of us were getting our boots on, Ken went to the park's- office just to see if we might be able to get the combination for the lock on the gate, and as I drove up, he was waving yellow parking passes. Great! We can now cut off some of the walking. As we were signing the hikers' log, we noticed that the clouds had lifted from the summit, a very good sign. We pressed on at a faster pace than Saturday, as I had planned no video taping until we reached the summit. Reaching the old "lunch spot," we noticed a heli-copter far off in Kahana Valley. As it became louder, we realized that it was heading straight for us and it was the black one - the one with the shield - HPD. We were waiting for some sort of bullhorn message as they circled us 3 times, but nothing was said, and they flew on. It seemed like they had been told of our possible presence this morning. Is HPD an OHE subscriber?
Our plan today was to go down the SE ridge to find where the girls had stayed, to retrieve their 2 cameras and any other personal belongings, and maybe determine once and for all the question in everyone's minds: why they had not tried to get out of their predicament earlier. Since Ken had brought ropes, we decided against untying the orange cord that had been added to a steep section on the Kahana side of Ohule-hule because it was definitely help-ful where it now was.
We reached the summit at about 11:30, and there Gina chose to wait for our return. Last Saturday, when we reached the summit and found virtually no evidence of the girls being there, I called and spoke to Anitta. She said that they had stayed some 100 to 200 feet down the trail. With that in mind, Kost, Ken and I started heading down. We would soon find that it was going to be much farther than that. Reaching a nearly vertical section, Ken began tying his first rope. When that was-n't enough, a second rope was add-ed to the end of the first one. Kost was moving down the steep slope past the end of the rope, and being the first one down, he yelled up to me that he had found an item of clothing belonging to the girls - a bikini top. Then he yelled up to us that he saw the cameras farther down. I was still at the top of the rope doing some filming, so I put the camera away and hurried down.
Upon reaching the end of the sec-ond rope, Ken asked me to take the third rope that he had given to me earlier and tie it to the first two, bringing the total length to over 100 feet. And, as it turned out, it was just enough to reach the spot where the girls had spent their 8 days. By the way, it took us about an hour to make it down and Kost's altimeter showed us that we were at the 1,900 foot level. Anitta and Mari-anne had come down some 365 feet in elevation, trying their best to get off Ohulehule via the SE ridge.
Reading Patrick Rorie's write-up of 9 June 1999, we are sure that the place they stayed was the "large Christmasberry tree" first ment-ioned. The only nearly level ground was right at the base of the tree where branches, mud and other debris had gathered from the rains washing down and it was soggy and wet. It looked like they had slept on a hard, muddy slope with their feet holding them from sliding down. There was no grassy area, just mud. The whole area there was quite steep, but the tree above kept the sun off, the shape of the ridge seemed to channel the wind away from them, and the view was, of course, spectacular as they were on the cliff's edge. The biggest prob-lem was that the only way for res-cuers to see them would be for a helicopter to fly directly toward them -horizontally - at their level; otherwise they would remain com-pletely hidden under the branches of the tree. There was no open area for them to run to, if they did hear an approaching helicopter.
Two cameras and their cases were hanging by the straps on a branch. Next to them, on the same branch, was a bikini top and bottom, some-times swaying with the light breeze and strangely resembling a sort of clothesline - a "line" that they nev-er planned to see again. In addition, we found a roll of film, a small wa-ter-logged tourist book called "The Best of Oahu," two bus schedules, an old towel, an old hat, water bot-tles (plastic Coke bottles), and some sun screen lotion. (The towel and hat looked like they may have been there before the girls arrived.) It was eerie to be there, thinking of the length of time that Anitta and Marianne had spent together there. Imagine what it must have been like, day after day, hour after hour, for 8 days, in a place so small!
I climbed down below the tree about 20 feet or so, looking for oth-er items and noticed that the black cable had been pulled up to the tree, the one that Pat had written up as a "combo" with the orange cord. So a word of warning for any of you "nut cases" (Dayle's words) that will be attempting a climb up that SE ridge: the "orange cord/black cable combo" and the "belt shaped rope" that was higher up are NO MORE! They're gone! And believe us, it was a tough climb for us WITH the use of the ropes!
It took about 45 minutes to an hour to regain the summit, much of the time using handfuls of clidemia to pull ourselves up. We all agreed that it was truly amazing that the girls had enough energy to make it back up to the summit, carrying the cord and the belt shaped rope in their backpacks, and then to climb all the way down the Kahana side cables and ropes after having vir-tually no food for 7 days. Anyway, the reason we returned was that the story seemed so incomplete. We needed to make it to where they stayed and to actually see why they had not attempted to get out of there. And though it isn't complete-ly over yet (I'm going to send the items back to them), I for one had to see where they had been - I could-n't rest until I did. Ken said some-thing similar as we all relaxed back at the cars. What a story.!
A GREAT JOB!
The congratulations of all members of our club go out to Ken, Jim, Thomas, and Naomi for a magnifi-cent rescue effort, successful when all other efforts had failed. They have shown that our club is not only a group of people who hike and keep trails open, but is also a valuable asset to the community. A great job! We are all immensely proud of you.
WHAT NOW? Editor
As a result of the long search for the two lost women, there have been many suggestions about how to pre-vent hikers from becom-ing lost. One of the most common is that more signs should be placed along trails, so that hikers are less apt to go astray. [This has already been done in Kahana Valley, where the state quickly placed new signs at several trail intersections]. Some people have even suggested an extensive sign system similar to the grading of ski runs, which would identify and classify trails into easy, medi-um, and diffi-cult categories. But do we want Hawaii's trails post-ed with that much signage? And Curt Cottrell, director of the state's Na Ala Hele program points out that the state only has jurisdiction over a small number of the more than 250 hiking trails on Oahu alone.
Some folks feel that the ribbons put up to guide our weekly hikes should be removed by the sweep. They feel the ribbons can cause confusion to inexperienced hikers, especially since others, such as hun-ters, post ribbons as well. De-fenders of rib-bons say they serve a safety pur-pose, pointing the way at intersec-tions where hikers could otherwise go astray.
But one suggestion that all can agree upon is the one made by Jay Feldman and others that organiza-tions such as HTMC and the Sierra Club, with a membership of exper-ienced hikers, should be called up-on early to assist in any future search efforts.A DLNR panel will be meeting soon to "brainstorm" ideas for making hiking trails in Hawaii safer. Anyone with suggestions along this line should contact the department.
WEDNESDAY HIKING GROUP Peter Sofman
SoleMates was formed last year when HTM's John Hall recognized a growing interest in mid-week hiking that couldn't be satisfied by the Over-The-Hill-Gang. It all started with an invitation in an HTM news-letter. The hikers that showed up have coalesced into a group called the SoleMates (Na Aikane Wawae: literally, foot-friends). We hike every Wednesday, starting at 9 am (summers), and our hikes last until mid-afternoon, ranging up to 5 or 6 miles, usually. We stop for lunch enroute, and we usually have some botanical experts who share their knowledge. Similarly, several of the hikers are experienced docents from various parks and gardens around the island, so we occasionally are afforded some Hawaiian tales. At this date, we have over 20 on our e-mail list, and another dozen or so that get the schedules by word of mouth. Our typical turnout rang-es from 10 to 20 hikers. Being a new and a small group, we have yet to have any problems. We welcome hikers interested in joining us. We are not strollers, yet we do not undertake very strenuous or peril-ous hikes. We hike together, and we take a jovial, relaxed approach to our recreation. We are quite infor-mal. If you have any questions, please contact me:
Pete Sofman psofman@compuserve.com
SUPERHIKE 5 Dayle Turner
On Saturday, May 8th, fourteen HTMC members joined Pat Rorie and I for the fifth Super Hike. This one would have us travel along the Wai-ahole Ditch Trail, continue to the Koolau summit on the Waikane Trail, and finish at Pu'u Ka'aumakua (elev. 2,681 ft.) after a short southward tramp on the Koolau Summit Trail. Billed as ten miles, the hike may have been a mile or two longer. In the group were OHE-L members, including Dick Beaton, Lin Black, Brandon Stone, and Dave Webb.
The segment along the ditch trail took about two hours and the dis-tance was about four to five miles. From the get-go, our party evolved into two groups, with Pat leading the speed hikers and I sticking with those in the trailing pack. The route we followed wound in and out of small ravines, and at times there were nice views makai and of Pu'u Ohulehule. We ducked under or climbed over fallen trees at times, and moved carefully along parts of the trail reduced to rubble and scree. Along the way was a gated & locked access point to the ditch. Overall, though not heavily trav-eled, the ditch trail wasn't too diffi-cult to manage.
Phase two of the hike was the spectacular climb to the summit of the Koolaus via the Waikane Trail. This began by an intake of the Wai-ahole Ditch (a good place for a cool dip). The trail then ascended for a half mile to the crest of the ridge that divides Waikane from Kahana Valley. The trail heads upslope along the crest briefly, then is cut into the Kahana-facing side of the ridge, bending in and around a first then a larger gully. Rounding the corner of the larger gully, we had the first clear glimpse of the Koolau crest north toward Poamoho. Even more inspiring was the sight of the upper trail cut into the almost ver-tical side of the mountain--certainly one of the most awesome scenes in Oahu hiking. Negotiating the upper trail required concentration be-cause it was narrow and eroded in places. Recent work by the club's maintenance crew has widened the footpath, making it safer than it was. Many hikers on Saturday com-mented favorably about the work of the maintenance crew.
From the ditch intake to the junc-tion with the Koolau Summit trail, the Waikane trail was about 1.5 to 2 miles, with a rusted three-foot-high metal stake marking the KST-Waikane junction. From that point, one can head north along the summit trail about 20-30 minutes to the terminus of Schofield-Wakane. Another two hours further is Poam-oho. On Saturday, we turned left (south) on the KST. Fifteen minutes along the summit trail, at a lee-facing segment marked by a dead loulu palm, we climbed a slope to Ka'aumakua, a triple bench marked pu'u that offered a fine panorama of sites around Oahu. Clouds blocked views at times, but when we had clear visibility, we could see Waikane and Kahana below us, the ocean beyond, and many points to leeward, including massive Mount Ka'ala, the entire spread of the Waianae Range, Kipapa Ridge (marked bytrademark pine trees), and further off to the Pearl Harbor area. Many members of the group snapped pictures from atop Ka'aum-akua. We also spent time eating lunch, resting, and examining the array of native plants atop the pu'u. Kay Lynch, Brandon Stone, and Lin Black were the most helpful, flora-wise. The fastest hikers, in-cluding Pat, Steve Haus, Peter Kempf, Evelia Torres, and Hiroshi Sakae, reached Ka'aumakua just before noon. The rest of our group summited at varying intervals thereafter.
By 1:30 the last of us departed our summit perch to commence the re-turn leg to civilization. On the Wai-kane leg, Pat and I hiked together with Brandon and Kay at a botanical pace, and they pointed out species oflobelia and many other native plants. After descending Waikane to the intake, we hiked out via the valley road down Waikane Valley instead of backtracking on the ditch trail. The road walk segment was 3 to 3.5 miles and took a bit over an hour. At 4:30, we emerged at Kamehameha Hwy where Waikane Valley Road meets it, ending the club's fifth super hike.
Super Hike 6 will take us to Wai-malu Middle Ridge, which we'll as-cend to the crest of the Koolaus with an overlook of Kahaluu and Waihee Valley to the north. For the record, the previous HTMC super hikes were 1 - Manana to Waimano, 2 - Konahuanui to Olympus, 3 - Kaupo Cliffs to Kulepeamoa, 4 - Malaeka-hana to Laie.
KOOLAU SUMMIT BACKPACK
From August, a group of hardy HTMC hikers backpacked along the Koolau Summit Trail, starting at Pupukea and ending by exiting at Schofield-Waikane. Because of the length of this news-letter, their ex-ploits will be detailed in our next one. Patrick Rorie's second install-ment of The Ainapo Challenge will also appear in the next issue.
EMAIL FROM THE NETHERLANDS
I am a hiker who is going to spend some time on the Big Island and I wondered if you could forward this message to your members.
In October this year I'll spend some time on the Big Island, I have to attend a conference there from 10 to 15 October. So, I intended to travel around a bit after that and I am looking for some company.
My plan is to do a hike from Volcano National Park up to Mauna Loa and down the other side to Mauna Kea State Park. If time allows I also want to go into Waipio and Waimanu Valley afterwards.
I am an experienced hiker, for instance this year I spent two weeks in Turkey, hiking from Erzurum on the Anatolian Hights to the Trabzon at the Black Sea. This hike was across the Kackar mountains (highest point 3937m ~ 13.000ft). So, I don't think Mauna Loa will be too much of a problem.
The real problem is that I don't like to go into the mountains alone. So, I am looking for some company. I am in the possesion of a complete set of camping gear (tent, stove etc) and my plans are not yet set in stone. So, if you are interested please contact me a.s.a.p. so we can make some plans.
Some information about me;Name; Arno de Kreij
Nationality; Dutch
Age/Sex; 29/M
When; Friday Oct 15 - Fri Oct 22
Email address A.de.Kreij@biol.rug.nlYours,
Arno de Kreij
HTMC T-SHIRT SALE A SUCCESS Grant OkaMahalo Nui Loa to Joyce Tomlinson for all her hard work. It's been about 4 years since the last HTMC T-shirts were available due to lack of volunteers. Joyce thought it was high time so she single handedly took on the T-shirt project from beginning to end, using her own money to get the ball rolling. All shirts were pre-sold and the response from the membership was wonderful. This year's design was Olomana in the background with tropical foliage and a well worn pair of hiking boots in the foreground. It took a lot of time and energy to complete this project and our appreciation goes out to Joyce. Perhaps, with some kokua, we'll have another design and T-shirt sale next year.
CHANGE IN NEWSLETTER ADDRESS
Please note that the suffix in the email address for the editor of the newsletter has changed from "com" to "net" It is correct as shown below.
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS
HTMC members and any other interested parties are welcome to submit articles to ALONG THE TRAIL, the HTMC Newsletter. Submissions may be sent in any of the following ways (E-Mail preferred):
E-Mail: Richard27@prodigy.net
Computer diskette: MS/DOS [3.5"]
FAX: 293-2603
Phone: 293-2554
Mail: Richard McMahon
57-531 Kamehameha Hwy
Kahuku, HI 96731-2128
Bookmark The HTMC Web Page http://www.geocities.com/~htmc - or -
http://htmc.u4l.com- or -
http://www.webalias.com/htmc/
Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club
P.O. Box 2238
Honolulu, HI 96804
Clubhouse: 41-023 Puuone St
Waimanalo, HI 96795
Phone: 259-5443
Comments may be sent to HTMC Newsletter Editor
or HTMCThis free home page is hosted by www.geocities.com