Nukohe -- by Pete Clines

-

 May 2003. I haven't posted anything for quite a while, but I thought this hike was worth mentioning. Spoke to Patrick Rorie on Saturday night to congratulate him on his Haleakala climb, and he put the idea of Nukohe ridge in my head. Knowing that I couldn't commit to meeting him for the Bowman portion of the day, I told him I would likely try Lanihuli and look for him at the top if he came up Nukohe.

Sunday morning at 10:00, I parked at the end of Kalihi Street and followed the access road a short while before climbing a spur ridge to the extended Kamanaiki trail. No ribbons on the spur ridge, but signs of an old trail for the first 2/3 of the way up (perhaps I lost the trail for the last 1/3).

While continuing on Kamanaiki extended, I came upon one, and later three more members of the Sierra Club. They decided to pass on the summit due to being low on water. (I myself finished the day with no water and two cramped hamstrings due to the heat and lack of cloud cover.) While approaching Lanihuli summit, I watched what I believed to be the Nukohe ridge to look for Patrick.

Waited at the summit for about 30 minutes to have lunch, and then decided to descend Nukohe to add some adventure to the day, and also check on Patrick's progress.

Found the ridge to be vefy steep, with lots of uluhe to slow me down - but it also provided some safety. With the initial steep sections over, I branched right when the ridge forked and it wasn't too long before I got to the exposed cable sections that Patrick mentioned. VERY dangerous here, with sheer drops and terribly loose rock, but I took it slow and negotiated the sections without incident. I don't plan on doing this one again because of the condition of the cables(especially one at the very top that if pulled too hard might bring a large rock down on your head!) and the pieces of rock that I dislodged. Poked around at the bottom of the ridge before finding some fresh pink ribbons (some torn down)and eventually coming out on a more defined trail with a water pipe along it.

Nukohe Cable section photo by Jason Sunada

Got back to my car at the end of an exciting 8hour hike. Talked to Patrick ~10:00 to confirm his safety, and then hit the sack.

One last thing about this ridge - I wouldn't recommend it, but as I told Patrick, if you are planning to do it, now is the time since there is a faint swath to follow through the thick stuff.

-Pete Clines

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mauna Loa summit via Ainapo Trail ascent -- Patrick Rorie

-
Image
THE INSPIRATION Having witnessed footage last year on the Discovery channel of a competition dubbed "The Eco-challenge", an intense combination of activities including nocturnal mountain climbing and paddling through rough seas, I was inspired to participate in something similar here in Hawaii. THE CHALLENGE On Thursday, March 18,1999, I received an e-mail message with the subject "wanna challenge?" from Gene Robinson inquiring about my availability in late April/early May for a backpack trip up Mauna Loa (lit. "long mountain" and the largest volcano in the world) via the Ainapo (lit. "dark land") Trail. I didn't know much about Ainapo, but as Gene filled in the details my desire to conquer the route only increased. THE AINAPO TRAIL - A BRIEF HISTORY "During the past two centuries several trails have been used to ascend to Mauna Loa's summit. The oldest, now known as the Ainapo Trail, extended 34 miles from the old village of Ka...
Read more

Pololu to Waipio, Part 1 -- by John Hall

-
Image
John Hall. Photo by Nathan Yuen It was August of 1977 when Fred Dodge and his two teen-age children, Charlie, 17, and Alyce (Tootsie) , 16, and I hiked across the north slope of the Kohala mountain from the end of the road above Pololu Valley to Waipio Valley. I had hiked the Kohala Ditch trail with the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club some years before on a trip organized by Dick Booth, I believe. On that trip we had taken the inland trail, and wound behind a waterfall and in and out of many deep gulches before reaching the end of the trail. This time we stayed on the coastal route, crossing the mouth of Pololu Valley and climbing the wall on the farside. Here the trail forks, with the right branch running up the ridge and eventually connecting with the inland trail in Honokane Nui Valley. We intended to take the left fork, but it crossed a patch of bare dirt at the junction and was less obvious, so we missed it and hiked some distance up the ridge before realizing our mista...
Read more

Kohala Ditch -- by Pat Rorie

-
Image
Twenty-five years later and in the same spirit of exploration/discovery exemplified by HTMC legends John Hall and Fred Dodge during their 1977 Kohala Ditch adventure, Mark Short and I traveled to the Big Island this past July 4th weekend to experience the region for ourselves. Of the Kohala Ditch Trip, Stuart Ball writes..."Kohala Ditch is a rugged loop trip in the windward Kohala Mountains of the Big Island. The route initially traverses several massive ridges and deep canyons with fast flowing streams. The return portion is along the coast where black sand beaches alternate with steep sea cliffs. Much of the trail follows an abandoned ditch, once used to channel stream water to a sugar cane plantation near Hawi." Pat Rorie -- Photo by Nathan Yuen Brief History:   17 miles in length, the Kohala Ditch required 18 months and 17 lives to complete, with opening ceremonies occurring on June 11, 1906. Japanese laborers comprised most of the workforce and they lived in ramshackle c...
Read more