Mauna Loa Three Cabin Loop -- Dave Webb
Saturday, June 25th, 2005, I was joined by three good friends for a grand five day adventure on Mauna Loa. I call it an adventure because there isn't really any other good way to describe what we did, it was certainly more than just a normal backpacking trip for me. Besides myself, the other participants were Cheryl Batangan, George Privon, and Matt Wordeman. Cheryl and George are HTMC members whom many of you probably know and Matt is a friend who lives in Kula. The trip went something like this:
June 25-
We walked at a slow, steady pace and gradually gained altitude through the forest. Soon we reached the last Ohia tree that I have read so much about and snapped some pictures there with Mauna Loa's summit ridge in the background.
Further on the trail got steeper in some places with a few sandy sections. We reached Pu'u Ula'ula' around 4:45 in the afternoon and thankfully dropped our packs.
Five minutes later we were joined by a nice young couple who had descended from the summit cabin that day. As it would turn out, they would be the only other human beings that we would encounter during the duration of the trip (no Potsy and Bozo for us thankfully - sorry Dayle but I had to throw that in there). After dinner we climbed to the top of the Pu'u behind the cabin to watch a nice sunset. We could see the shadow of Mauna Loa on the clouds to the east as well as Mauna Kea, Haleakala and Pu'u Kukui in the distance. Once it was dark we were treated to a wonderful array of constellations as well as an interesting planetary cluster in the west. Venus, Saturn and Mercury were all visible and quite close together. Other constellations of note were the Southern Cross and the Pointers, Ursa Major and Minor and Scorpius. Jupiter was also quite bright high in the sky. Overnight temps in Red Hill cabin dropped down to 49 degrees.
June 26-
The big day of the trip. 11.6 miles and over 3000 vertical were on the program for today's hike. We got an early start so we could stretch out the day and really take our time. It stood to reason that the trail wouldn't be as steep as what we did the first day since the elevation gain was the same but we would be walking 4 miles further. I tried to use this knowledge to convince myself that this second day would actually be easier, not harder. I also remembered reading one of Dayle's old write-ups warning future hikers not to take the final two miles for granted. This would prove to be very valuable information indeed.
The day passed surprisingly quickly and we passed many colorful cinder cones along the way. There were plentiful high cirrus clouds during this tough day and I think they helped somewhat to occasionally block out some of the sunlight. I did make one mistake today, I forgot to put sunblock on my legs. I knew that it was very easy to get burnt at elevation so I was quite careful about blocking my nose, lips, ears and neck. I even wore a hat during the duration of the trip. The sun must have been behind us during most of the day and by late afternoon I began to wonder why the back of my legs were itching so badly. I took off my sunglasses and my legs were strawberry red! Thankfully, I had lightweight pants with long legs so I wore those for the rest of the trip. Future hikers beware. Take lots of sunblock, a good hat and sunglasses for sure.
Eventually we hauled up to the edge of north pit. We stopped there for a nice long rest and water break. We had all heard how tough the last two miles to the cabin were so we were mentally prepared. Matt had actually been over to the cabin in May from the Observatory trail so he knew firsthand what was in store (it was a first time on the mountain for the rest of us). After our break we dropped down, crossed north pit, and staggered over the remaining a'a' to the cabin. I believe it took us about 8 hours altogether and we got there in the neighborhood of 3:30. There isn't much to say about the view from the summit cabin, it really is amazing and you have to go up there to really appreciate it. The cabin has bunks for 12 with extra sleeping bags and wool blankets. Metal folding chairs were also provided as well as a dining room table. The cabin is set back from the rim of Mokuaw! eoweo maybe 150' with some rock walled emergency campsites nearby. The famous lua is a short distance away and whilst seated on said lua one can gaze across the crater (no door on the lua). The evenings festivities included sunset watching, stargazing, and talking story.
June 27-
Ahh, a nice relaxing layover day at the cabin. Well, that's what we would have done if we had a lick of sense among us. I think I've been hanging around with too many HTMC er's since we just had to go over to tag the true summit. Did we take the normal trail over there? No, not exactly. In his backpacking book, Stuart describes descending a landslide near the waterhole and crossing the crater so that's what we did. On the way up to the trailhead, we told Stanboy of this possibility and he said, "No way, that's impossible to go down those cliffs." Stan is quite the hiker himself and he has been on darn near every tough trail on the Big Island so we wanted to have a story for him so down the landslide we went. The way down is pretty obvious once you look down from above. There aren't any other possibilities unless you walk all the over to south pit. I believe! there is a small ahu to mark the start of the trail as well.
Upon reaching the caldera floor we had to endure a rough stretch of a'a' and then thin pahoehoe all the way to the 1949 cone which leans up against the far wall. We went up on it's right side, next to the olivine scree slope. There was a fantastic view from the top and we rested for a bit before continuing on to the true summit. The summit ahu was pretty unremarkable really after everything else that we had seen so far. There were also choke flies there for some reason so we didn't linger more than 15 minutes or so.
We stopped to check out Jagger's cave on the way back and contemplated what it would be like to camp out there for 2-3 weeks. No thanks. In an emergency, it probably wouldn't be too bad since you would be well out of the wind and the floor is composed of fine gravel as opposed to the rest of the area. Finally arrived back at the summit cabin at 4:30 after a long day.
June 28-
Down Ainapo today. We were looking forward to the downhill, but a little nervous about routefinding since none of us had been on the trail before. We were well prepared with a topo map provided by Stan, a compass, and some notes from a previous writeup by Patrick Rorie from his 1999 Ainapo climb with Dr. Robinson. The trail is actually really easy to follow now since most of the ahu have been rebuilt on the upper portion of the trail (this was done in the spring of 2000). Ainapo is pretty easy for the first 3 miles or so and we stopped for lunch at an old CCC emergency camp at 11,300'. The camp has several rock walled emergency campsites and a pile of firewood as well. There is a lava tube there that could be used in the event of extreme weather but it is filled with rubbish so a tent would certainly be best.
Almost immediately below the camp we came into the really hellish section of the trail. If you have ever been to Volcano National Park then you probably know what a'a' lava is. Well, imagine walking a steep downhill trail for 3-4 miles on it. That's exactly what we did. Only one word comes to mind to describe this exercise - brutal. Every step is a potential fall or twisted ankle. Each of us had trekking poles and they really helped with balance and braking. Still, my feet and knees took a beating and I was thrilled when we finally came to the end of the lava flow in the forest. The cabin came into view almost immediately thereafter.
The Ainapo cabin is truly a beautiful place located in the middle of an ohia forest. From the cabin porch one can watch Apapane and Amakihi flit about sipping nectar from the lehua blossoms. I would certainly have to say that the area surrounding the cabin is the most impressive ohia forest that I have ever seen. This cabin has an attached water catchment and solar-powered composting toilet with a nice, small porch and picnic table in front. There is even a regulation shower if you want. Around sunset the fog lifted and we were treated to a nice sunset and lights from Volcano could be seen below in the distance.
June 29-
The final day and the walk out to the highway. This final day was to consist of a 2.5 mile walk on a trail follow by an 8 mile walk on a dirt road to the highway where Stan was to pick us up. This road could be covered by a 4 wheel vehicle if one was available, but since we wanted the whole experience we chose to walk. The going was pretty easy compared to what we had been through the past 4 days and the distance was covered in a timely manner. We passed through a mixed forest of ohia and koa and the sounds of the birds in the trees kept me going. There are some absolutely giant koa trees just makai of the cabin - bigger than I could have imagined. One of them must have been 8 feet in diameter at it's base. Matt makes koa ukuleles in his spare time and we discussed how valuable some of that wood would be. We passed through several cattle pastures and saw a wild turkey but no muflon sheep or other g! ame animals. Stan was waiting for us at the highway with water and gatoraid and we arrived almost exactly upon our agreed meeting time of 1:00pm.
From there we stopped at the National Park Visitors Center to let the rangers know that we got out OK and headed down to Stan's house for some refreshments and pizza. Stan and his family live on a 3 acre lot in Hawaiian Acres (between Mountain View and Kurtistown). We spent several hours on his back deck talking story and comparing adventures. He dropped us off at the airport and we were off to our respective homes with some incredible memories (and sore feet).
I would like to take a moment to thank my friends for sharing such a fantastic experience. George, Cheryl, and Matt were really good company and a pleasure to spend 5 days with. A big mahalo to Stuart Ball for his trip writeup (I took a copy of his trail directions just in case) and description of the dayhike across the crater. Thanks also to Patrick Rorie for his description of the Ainapo trail (I don't know how he had the energy to take notes during such a hard climb) and the use of his stove. Mahalos to Stan Atkins of Hawaiian 'Kine Adventures for getting our permits and fuel and shuttling us around to and from the trailhead. Without his help we would have had a lot of trouble putting this trip together. Finally, thanks to my wife Sandy for getting up at 6:00 am and dropping Cheryl and myself off at the airport.
If anyone has any questions about this hike or if you want info on how to contact Stan on the Big Island you can email me or call (my number is in the HTMC roster). Thanks for your attention and enjoy the rest of the summer!
Author: Dave Webb <davewebb15@YAHOO.COM>
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