Papali/Castle-Laie – May 5, 2013

I was invited by DGC to his last Ko’olau Summit hike. DGC has done nearly the entire Ko’olau Summit, in segments of course. And this was his last hurrah. DGC tried this hike a few months ago, but lost the trail at the helipad at Kawailoa. He decided to backtrack and go to Pupukea, which was a good thing because he was able to complete that portion of the KST, which he needed. 

The week before, I asked fellow hiking partner Marvin for the gps track of this hike. He did Papali Uka/Castle-Laie a while back. Merv got lost too during that time, but found his way, an accomplishment that should be commended.

Today’s hike consisted of some experienced hikers. We had Ted, Randy, Thomas, J, Yoshi, Chenay, DGC, Gerwin, Kikaida, Francis, and me. We met at the Temple Valley McDonald’s at 4:30am. There, we all ate breakfast, then talked about the pre-hike plan. The plan was to stage cars at the Hau’ula 7-11 and Laie Community Park. It was early in the morning and things went haywire right off the bat. Gerwin went to the 7-11 in Kahana near Swanzy to wait for us. After communication with DGC, he went to the correct 7-11. Thomas and J passed Laie and went to the Pupukea Foodland. J, who was sleeping in the car, woke up and noticed that he went too far and told him to turn around. With all the setbacks, we managed to stage cars at Laie and drove to the 7-11 at Hau’ula. The start time was a little after 6am.

We took a group picture and proceeded to the Hau’ula-Papali Loop trailhead. Papali Ridge was a little tiring for me because of my lack of physical fitness. I haven't been hiking too much recently. We then veered off Papali Loop onto the Papali Uka trail. Papali Uka is tiring with its roller coaster action. There was a big problem with the pace. Half the group are cardio freaks, the rest of us were average pace hikers. The speedsters had to wait for the rest of us, especially while constantly going up and down hills.

After 5 hours we merged with Castle. At Castle, we went left to the lookout. Most people in the group had never seen Upper Sacred Falls from the Castle lookout, so they were in awe. I had seen it before, and was more preoccupied with my body temperature. It was rainy and I was cold as hell.  I took out my worn out old Geico poncho, it warmed me up, and I was able to regain focus again. After the lookout, we continued another hour on the Castle trail to the Ko’olau Summit with rains coming and going. The summit is marked by a big ass pole. After a long break, we continued on the Ko’olau Summit trail towards Laie. It was a little past 1pm at this point of the hike.

The pace was still slow going, but we tried to pick it up. The mud got sloppy the further we went, just nasty. At one point, we got to the rat traps section. This is where we got lost. The KST apparently ended and there were a few trails going leeward and windward. A few of us dispersed and tried to find a trail. We bushwhacked and bushwhacked. Ted and I followed a trail that went leeward for a bit, but it appeared to end and appeared way off my gps track. We also saw a small pig. I went back to the traps and decided to go into the valley that was on the windward side of the traps, but it showed that we were way off track too! Randy & Thomas bushwhacked into the valley too! The rains came down hard. Ted was really focusing on that Leeward trail. I figured that we had to hit the ridgeline. Everyone was cold, so I ask the group if there was anyway we could bushwhack the ridgeline. J volunteered, so we bushwhacked the ridgeline. Ted and Randy had the same idea of following the ridgeline, but Ted really wanted to revisit that trail going Leeward. In about 5 minutes, I saw the trail reappear as I was standing on the ridgeline. Ted and Randy were heading towards that trail. I yelled out, "push through, there is a trail". Ted and Randy did it and in no time, we were back on the KST again. In hindsight, it was so obvious, but you only know what you know and doubt is the ultimate second guesser.

We hiked for what seemed like a few more hours, until we encountered a preserve surrounded by a fence. We followed the fence for a bit, until we saw a beautiful trail. The gps track appeared to follow the fence. We followed it, but I made the stupid mistake of not checking the track. We hiked for about 20 minutes, I even took a break and ate a snack. When the guys asked for a track check, I realized we were way off track and that in fact the beautiful trail was indeed the trail we needed to be on. I was so embarrassed, but we needed to move on. We backtracked and found the right trail. 

We eventually hit the Koloa Cabin. This cabin to my knowledge was built to replace the Kawailoa cabin. In my opinion, this cabin was nicer than the Ohikilolo and Poamoho cabins. It would be a good place to camp. There was food, water, shelter, table, and even came with its own outhouse. We admired the cabin for a bit, but eventually went back onto the trail.

Getting to the Kawailoa helipad and the massive dirt patch took what seemed like forever, though it didn't. We had some difficulties finding the trail, but I checked my gps and we eventually found our way. It was then smooth sailing to Laie. In about 30 minutes, we hit Laie and the foxhole. DGC was one of the last to arrive, we all cheered his name. He looked happy, but tired. After a short time at the foxhole, it started to rain, and we dug out of there. It was 6pm. 

The fast hikers went first, followed by us. In about 1 hour the sun went down and it was pitch dark. I took out my headlamp in the rain and continued on Laie. At this point of the hike, I was by myself. It was and will always be a moment I cherish. For some reason, I can do the most reflecting while in this state of mind.

My legs were tired already. We got to the cook pines, and went down that slippery hill. I slipped on my ass so many times that I had to take out my spikes. On one slip, I tweaked my leg. The pain was sore. It took us about 3 hours on Laie. We finally got to Laie park after 9pm. I was covered in mud. Thomas offered to take DGC and I back to his car in Hau’ula.

Congratulations to DGC on completing the entire Ko’olau Summit. It took him 3 years to do it. It is very hard. I commend him on doing it and wish him luck on all his future endeavors.