Hapapa-Kanehoa Accomplished

Hapapa-Kanehoa - July 16, 2017 

This was it. I was going solo today to accomplish something many years in the making, since 2013. I woke up early and wanted to go running, but it was kinda late. I woke Shell up to drive me to Schofield. I tried to pack my best under last minute circumstances. I forgot my bivy. 

Shell dropped me off at the Hapapa trail head at 7:15am. It was cool today. I got up to the notches at about 8am and encountered 5 hikers, three of them were taking pictures and two were coming down from the notch. I got up to the summit at 8:30am. For some reason I still can't find the Hapapa geomarker. The initial section after the summit was overgrown. I wore a sleeveless shirt today, go figure. I brought my sleeves though, but my arms were still getting murdered. 

I got to the pimple (this is where we turned around last time) at about 9:00am. I was very surprised. The swath that we created last time helped. After the pimple is the 50 foot rock face. The contour to the right was obvious and I took it. On towards Kanehoa. I pushed and pushed. Right before getting to Kanehoa, the overgrowth was really bad. Whatever cuts I got from the scratched compounded itself on this section. 

I topped out at what I thought was Kanehoa at about 9:50am. I looked at my backcountry app, but the words were so small. I didn't have my glasses. I tried to zoom in, but it said the map was not available. Not wanting to miss out. I continued further for another 20 minutes. Thoughts of getting to Kaua beckoned. But I looked at the backcountry app. and Kaua seemed far away. There would be a steep climb and after that would be the gorilla heads.

I decided to head back. Thoughts of going down Kanehoa entered my mind. But I had no protection from dogs, pigs, and marijuana planters. My decision was to head back. Heck it was just after 10:30am. I went back at a snail's pace. By that I mean really slow. I got tired all of a sudden, maybe the adrenaline from accomplishing Kanehoa wore off. I got to a rock dike. It was somewhat sketchy. I didn't remember this coming in, but tried it anyway. I got to a perilous section. Ah shit, I told myself, I was at the 50 foot rock face. I backtracked and found the contour. That was a little scary. What if I fell? 

I took so many breaks. The sun came out and was beaming down on me. Michelle texted me that she was going to take a nap. I was about 1 hour from the end. I texted her that I was going to rush down. From Hapapa Summit to the trailhead took only 50 minutes. It was fast. I wish I could hike that fast all the time. 

I finally completed it. Now what to do? Thoughts of completing the Honouliuli Contour trail entered my mind. It's a possibility.