The Hike

Last weekend we embarked on a three day hike with Dave Bouck through the Ka'u Desert and up Hilina Pali. Elyse and I were a bit naive when we were packing as neither of us really understood the mission that we were taking on. I ended up bring a heavy rain jacket as well as sweat pants which weighed down my pack enormously, which I most likely would not have packed if I realized we were in a goddamn desert. We also brought more food then we possibly could eat and a 5th of Sailor Jerry that went almost entirely untouched all of which just weighed us down.

The first day was a 5 mile hike out to Pepeiao Cabin, we left at about 4 30 pm, about 2 hours after we meant to but we had about 2 hours to get to the cabin and we figured that was plenty of time. If Dave had been on his own he may have made it, but Elyse and I were doggin' it a bit most likely because before 5 30 both of us had twisted our left ankle and I had stomped on my sunglasses. We did reach the cabin at 6 30 just minutes before it was too dark to see and the 10 minutes of rain started. In fact it was so dark we lost the trail and tromped across the field separating us from the cabin.

The cabin was heaven compared to setting up the tent on the trail which we almost did, 3 beds and a roof were excellent. We feasted in order to lighten our bags and Dave tested his steripen, which is used to sterilized the nonpotable water. It worked and he didn't die which we were happy about. I drank a bit of the Sailor, signifcantly more than Dave and Elyse...that did not turn out well. Our second day of hiking came almost immediately to a halt as we had to stop to help Dave look for Nene, a hawaiian goose, and some vegetation. After an hour of looking, there were no Nene and a lot of grass, and we were on our way. It soon became apparent that the second day was going to be more difficult than day 1, as we began the decent of a slopping cliff face down to the ocean. It took us until about 12 30 to reach the ocean, which looked beautiful and tempting as the temperature was approaching 90 degrees, but it was...unreachable. The next phase of the hike took us about 2 hours, and was unbearably hot. The drink from the night before kept me dehydrated no matter how much I drank and eventually I began lagging way behind. Dave continuously tried to predict that the next ridge would be the last and we would be at our destination. He was wrong everytime. Ka'aha once we got there was very nice, with a bit of a shelter and a place where you could even get in the water. I decided my time was best used sitting, unmoving in the shade drinking water for the next 2 hours, i felt much better after getting hydrated. This is getting very long and there is still much to come, I'm thinking a two parter is best....