So after I rehydrated Elyse, Dave and I headed down to the calm pond on the inside of the break. It was amazing the water got probably waist deep at the most and you could easily navigate the rocks with out ending up in the water. We were able to see, some small fish and even and eel that was trapped in one of the smaller pools in between the rocks. After checking this out for a while we realized it was beginning to get dark so we headed back up to the three sided shack where all of our equipment was. We made as much food as we possibly could while fighting off the hoards of cockroaches, this was a clear indication that we packed to much food as we all ate until we were stuffed and still had to pitch a bunch of the left over food. Also if your going to make natures burger with annies mac and cheese make sure you have enough water or else it will get really meally.
Oh i almost forgot the little asian lady that visited us in the 3 sided shack. We had seen her walking past us while we where headed to Ka'ha, and she arrived back at the shack probably an hour after we did. She was very pleasant and extremely energetic, said the phrase praise the lord a number of times and wished us a good journey to the top tomorrow morning. With that she sprinted up a rock covered cliff forging her own path, that we decided immediately we would not be taking the next morning. We went the marked way.
We woke up the next morning bright and early to see no clouds in the sky, which meant a lot of heat. We packed and left as fast as we could, leaving the site at about 7 30, after dave had tried some of the cockroach invested leftovers and elyse and i had brushed our teeth. We had about 3.6 miles to go 2.2 of which were straight up and we wanted to do it before the sun got to high in the sky. The first leg was surprisingly difficult as we didnt realize that the whole 1.4 miles was over lava rocks and on a steadily increasing incline. My spirits we significantly lifted from the day before as I didn't drink at all last night and had gotten myself sufficiently hydrated. My blisters on my pinky toes were still aching, but i decided best not to talk about it cause it wasn't going to get any better anyway. Besides Elyse was a bit underhydrated and need the encouragement as we began the climb.
The first leg took us about an hour and we sat looking straight up Hailina Pali. A brief drink and some more breakfast bar and we were off slow and steady as the switchbacks were visibly but hardly a easy walk and footing needed to be considered before taking most steps. Stops were numerous because of the difficulty of the climb and the need for waterbreaks. By 10 30 it was hot and getting hotter and we could see not only a spectacular view, which no camera could properly capture thus there are no pictures, and the top. We pushed on till about 10 45 reached the top, only to realize that we were not at the top. There was a shelf about 100 yards long that receded back of the face before we reached another small cliff face we would have to walk before we made it to the top. This was a challenge. Elyse and I had to stop about 100 yards from the top of the trail which prompted dave, who had already made it back to the truck to come back looking for us. From the top of the trail which met up with the beginning of the trail we got a nice perspective of our entire trip and a look in to what we had accomplished.
On a hysterical side note dave found an orange tank top near the top of the Pali and brought it back to the truck, which had a note stuffed into the driver side door. It was from the woman we had met, congradulating us for making in to the top and asking for someone to call her if we found her orange tank top. We left that job up to Dave.
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