What am I rambling about? The monthly miconia hunt sponsored by the Sierra Club, of course. I've written about these before as have Charlotte Yamane and Tom Yoza. And we encourage all hikers to turn out for hunts because they're fun, albeit sometimes rugged and strenuous. And the hunts are for a good cause, namely finding and eliminating miconia, the purple-leafed menace, which fortunately hasn't yet made big inroads on Oahu.
For me, the hunts, in addition to the eradication goal, are a good way to grab a workout and do some exploring, two things I relish when hiking. Today, with our targeted search area the east (Koko Head) side of upper Manoa Valley, I got both.
Ten of us turned out this morning, including OHE/HTMC folks Tom Yoza, Kay Lynch, and Stuart Ball. Hoala Fraiolla, Amy Tsuneyoshi, Ray Baker, Ryan Smith, and Randy Ching were the others in our small but interesting cast.
Most OHE list members know Tom, Kay, and Stuart but probably little or nothing about the others. Ho'ala, in her early 20s and a botany student at UH Manoa, is a sweet young woman with an angelic personality. She was the listed leader of today's expedition, and during the pre-hunt spiel, I could sense her nervousness telling us veterans the procedures and the day's plan. But we all were nice and she overcame her nervousness and did fine. Acting as co-leader was Amy, plant propagator at the Board of Water Supply's Halawa Xeriscape Garden. She's a veteran of many hunts, and I'd bet if Amy were to come out hiking with the HTMC, she'd be one of the top wahines in the mountains. A tough cookie, no doubt. Dr Baker, the grounds superintendent for Lyon Arboretum, is an expert on palms and a strong hiker to boot. Ryan, in his mid-20s, is upbeat, energetic and works for the Oahu Invasive Species team. In other words, he hunts miconia and other invasive flora for a living. Randy is a former HTMC member (he says he'll reapply for membership in the future), the Oahu Outings Chair for the Sierra Club, and a math teacher at Maryknoll School. He's also a nice guy who I've hiked with before.
A new twist for miconia hunting was that we each were issued a compass beforehand. Tom gave a brief lesson on orienteering (a former Boy Scout?) and Ryan tested our ability to find a compass bearing by having us turn and face a given direction. Good news: we all passed!
Ryan said the plan was to use the compasses to maintain an established course while hunting. For example, if a bearing of 90 was stated, we'd use our compass to maintain that line and thus the keep the spacing between us.
"Sounds good in theory," I said, smiling while thinking about how the terrain often dictates how well we can maintain our search phalanx.
"Everything sounds good in theory," replied Amy with a chuckle.
As it turned out, I never used my compass during the entire outing. And neither did any of the others on the four-person team I was on. So much, it seems, for theory. On my team, by the way, were Ryan, Tom, and Ray. We ended up searching a ravine I'd never hiked before. The ravine stemmed off to the right (east in this case) of Waiakeakua Stream just makai of the Gladstone Wright Memorial Stone. Tom and I focused on the left side of the ravine and Ray and Ryan the right. Meanwhile, Amy and Ho'ala led the others in a systematic sweep of an area west of us between Waiakeakua Stream and Waaola Stream. In the end, no one found any miconia, a good result.
The day was a humid scorcher, and by lunch time my shirt and pants were soaked with perspiration as if I'd just emerged from a swimming pool. I achieved this soaked state as a result of a couple hours of grunting and clawing my way up a spur ridge to the Wa'ahila/Olympus trail. After reporting my whereabouts via walkie-talkie to my teammates, I sat down (more like collapsed) to eat and rest at a clearing often used as a rest stop by Wa'ahila hikers. In fact, when I stepped onto the clearing, a haole couple was resting there. As one might guess, they were surprised to see me appear in a spot where no trail existed and, of course, they were curious about what I'd been doing and where I'd come from. So I told them about the hunts, and they expressed interest in volunteering for one in the future. I hope they do.
No less than a dozen hikers went by as I sat in the clearing for lunch. Later, after I was finished eating my cottage/tuna/curry goulash, I hiked down the Wa'ahila trail because I was too sapped to head back down the spur ridge I'd climbed. As I hiked along, I saw that the trail up Wa'ahila is being well-used and is open. Good deal.
Arriving at a signed junction, I headed down the Kolowalu trail, noticing a typo "Kolowalo" on the Na Ala Hele trail sign. I came upon seven more hikers huffing their way up Kolowalu. I give them credit, since Kolowalu is a lung-buster to ascend, even moreso given today's hot mugginess. From Kolowalu, I hiked along the Pu'u Pia trail for ten minutes then descended a steep "trail" to return to Waiakeakua Stream.
Still dripping with perspiration, I figured I'd cool off by way of a dip in a pleasant little pool a minute makai of the Gladstone Wright Memorial. Arriving at the pool, I took off my daypack, fanny pack, and shirt. Then, kaboom, in I plopped, the cold water of the pool infusing energy into my tired, overheated body. Feeling the heat from my body core plummeting pleasantly, I just floated there. I don't know how long I lounged in the pool, maybe just fifteen minutes. But the time spent was wonderful, and I daydreamed of small-kid days when I spent hours swimming, diving, and playing in the stream near where I lived in Kaneohe.
I had hoped to wait at the pool for Tom, Ryan, and Ray, but I decided to hike out after a walkie-talkie call to them indicated they'd probably take a while to reach my location. When I hiked back to where we had left our cars, I saw Stuart, Kay, and members of their team waiting there. Ho'ala had guava juice and potato chips for us, and we enjoyed these as we talked story and relaxed on a bus stop bench along Manoa Road. Fifteen minutes later, Tom, Ryan, and Ray appeared, and they, too, joined in on the refreshment and talk-story session.
Before we left, Ho'ala gave each of us a hug and a kiss on the cheek
"Thank you, uncle," she said when I received my hug and kiss.
"You're welcome, Ho'ala," I replied. "See you next month."
A nice Saturday it was.
--dkt
