I have wanted to climb Pu'u Manamana for some time time now, as I believe it has not been done in recent years. (?) This is not the high point (Turnover) on the Manamana trail that the club uses, but the lower peak on that ridgeline if you were to continue on towards Ohulehule. When driving north on Kahekili Highway, Pu'u Manamana is the mountain that divides Kahana and Kaaawa valleys, and seems to have a piece vertically sliced out of it.
On Sunday, my friend Brian and I got an unfortunately late (9:45) and slightly rainy start, leaving the car near Kahana Bay and climbing the cemetary route of the Manamana club trail. By 11:30 we were resting at the high point (Turnover) and were at the beginning of our real trek. (Kinda slow for us I would say...maybe I'll blame it on all the extra crap we were carrying. Ha!)
From there we followed a rolling ridge heading towards Ohulehule, taking turns in the lead. Pure jungle here with no signs of past use whatsoever. The lead man would chop away with the machete while the other did his best to improve the path for a quick return at the end of the day...or so we planned. I had underestimated the distance and vegetation between Turnover and the final peak before the steep descent to our target peak, and this section took a full 2 hours. Nothing dangerous, just lots of clearing to be done.
From this high point, the view was incredible - especially of the NARROW, crumbly ridge ahead of us. We started down slowly, at many points dislodging good-sized rocks that would crash hundreds of feet below us. There was one particular drop where I wanted to leave one of our ropes, but we decided to save it for a worse section. (We never ended up leaving any, though.)
As we lowered further into the saddle of the ridge there were numerous times when we could - or should I say 'had to' - staddle the ridge with our legs and pull or crawl along it. A few spots had pesky trees growing out of the 1 foot-wide ridge and we found ourselves dangling our legs off the edge while using our arms to negotiate around these obstacles by the roots. The drops to either side were incredible - no room for error. Imagine the Kalena dike section, but more narrow, worse rock, with the sheer cliffs on BOTH sides.
By 3:30 we had reached an intermediate peak on the ridge and had a reality check. There was no way we could reach Pu'u Manamana and escape before sunset. The route ahead was more of the same, which meant painfully slow progress to avoid dislodging any boulders. We also realized that our return route was not going to be as timely as we hoped either, even from our current spot. We mutually (but sadly) decided to scrap the summit plans and find an alternate way out. Fortunately, I had a backup plan to drop down into the much-filmed valley on our left, and the peak that we were on had the best (relative term) spur ridge to attempt.
As we started down Brian spotted an unattched old gray extension cord - our first sign of other hikers since we left the club trail. Anyone know who left this? As we descended further we realized we weren't in the clear just yet. This ridge was also very steep and needed a lot of bashing to get through. At one point Brian's digital camera got snagged away from him, but managed to get hung up on a tree where he could spot it and retrieve it.
Further down this ridge we came across another series of cables that WERE attached. These were incredibly long and seemed to go on forever. They were quite helpful despite being completly buried under layers of vines, weeds and other vegetation - took a while to find them in some spots. I imagine they were put there many years ago. Might this be an Al Miller route? Kudos to whoever hauled all of this.
Soon the cables ended and we returned to ass-sliding and tree-grabbing our way down the ridge. At times we tunnelled through pig paths when we could avoid cutting a swath.
Eventually we hit the valley floor and made our way makai. I felt like we were in the Jurassic Park movie until the cows started to congregate and stare us down. Not knowing how they would react to us, we did our best to keep clear of them by cutting through streams, going the long way around gates, etc. I don't think of cattle as particularly aggressive...but we were pooped and didn't want to deal with the 60 or more big mamas that were erratically watching and approaching us.
We made it to the highway untrampled, and began the 3 -mile walk back to the car. On the way we were hollered at by a good friend on his way home from the beach (who failed to stop and offer us a ride - because of our filthy appearance he later admitted) and we witnessed a colorful, cloud spotted sky as the sun set on the other side of the mountains. We reached the car a little after six, and made our way up the road for a hearty and much anticipated meal at the Punalu'u Grill.
As usual, the views were fantastic, the company enjoyable, and the adrelaline was rushing. I am regretful that we missed our target, but pleased with the adventure regardless. I believe we would need another 3-4 hours to complete this hike, but i don't know about a return attempt as we may have used up all the luck we were allotted for this particular ridge. If anyone else makes it up, I would love to hear the details.
-Pete
We didn't take many pictures of the ridge, as getting the camera out of the pack was not often a practical manuever. However here [below] is one shot of the approach to Pu'u Manamana, with Ohulehule in the back. The red line is the spur ridge we used to get down. Unfortunately, the tree blocks the view of the part we had to negotiate to get there.
Author: Pete Clines <peteclines@YAHOO.COM>
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