Sunday morning was cool and cloudless, which meant the day would shape up to be sunny and brutally hot. What better a day to go on a long ride in central O’ahu! I met Ckucke, Kevyn, and Root for a recon ride out in the forbidden zone where we used to ride back in the day. Rumors through the grapevine indicated that the former tennant who had erected fences and signs was no longer in leasing the property, either because of an upcoming housing development in the area, or perhaps from repercussions over alleged illegal activity in a structure on the property.
Soon after we entered the trail network, we heard the approach of some motorcycles. There were fresh bike and motorcycle tracks and some rebuilt features. The area appeared to be once again in two-wheeled use. We met up with the motorcyclists as we crossed paths repeatedly in the criss-crossing network of trails. We were all trying to find our way over to the plateau, but like the last time we were there, there was no way through under a certain obstacle that had blocked access before. We ended up climbing the bypass trail to the plateau. At the top, further movement was seriously restricted by tall cane grass. The original dirt roads had been regraded and fences erected. The loose soil permitted the grass to grow where the hardpacked earth had once prevented it. The height and density of the grass indicated that the area really hadn’t been in use for an extended period of time. It was essentially impassable between the top of a familiar steep climb through a grove of eucalyptus trees and the road leading to the abandoned sructure. We ended up having to bypass the grass by dropping down into the valley and riding the singletrack until we found our way out of the valley in a familiar spot.
Stopping briefly at an overlook into the valley, we could see that all the bulldozering that was done had reverted back to nature. The road cuts appeared to never have been used since they hadn’t become packed down and worn in. This hints to me that the fencing in of this area was not for the stated agricultural purpose, but instead was just to keep people out, and that agricultural use was only a cover for some shady activity out there. The climb up to the familiar rest stop was grown in, but still rideable. Getting to this point was once a 30 to 40-minute ride, but fighting the cane grass made extended it to well over an hour. We could hear a heavy concentration of motorcycles in the area, and from here on up the trails were open and well used. At the moonscape climb, there was a “live ammo firing range” sign. I don’t think this is a legitimate usage in this zoning. We passed several dozen motorcyclists as we climbed to the top, where we met four friendly and responsible hunters and their well-kept dogs. From there, we descended the backside all the way down to the sortie at the highway at the very bottom of the hill. It appears that the access is primarily from the backside.
We had ridden through the hottest part of the day. All out faces were red from the sun and sweat salt. I drew my last sip from the 2-liters I put in the hydration reservoir as we reached the cars: I probably should have brought more water.
Picures here
D = 25.31 km (15.73-miles), Vavr = 10.0 km/h (6.2-mph), Vmax = 36.9 km/h (22.9-mph), T = 2-hours, 32-minutes (total trail time about 5-hours)
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