What A Way To Finish A Road Trip -- Hawaii!

December 1998

After covering 32,000 miles across the continent, we left the Subaru Outback in the Oregton rain and flew off into the sunset to Hawaii. This exciting and productive trip resulted from five months of planning by John Alford, IMBA's Hawaii representative.

First Day - Maui: Host Russell Reinertson, member Maui Mt. Bike Club, picked us up at the airport. Our first mission was a trip to Polipoli State Park to assess the trails in the Kula Forest Reserve. We first looked at the Waiakoa Loop Trail, which had been open to bikes for several years and was showing signs of serious wear and tear. The desert-like conditions caused the trail bed to turn into powder that wind eroded away.

On the trail we met up with Mark Peyton, Maui's Trail & Access Technician for the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, and a youth crew who were out working on the trail. After discussing trail maintenance techniques with them, we demonstrated drainage dip construction. We then rode four miles to 7,000-feet elevation, and caught the Mamane Trail, which crosses the west face of Haleakala volcano through a pine, redwood, and eucalyptus plantation.

Day 2 - Maui to the Big Island: Up early to fly to Hilo where we met Chris Seymour, who is President of Big Island Mountain Biking Association (BIMBA) and owner of the Hilo Bike Hub. We traveled to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to link up with members of BIMBA for a group ride. At a new trailhead near Pauahi Crater we met 22 riders sporting full suspension bikes. We found out why they chose the plush machines on the two-hour ride across pahoehoe lava flows, which gave our kidneys a work out on our borrowed hardtail bikes. The newest section of the trail took us across a stretch of pahoehoe slickrock marked by orange flagging and was designed to bypass the nesting area of the nene, or Hawaiian goose.

TCC2 and Hawaii State Rep John Alford at the entrance to Hawaii
Volcano National Park

Day 3 - Hilo to Kona: We met with the Hawaii Volcanoes NP staff at Kilauea Visitor Center. We presented a short slide show of our work as TCC2 and found the staff interested in working with mountain bikers to solve problems and develop opportunities for access. We came away with a much better understanding of the constraints facing the park, including cultural resource & habitat protection, staff limitations and user pressures on the trail system.

After lunch with local riders, we drove to the 12,000-acre Waiakea Forest Reserve to walk the Kulani trails. These singletrack trails wind through thick native vegetation under a canopy of eucalyptus trees planted 30-40 years ago. These trails were developed with the motorcycle club and offer an interesting challenge to riders and to those maintaining the trails. We then drove to Hilo for a meeting with staff from the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources to talk about developing bicycling trails on state forest land. A beer and late dinner with our host Ann Peterson, Executive Director of PATH, helped restore our weary bodies and minds.

Day 4 - Kona: The Mayor's office hosted a meeting with local mountain bikers, bike shop owners, ranchers and a NPS ranger. After a round of introductions, we presented our slides on trail design, then focused the discussion on the needs and interests of the locals. Ranchers from Parker, Kahua, and Palani expressed interest in developing "ecotourism" opportunities and all saw mountain biking as a new land use and revenue source.

After lunch we picked up full-suspension rental bikes from Grant Miller, owner of Hawaiian Pedals in Kona. We rode with Jerry Case, Park Ranger for the 1160-acre Kaloko-onokohau National Historic Park. This coastal park has over 600 cultural resources including a pre-European coastal trail that was built like a roman road by Hawaiians to circle the island; fish ponds for aquaculture; a private bath spring for the Hawaiian royalty; and dozens of Ki'i pohaku (petroglyphs). We rode a loop around the park and looked at ways to improve the surface of the eight-foot wide Hawaiian trail which is rough, rubble strewn, and solid lava in places. Jerry asked us what he should do and we suggested he wait until bikes wear a smooth singletrack path in the current surface. He liked this option because he had to protect the integrity of the trail and had no funding for expensive treatments.

Day 5 - Kona to Oahu: We assessed trails in a 1,200-acre block of subtropical forest that is soon to be under the stewardship of a group called Tropical Reforestation Ecosystem Education (TREE). We recommended ways to provide new links and reroutes of the steep sections. Next, we demonstrated trail layout and flagging techniques while crawling about the thick jungle. Native hawks, owls, and honey-eaters added to the experience and wild passion fruit provided a tasty snack. But the 300-pound wild pig we met looked big enough to make a tasty snack out of us. After a quick lunch we packed and headed to the airport for our flight to Oahu with John Alford. Eve DeCoursey, Executive Director of the Hawaii Bicycle League (HBL), met us at Honolulu airport for an evening of dialog.

Day 6 - Oahu: Helped John plan the Saturday Aiea Loop trail workday. That evening we were invited to dinner at the home of Carl Masaki, Director of the Forest Management Program, State Dept. of Lands and Natural Resources, Forestry Division.

Day 7 - Oahu: At the Aiea Nature Center we met with Curt Cottrell, Na Ala Hele Program Manager and Aaron Lowe, Oahu's Trails and Access Specialist. Their impressive program manages more than 300 miles of dirt road trails in Hawaii and 30 popular trails on Oahu alone. We looked at several nearby trails and saw widespread use of recycled plastic lumber as boardwalk planks, steps, and shallow crib walls. Tropical forest conditions and termites demand the use of such non-organic materials.

Day 8 - Kea'iwa Heiau State Park, Oahu: Trail tools, weed whackers, food, water, plastic bag raincoats, banners, and cameras all got bundled into John's pick-up. At the trailhead we found volunteers gathering under a darkening sky. Soon we all sought refuge under a large picnic shelter to do introductions, a safety talk, and a briefing of the day's agenda.

We were impressed at the great turnout of volunteers, including seven bike patrol cops from the Honolulu Police Department, five soldiers from Scoffield Army Base and a host of local riders. We split up the group and sent the veteran weed whackers ahead, followed by newcomers who were shown how to prune the heavy branches, de-berm, and build drainage dips.

John walked Ric down the trail to start work on replacing a dangerous log bridge. At the crossing, volunteers cleared debris and mud (foul brew that is was) then maneuvered large basalt boulders into place. After two hours of messy exhausting struggle, we had a respectable set of boulders laid about 6'W x 10'L that presented a dry crossing for feet and bikes. However, Ric's attention to detail on boulder placement earned him the nickname "the rock-nazi" especially after a slight cut on his hand forced him to stay out of the muck and supervise from the sidelines. The importance of quality lasting workmanship was well demonstrated all the same. Later, Ric heard that the muck harbored a nasty disease called leptosporosis. Our host was able to describe in graphic detail the symptoms and fatal outcome if left untreated, and fortunately was also able to recommend a course in penicillin to nip it in the bud.

Near Honolulu, volunteers from Haw Mountain Bike Advisory Committee
replaced a rotting log bridge with an armored stream crossing. Most of
the people in this photo are bicycle police and voluneers from the Army.

As our planned quitting time and heavy rain coincided we packed up the tools and hiked back up to the trailhead, spending 30 minutes washing the mud off our legs, clothes, and tools. Back to Eve's to shower and get ready for the first annual HMBAC volunteer recognition biker's banquet. During the dinner we met and talked with local mountain bikers including incoming HMBAC chairman Tracy Paiwa - Manager of the Waimea Mountain Bike Park. We donated some IMBA items to the volunteer recognition Schwag pile that the top volunteers could choose from. Some volunteers had put in 20 plus hours during this first year of the program. Awesome!

Day 9 - North Shore, Oahu: constant rain showers kept us from visiting Tracy Paiwa at the Waimea MTB park, but we did see a little of the Masters Surfing competition nearby.

Day 10 - Oahu to Oregon: Jim Blattau gave us a car tour of the north side of the island on our way into town and then presented us with beautiful fragrant lei's on our departure at the airport. Such wonderful people and hosts on this trip, we hope to return one day soon!

For more information on Hawaii Mountain Biking contact John Alford; PO BOX 240170, Honolulu, Hawaii 96824; www.bikehawaii.com

Ala Hele Hau'oli - Happy Trails

Ric and Holly