Historic Haleakala Trail Access Update

Public Access Trails Hawaii’s (PATH) most recent litigation efforts to ensure public access to the Haleakala Trail are still ongoing. PATH prevailed at trial and obtained an injunction, however, in May the parties agreed to delay the enforcement of the injunction to allow the DLNR to perform survey marking of the location of the trail, as determined by the Court in 2014. While DLNR claims the trail is impassable as the result of a gulch, PATH has repeatedly pointed out that the trail was used for over 100 years previously by pedestrians and horses and that the 2013 findings of surveyor Anthony Crook that were adopted by the Court as the basis for the trail’s location following the 2014 trial and jury verdict clearly state that the route he determined to be the historical trail in the area of the Kailua Gulch was “passable by pedestrians or horses.”

The surveyors detailed expert report regarding how he determined the location of the historic Haleakala Trail can be found on PATH’s website. CLICK HERE to access the surveyor, Anthony Crook’s document. This document is the 2013 surveyor’s expert report regarding how he determined the location of the historic Haleakala Trail. His methodology and location were adopted by the jury and Court as the basis for the trail’s location following the 2014 trial. It shows the level of depth and detail that one must go to in order to locate a historic trail. In my humble opinion, it is a really fascinating document–compiling surveying techniques, historic maps, deeds and easements, government procurement records, and historical records to locate this trail that has largely been lost/obscured over time.

The above is one of the many maps referred to in the surveyors document.

The author of this article, Michael Biechler, is an attorney at North Shore Law Offices that continues to represent PATH in their legal battle to gain public access to this historic trail.