Newsletter

Along the Trail

Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Newsletter

April – May – June 2014

SPECIAL ADVENTURING EVENT Celebrate Earth Day by meeting Jennifer Pharr Davis, a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. An endurance hiker, she set a speed record for hiking the Appalachian Trail. Learn how she was able to hike 16 hours daily and average 47 miles per day.

Tuesday April 22, 6:30PM to 7:30PM, Aina Haina Public Library

NOMINATIONS FOR THE BOARD

Six nominations have been received for the new HTMC Board of Directors. Voting will take place at the Annual Meeting in April. Shown below are the names of the nominees, along with a brief descriptive paragraph.

Guy Archer Guy served a 3-year Board term and as Club president this past year.  New projects in 2013-14 include (i) acquiring archival equipment to preserve the Club’s books, records, and photos; (ii) purchasing a laptop and accounting software for the Club Accountant as recommended by the new CPA; and (iii)  improving trail access by negotiating a right of entry with Kamehameha Schools and working with other public and private entities.  On a lighter note, Guy served as the Club’s recording secretary in the 1990s until the Board released him in return for his purchase of two life memberships.  Since then he’s hiked with the Club, most notably in 2011 when he met the Centennial 100 mile challenge.

Thea Ferentinos Over ten plus years as a member I’ve had the privilege to hike, coordinate hikes and clear trails with the club. I’ve helped order club t-shirts, participated in club governance meetings, chaired the membership committee, and last but not least, met many wonderful people and had many wonderful hiking experiences. I’m intrigued by the club’s history, which inspires me to encourage our club to be forward-looking and inclusive, as well as to be relevant to, and respected in the hiking community and the community at large. I recently worked to have the Board formally support legislation for renewal of Act 82 and I am keenly interested in preventing further loss of trail access. 

Barb Bruno Aloha.  I’m a geologist, a science educator, and a proud member of the HTMC trail maintenance crew.   I absolutely love spending my Sundays ripping out uluhe, lopping pesky guava and working with such awesome people.  Clearing hiking trails is the highlight of my week!  I’m now looking to give back a little more to the club by serving on the board.  I can offer a positive attitude, a pragmatic let’s-get-it-done approach, and a genuine commitment to the club.  I am particularly interested in reducing the number of hiking accidents by educating the public on safe hiking, and have been working with the HTMC public relations committee to achieve this goal.  Mahalo for considering me for the board—I would be honored to serve.  

Chase Norton The mountains of Hawaii are where I feel at home and alive. Through a long and noble history the HTMC has been a steward organization of the preservation and maintenance of the mountains and trails. Serving on the board of HTMC will allow me to contribute to the hiking community that has given so much to me and help direct it into the future.

Alaina Leiomanu Fukui Aloha kakou. I have been a member of HTMC for approximately 8 years and although still relatively new to the club, I feel I can offer a new set of eyes and energy to the board. I am an Executive Assistant to the Area Vice President/General Manager of a large luxury hotel in Waikiki and am also a residential realtor here in Hawaii. I have been in these positions for 28 years and 15 years respectively. In these positions I am exposed to many different people from all over the world and with different cultures and faced with a variety of challenging situations that require patience, tact and negotiation. I feel my experience and my temperament can play a positive role in working with the other members of the board in accomplishing the tasks at hand. I LOVE hiking and continue to enjoy meeting other members of HTMC. The time spent together, the same love and respect for our ‘aina and the camaraderie we now share truly embodies what HTMC is all about. I am also a volunteer for Project DANA and assist with transportation and shopping for seniors and elders. Helping people and following the golden rule of “do unto others as you would want others to do unto you” is a motto I follow daily. HTMC has become another extension of my ‘ohana and I hope with my experience and desire to “make a difference” will allow me this opportunity to serve on the board.

Quintin Bray No information available at the time of publication of the newsletter.

POAMOHO HIKE RESCHEDULED Fred Boll The new hike schedule shows a Poamoho “re-schedule” on April 19, 2014. This is because the February 15th hike was cancelled due to bad weather. For the re-scheduled hike I will be using the same list of hikers that was generated for the February hike. This list may be subject to change depending on the availability of 4 wheel drive vehicles. If there are less vehicles I will have to shorten the list accordingly. Conversely if more vehicles are available I can add hikers from the waiting list.  

MAUNAWILI TRAILS SWEEP The US Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District, is presently conducting a full munitions and explosives sweep of three hiking trails in the Maunawili area: the Maunawili Demonstration and Falls Trails, and the trail connecting the two. A civilian contractor, Huikala LLC, is performing the work, which began on Monday, February 10th, and is estimated to take up to 5 weeks. In coordination with State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the contractor will be maintaining required safety buffers, temporarily stopping work to allow for trail users to pass. If greater measures are deemed necessary, this will be coordinated and notifications made.

Anyone finding any item suspected of being ordnance should immediately leave the area, warning others in the vicinity, and notify local law enforcement officials. Note the location of the suspicious item, but never touch, move or disturb it. Ordnance, regardless of age, physical shape, or condition can be dangerous. Report any such item to,

• Kevin Pien
• Project Manager
• US Army Corps of Engineers
• Honolulu District
• Environmental Branch
• (808) 835-4091

IMPORTANT VICTORY David Brown, Public Access Trails Hawaii On Friday, January 10, 2013, the Board of Land and Natural Resources refused to permit its chairperson William Aila, to enter into preliminary settlement talks with Haleakala Ranch Company regarding a plan to exchange Haleakala Trail for a jeep road in Waiopai, providing access to an area that would likely not be available to the public for decades. Instead, the Board requested that the Department of Land and Natural Resources conduct an analysis to be done through an environmental assessment and an archaeological inventory survey. (Two BLNR members had to recuse themselves from voting. These were Maui member James A. Gomes and member at large, Dr. Samuel M. Gon III.)

PATH is confident that once the EA and AIS have been completed (a process that will likely take a year or more), the information in those documents will easily convince state officials that the land exchange being proposed by Haleakala Ranch is a bad idea and not in the public’s interest. Further, it is PATH’s position that cultural and historic properties owned by the State may never be conveyed in fee simple ownership (complete ownership) to private landowners under any set of circumstances. In other words, the proposed land exchange is legally impermissible.

PATH would like to thank the more than 2,300 people who signed our change.org petition, and to the many people who took away from their busy schedules to submit written and oral testimony. We will keep that petition going because the proposed land exchange at this time continues to be a something the State may consider after the EA and AIS are completed. If you haven’t done so yet, we ask you to add your name to that petition.

LAND TRUST OFFERS HIKES

Richard McMahon

The Hawaiian Islands Land Trust (HILT), a non profit steward of 17,000 acres of wildlife habitat, historic and cultural sites, is now offering free guided hikes on certain lands under its control. In this, the program’s first year, 16 hikes are being offered on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii.

Two hikes are scheduled for Oahu, Pupukea Ranch on May 3, and Maunawila on June 21. Maunawila, a 9-acre parcel near Hauula, is the former homestead of the McGregor family, and the site of a large, rarely visited heiau.

Hikes scheduled on neighbor islands:

Kauai – Coco Palms, April 26, Kaneiolouma, June 14, Waiakalua, July 12

Maui – Auwahi, April 12, Waihee Coastal Dunes and Refuge, June 14, Nuu Refuge, August 9

Hawaii – Honolulu Coffee Co. Farm, April 12, Mahukona, May 17, McCandless Ranch, June 7.

Reservations are required for all hikes, and may be made by calling, Oahu and Maui 244-5263, Kauai 755-5707, Hawaii 769-4343.

ADVENTURER’S HAWAII

Richard McMahon

Peter Caldwell has published a new edition of his Adventurer’s Hawaii, a lushly photograph-filled volume containing page after page of stunningly beautiful photos of places accessible only by trail or kayak. The author intersperses stories and comments throughout striking images of unspoiled, out-of-the-way locations on six islands. This just-published new edition almost doubles the size of its predecessor, is now in hard cover, and makes a perfect coffee table book. It is a treasure for anyone with a love of outdoor Hawaii. Even if you are not a hiker or a kayaker, this book will make you yearn to get up and go.

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