A hike for the elite: MHS boy scouts take on 18-mile challenge

By Vivian Fang

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(Photo courtesy of Parent Alan Davis) The hike was geared toward the older Boy Scouts, as participants were faced with rough terrain and overgrowth, narrow ledges, rain and cold winds. — (Photo courtesy of parent Alan Davis) The hike was geared toward the older Boy Scouts, as participants were faced with rough terrain and overgrowth, narrow ledges, rain and cold winds.

While many bask in the relaxation that spring break brings, seven MHS boy scouts decided to test themselves with a long and challenging hike. On March 21 and 22, the scouts of Troop 179 went on an 18-mile hike, starting from Wahiawa and ending in Laie.

“This (was) my first hike since I’ve moved here with these guys, but I’ve been on hikes before a lot,” said Sophomore Jacob Duncan, “From what (other scouts) said, this hike, compared to the 50-miler they did, was harder because of the terrain. The 50-miler was obviously a lot longer, but this one was harder.”

Although the troop has members ranging from ages 11 to 17, this hike was geared toward the older scouts. “(It’s) challenging, we have easy hikes we go and what not, but some of the boys wanted something more challenging and I remember hiking this trail when I was young with my uncle,” said Scoutmaster Earl Miyamoto.

The hike was a combination of three back-to-back trails and took a total of 22 hours to complete. “(First we went to) Poamoho Trail and we went up to the summit and then we hiked along the Koolau Summit Trail and then we got down to the Laie Summit Trail and we went to the Laie Falls Trail, down to the Kahuku football field,” explained Sophomore Hamo Wegesend. Due to low visibility at night, the hike was split between two days. “The first day we hiked 17 hours. Four of those hours (were) in the dark with our headlamps on. And then we woke up early the next day, started hiking around (9 a.m.) and then we hiked for five hours,” said Miyamoto.

The environment consisted of mud and narrow ledges, which made the hike difficult to complete. “The hardest part had to be the terrain, because there was pretty much a cliff on our right side and left side. It switched off depending on which side (of the summit) we were on. But we had a good two (feet) wide part of it, maybe two feet wide of a trail,” said Duncan. Wegesend added, “It’s a good experience, but it’s long and can be irritating because it’s always cold and muddy up there.”

Though the terrain was difficult, scout safety was ensured by Miyamoto taking a pre-hike through the trails. “When I did it when I was in intermediate with my uncle, we actually spent two nights on the trail, on that path. But since we were older we tried to do it (in) one day. We knew we were (going to) finish at least in the evening, but when we took that trail earlier this year, once the sun went down it was (kind of) hard to find which path (was right),” said Miyamoto, “We knew kind of where we were going, but we didn’t know which ridge dropped down, we didn’t know which ridge was the Laie Summit ridge. So that’s how I knew to spend the night for the sun to come up so we knew how to get our bearings again.”

Although the hike posed a challenge, the boy scouts still found the hike enjoyable and well worth it. “When we looked up in the sky (at night), we can see the stars. We could see Orion’s Belt and stuff. It was pretty cool,” said Wegesend. Duncan expressed, “(Miyamoto) said that it was a hike for the elite. During the hike we were like, ‘we got bragging rights,’ because not everybody in the troop went.”

The scouts go on monthly hikes and they plan to hike these trails again next year.