Ryan's Chang: Winded

Conditions are everything in the outdoors, I've known it for a long time. For instance chasing waterfalls require rain. You don't want to go when the waterfalls are dry. Surfing with off shore winds are more enjoyable than on shore winds. Finally setting up a tent in light to moderate winds are more enjoyable than setting up in a hurricane.

For the long weekend Cory planned a backpacking trip along the Ko'olau mountain range. More specifically the central parts. He stashed water where he needed with Lynne the week before. I winged it and prayed for water where I needed. The weather forecast from NOAA said that there was a fifty percent chance of rain with 15-20 mph winds. The day before I packed my 42L pack with all the essentials. My pack was at least 25 lbs.

The morning of Statehood day I met at Cory's house and set off on the trail with Lynne and Josh around 6 am. Manana trail is a grueling ungraded 6 mile one way trip to the Ko'olau summit. An early morning start just when the sun is rising is the way to do it. I wasn't too tired as we made our way up. Brief and frequent morning showers sprinkled us, I thanked and cursed it because I needed water at the summit yet I didn't want to be wet. When we reached the first big landing the rains stopped and there were splotches of blue skies. It lifted my spirits and we continued on.

We hit the summit of Manana just before 11. We pushed off again to the next peak, Eleao. Along the way Josh spotted some Koli'i. We reached Eleao just in time for lunch. The summit has a fairly large meadow area. It was really windy and isn't ideal for camping this day. After lunch Josh wasn't staying with us so we said our goodbyes. He left me with a goodbye present as well. Thanks for the water Josh! His plans was to hike back where we came from. Cory, Lynne and I pushed for the next couple of peaks. Off in the distance I saw our camp spot.

Cory took the ramrod position. Pushing through overgrowth along the way clearing a swath for Lynne and I. Even though we needed to be at camp at a decent time I took my time looking for anything interesting along the way. There were no lobelia plants along the summit from what I could tell. We reached the summit of Waimano and up to Waiau. At Waiau we took our next break. We were a little more than half way to Waimalu. Cory and Lynne stashed their water at Waiau, topping off their bladders and water bottles. I think they had 6L each, luckily they spared a little more water for me! I took the front position and we made our way to Waimalu. A little over an hour we made it to the infamous meadow. I searched for my water source, puddles is what Chase told me. Luckily I found some puddles and a little stream that flowed by camp. We searched for over an hour for a decent camp spot out of the wind. We finally settled down and set up camp for the night. We had enough time to sit on a hill side and watch the sunset. Golden hour on the summit was incredible! The summit of Waimano had a beam of light going through it. Around 7 rolled around and Cory cooked up a meal. I on the other hand had snacks for the duration of the trip. Sports Authority didn't have any dehydrated meals, I'm guessing because of the hurricane Iselle all the ready to eat meals were all taken out. Cory and Lynne was kind enough to share a few bites from their meal. The last thing on the agenda was to set up guylines. I had never used guylines for the tent because I never camped in a windy spot. Cory had a few extra that he lent to me. He taught me how to tie the guylines and set them up properly before night. About half an hour into the night in my tent the winds started to pick up. The stake for the front door ripped out of the ground because of the wind. Both Cory and I rechecked our stakes and restaked it if needed. I got a tip from Chase to put rocks over the stakes and get better stakes. We finally got everything set again and I settled back into the tent.

For the next 10 hours I was supposed to be sleeping. I didn't get any sleep what so ever. The entire night the winds were nuking! Flapping the rain fly and flexing some poles. I wasn't sure if my tent was going to stay or blow away. I checked my phone every hour counting down until sunrise. There were about 5 showers that passed quickly through our camp site. I had to use the bathroom during the middle of the night as well. That's no fun. I got out and rechecked the tent and pissed. The wind was still blowing hard and I watched outside as my tent flexed in the wind. I got back in and stayed up. When the wind blew my reaction every time was to brace it with my hand inside. This happened for the rest of the night. At 6 I got out of my tent to see the sunrise. It was just as beautiful as the sunset last night. By 7:30 I was packed and ready to go. I was mentally and physically drained by this time. My back hurt and not a wink of sleep. As soon as Cory and Lynne were packed we made the summit above the meadow at 8:30. I looked at how far we had to hike today, to the summit of Aiea which was shrouded in clouds. I reassessed myself and made a call that I wouldn't be able to make the entirety of the hike today. I really wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it down Aiea ridge with so little sleep and being physically exhausted from the day before. I decided to part ways with Cory and Lynne and make my way down Waimalu middle.

Because I was hiking solo now I took the precautions of letting people know that I was coming down by myself. I knew I wouldn't have reception once I hit the bottom of the valley. Luckily my friend Matt was available to pick me up and give me a ride back to my car. Thanks Matt, I owe you! I slowly progressed down the ridge. About half way down I heard a bunch of native birds. I saw a few 'apapane and heard a lot of amakihi around. I took a break in a grove of ohia looking for them. I quickly fell asleep but woke up ten minutes later to a few text messages. I told myself if I sit down and take a break for any reason it'll be for water or food and that's it. I quickly made my way down to the valley floor. I took some water from the stream and purified it. I set a good pace through the valley and was out by 2.