by The Garden Island published 30 April
2005
A clearer
view: With awesome views of Hanalei Bay and beyond, it is hard
to imagine how the Okolehao Trail nearly ceased to exist. Members
of the Sierra Club Kaua`i chapter pitched in to adopt and repair
the trail after Hurricane `Iniki almost sent one of the few North
Shore trails into extinction.
When a hurricane nearly knocked one of the most scenic North Shore
hiking trails off the map, it looked like a nearly hopeless situation
for dedicated hikers.
After the hurricane, rebuilding recreational facilities, especially
isolated ones crossing both state and federal lands, took a back
seat to rebuilding people's homes, lives and businesses.
But this story has a happy ending.
The Okolehau Trail, a 2.25-mile trail that begins at the China
Ditch off the Hanalei River in Hanalei Valley and the Hanalei
National Wildlife Refuge and ends at a peak 1,200 feet up in the
state Halele`a Forest Reserve.
Hurricane `Iniki, though, blew trees across the trail, and state
Department of Land and Natural Resources crews stopped maintaining
the trail with its sweeping view of the bay, valley and waterfalls.
Funds for clearing the trail evaporated after the hurricane, and
it took a memorandum of agreement between federal, state and Sierra
Club officials to allow Kaua`i Sierra Club members to gain access
to the trail to work to reopen it.
Over a period of eight years, during which time Kaua`i Sierra
Club members lugged chain saws, gas cans, and other equipment
up the steep trail, and hauled debris, branches and other materials
back down, the trail began to reappear.
Sierra Club outings volunteer Kathy Valier, who still leads many
of the North Shore and Eastside Sierra Club hikes, became concerned
that one of the few trails on the North Shore would fade into
obscurity.
She suggested Sierra Club Kaua`i members adopt it, which they
did, for eight years.
Volunteers worked hard over the years to clear the trail, hauling
weed whackers and gas cans up the 1,200-foot climb to clear vegetation
and fallen trees from the trail.
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