On July 18, 2020, our team comprised of Rozie Breslin, Dylan Cotton, and Nandor Szotak set off from Ka'ena Point at exactly midnight to traverse the Wai'anae Summit Trail. Even in the middle of the night, the humidity was brutal. By the time we reached the Kuaokalā Trail, we were already drenched in sweat.
Past the easier opening miles, the trail quickly became more overgrown as we made our way towards Three Corners. Due to the dense overgrowth, we took a wrong route and spent about 30 minutes trying to locate the road. Once we finally reached it, we began the climb up towards Ka'ala, arriving at the summit around 6am.
After refilling water there, we continued through the bog and down a series of slippery rope downclimbs before following the ridgeline towards Pu'u Kalena, which we passed around 8am. From there we fought through more dense overgrowth and crumbly terrain down to Kolekole Pass, reaching it at roughly 10am.
From the pass we started the steep climb up to Pu'u Hapapa, refilling water from a rain catchment there around 11am. Though it wasn't a "big" climb this was by far the toughest physically. With direct westside sun, no wind, and high humidity, every step up felt like a grind.
Though the majority of the distance and vert was behind us, the most mentally demanding sections were still ahead. While getting there however, the overgrowth became relentless, and in many places the trail completely disappeared, engulfed in vegetation. The route alternated between narrow, crumbly ridgelines and long stretches of the thickest and strongest uluhe ferns we had ever experienced tangled with sharp blackberry bushes.
We carefully worked our way along the explosed ridge past the Gorilla Heads and toward Pohakea Pass, the largest and sketchiest climb of the entire WST, positioned just before the finish (very ideal placement). We reached the base of the climb out of Pohakea around 4pm and were able to breathe a sigh of relief once all of us had made it safely to the top.
We continued pushing through the last sections of dense uluhe ferns to reach Palikea and were finally able to stretch our legs out and jog the last section to the "finish line" where the trail ends and Palehua Road begins.
Big thanks to Paula for picking us up and dropping us off at the start and finish!