On the hill just past the first BWS well I found water running down the road. Hmmmmm maybe that is why the BWS truck headed up “their” paved road as I drove in to the parking area. At the foot of the hill just below the 2nd well the water was really running hard across the road. Looked like thousands of gallons going into the stream on the left.
Arriving at the 2nd well, (elev. 1400’) I found two BWS workers doing something. After talking to them for a while I found that they were flushing out the tank by the well. One of the workers said there was enough water there for quite a few swimming pools. Because I had stopped to take pictures along the road it took me about 40 minutes to reach the well.
I arrived at the Boy Scout shelter at the end of the jeep road (pavement ends at the 2nd well) in 50 minutes from the gate. Elevation here is 1600’. I sat on the table and took off my “street” shoes and put on my hiking base ball shoes. The steel cleats really dig in to the soil and cling to rocks be they wet or dry.
Lying on the ground by the table was a 10 foot piece of rope at least 5/8” in diameter and a “tow” strap also about 10’ long. I have no idea what they were doing there, but I picked them up planning to tie them somewhere along the trail. I began hiking again at 10:46. In the next picture you can see a close up of the trail markers. Five trails in Wai`anae Valley are marked like this. Each trail has it's own color.
It took me 15 minutes to reach the Ramble trail head (11:00), (elevation 1800’). A tree had fallen down across the trail and I cut it back. In the next picture the trail is just to the left of the big tree on the right. The tree I cut is the one laying almost horizontal. Looking carefully you can see the two yellow trail markers on a tree just left of center. The trail is holding up well. Two years ago I began “creating” this section of the trail by taking a pick to the existing pig trails and making it easier for a human to walk on it. There has been a little erosion but nothing to worry about for at least another year.
