OHE June 7, 1999 (Koko Crater)



Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 18:17:01 -1000
From: Wing C Ng (wing@lava.net>
Subject: Koko Crater again

Some cop falsely accused me of reckless driving, which carries automatic sentence of 3 years of $25,000, costing $4,000 a year, which probably means I'll be riding a moped. Verdict is due tomorrow, and so this is my last day of freedom, and I'd like to do something dangerous, since yesterday, Pauao, was not dangerous enough. :-)

An easy choice is Koko Crater circumnavigation. I proceeded from the very bottom of the right arm, as suggested by the Prof., and went up the gentle, fairly open trail. After 10 minutes, I came to the first rockface, which is not too bad, and I surmounted it and got to the intersection with the ridge coming up from farther inside the crater.

Keep going, and soon, the excitement starts: there is this hole in the rock, and the easiest thing is just to climb up right there to the top of the dike. There is a nose with a slippery ledge on the right. Last time I went up the nose, and today I went the ledge. It is actually more dicey, a fall, if not arrested by the flimsy Christmas berries, would be like 100 feet. Then there is one more place that is a foot wide with exposures on both sides. Since trades were blowing, I decided to crouch down and crawl on all fours.

The top soon comes up, and today there is the Hawaiian flag as well as that unidentified flag up there. I sat down to munch on two apples, and then proceeded down the left arm.

Monday, the Stable is closed, and there is no one to check me in. I was worried about my car being broken into: Saturday I parked at the hairpin turn to go up Piliwale partways, and the car right in front of me was broken into, with shattered glass all over the place. Lucky the thief did not pick me. Today, it was okay also.

Wing


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