Wednesday, 30 Oct 2002

HALEAKALA, Hawaii

I will spend all of today checking and rebaiting 27 traps. Why so long to check only 27 traps? Well, Haleakala Crater has two gaps in it, one on either side. The trapline I’m checking today goes across one of these gaps, which means I have to hike down three miles of switchbacks just to get to the beginning of the line — and then, after crossing the gap and checking all the traps, I have to turn around and come back.

The bait of choice today is wet cat food. To avoid carrying heavy tin cans on a long hike, I empty the contents of five 5.5-oz cans into a plastic bag. Before placing this bag into my daypack, I stick it in another bag. A word to the wise: Never put bait in your pack unless it is double bagged. You don’t want to open your pack to find smelly bait everywhere. This has happened to a coworker or two. One noteworthy event involved frozen squid that had been placed in a Tupperware container but not bagged. Needless to say, as the day heated up and the squid started to defrost, juices leaked out and contaminated the rest of the contents of the pack. For those of you who don’t eat or deal with squid, it has a very potent fishy smell that does not go away easily, even after thorough cleaning. My coworker had a friendly reminder to double bag for quite some time.

After making sure both plastic bags are completely sealed, I mentally go through my checklist: bait, spoon, field notebook, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, and, most important, raingear. It’s a misty day today, and I don’t want to get caught in rain midway through my hike and come back looking like something the cat dragged in. From the office, it’s a 15-minute drive to the starting point of the hike. As I get out of the car, the resident Nene approaches me. Unfortunately, this bird has been fed by many visitors and has come to associate vehicles with food. This makes our job harder, because it’s tough to protect a bird that heads straight for a moving vehicle. Just this year a bird was killed by a car — not the first to die this way, sadly.

After trying to dissuade the Nene from approaching me or the car, I begin my hike downhill. Down is always easier, and before I know it, I reach the bottom and start heading across the gap. The weather has been fairly agreeable to this point — sunny, but with some high clouds so that it’s not too hot. As I start to hike across the gap, though, the clouds roll in and mist settles all around me. At this point, I wish it would either clear up or just pour buckets. When it’s in-between like this, it’s too hot to wear raingear, but without it, you get soaked from the mist. I decide to put on my jacket but leave the rain pants off. Just as soon as I do this, it clears up, but I know that if I take it back off again, it will start all over again, so I resign myself to being a little hot from the extra layer, at least for now. Today the trapline is uneventful with no catches, so after lunch, I turn around and start my trek back.

When I get back to the bottom of the switchbacks, the fun begins. They’re not really that bad, but today I am feeling a bit sluggish and I know it will be a mental challenge to get back up. I start out trying not to think about where I am, hoping instead to get lost in thought as I did on the way down. Of course, this doesn’t happen, and I find myself constantly calculating how far I’ve come and how far I have left to go: first, the series of short switchbacks, then the backside of the ridge, then two switchbacks on the front, then back over to the other side of the ridge for the second time.

Finally, I get to the “switchback from hell,” as a coworker calls it. This one seems to go on forever, but I like it because once I reach it, I know that I am almost to the top. It puts me onto the backside of the ridge for the third and last time. At the top of the switchbacks I cross Rainbow Bridge, a narrow land bridge, and climb a series of smaller switchback until I reach a gate. Beyond is the home stretch. From the gate, it’s only about 15 or 20 minutes back to the parking lot. Before I know it, I am back in the office to transfer the days’ data and head home.