Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Mt. Mou and the WWII plane wreck

Distance: 8.5 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 219/1185/1150 m.
Difficulty: 9.2/10.  Scenic: 8.8/10

The remains of the Dauntless SBD-3 (Tail 918) - click pic for album
Geotrack for the difficult hike is here
My friend Paul told me about this hike some months ago, and I finally convinced him to motivate a hike.  So, Paul, myself and Kincso, and Simon Nichol (SPC colleague) and his son Django hit the road by 8 AM to start the hike.  Make no mistake, this is a doozy of a hike.  It is straight uphill, through dry forest, red dirt desert, wet rainforest, etc. for 3.5 hours. If you do this hike, take a lot of water.  Take even more than a lot.  The history of this plane crash can be read here.  Sadly, there is less and less of the wreck remaining each year as bounty hunters strip away parts.  Paul has been here six or seven times over the past 15 years and attests to the plane's further destruction.  All in all, an exhausting hike that takes one through several different climes, highly recommended for the masochistic sporties out there.  We placed a geocache at the site, linked here.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Dumbea dams, 2nd visit

Distance: 10.0 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 187/466/546 m.
Difficulty: 5.5/10.  Scenic: 7.0/10

A return trip, this time with Paul J's two kids - click pic for album
Not a new geotrack, but the track from first visit
My friend, Paul Judd from SPC, had his two kids in from out of town and that was reason enough for a hike.  Four plus months ago, when my wife and daughters arrived, we took them on this same hike - in a jetlagged state.  Kincso was game to go again, so off we went.  This time, we took no dogs and spent much of the time swimming as the waters have filled the river compared to four months ago, and greatly warmed up.  The length of river was absolutely packed with folks but there were very few as far upstream as we hiked.  A nice, easy, excellent summer hike.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Maa Bay Point

Distance: 7.4 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 0/22/50 m.
Difficulty: 2.5/10.  Scenic: 8.5/10

The treat at the end of a 3.7 km hike - click pic for album
the geotrack is here

We wanted to return to this area to check out the beach at the end of the road.  The Boat on the Beach and the isolated beaches on the northwest part of the peninsula were great but this area seemed irresistible.  We made the mistake of only wearing flip flops and the hike was a bit more difficult than expected given that the "road" was really an overgrown path.  But the end result was spectacular - odd that there are several no-longer-used-structures indicating that this was once a popular community resort area.  We also placed a geocache here.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Timbea - La Foa - Baie des Tortues - Plage de Poe

Distance: NA Elevation low/high/total: NA

Difficulty: 1.0/10  Scenic: 9.5/10

Tempting the Undertoad at Baie des Tortues - click pic for weekend album
The beaches we visited are shown on the geotrack
This weekend was a busy one.  First, an end of year xmas party for SPC fisheries folks was hosted by John Hampton out at his place at Timbea.  Then we headed to La Foa, ostensibly for our first camping trip but due to failing light, we ended up back at Hotel Banu.  The next day we met up with the family of a new Hungarian friend of Ikdiko's and checked out the semi-dangerous beach at Baie des Tortues and then took them to our favorite beach - Plage de Poe.  Good times!