Chris, Root and I hit St. Louis yesterday for some F/R. The weather was nice all day, but as soon as we unloaded bikes at the top, it started to drizzle. The sky was blue over Manoa, but clouds were rolling in slowly behind us over the mountains. Intending to check out some of the stuff we saw last week, we dropped mainline. Rain-specked glasses and goggles immediately fogged, keeping speeds down. Dirt clung to wet bikes and shinguards like breadcrumbs and clogged tire knobs into dirt-slicks.
We hooked the first left after the 4-way junction. The earth around the rock drop was heavily eroded, but a lot of the sharper turns along this trail had been bermed-in. We dropped down through agave, then took the tank trail out. Near the tank, we tried the new left fork that led through jumps then sinuous dry switchbacks. There had been a fair amount of use since this trail was cut as evidenced by the Haole-koa punji stumps sticking up around 30-40cm above the loose dirt. The trail dumped out where we suspected – a little past the beginning of the lower trail.
Dinner was at Sumo Ramen in Market City. I had Ma-bo tofu ramen for $6. Good. B-
D = 3.47-miles, Vavr = 9.7-mph, Vmax = 17.9-mph on trail, T = 21-minutes. Distance and time are both from the park to McB since I forgot once again to turn the computer on at the car.
Pictures here
Added my pics.