Banaderu Trail - Not!

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry". How true that is for our Sunday hike. On this semi-dark Sunday morning, Lee (new recruit) and Capt. Charlie catch a ride with Peppy to the Last Command Post for the 6:15 starting time, and there, happy Jason and Celia, and Giggles are waiting. Obviously J & C have not been deterred by their very first introduction, a grueling 9.8 hot and mostly uphill hike last week. They are back for more, and we are very happy to have two more members to our "club". Two other new recruits are also waiting: Crystal and Jamika. That makes us an even eight. Our goal: Banaderu Trail to the top of Suicide Cliff.

Having warned all the new members that we often get lost on unfamiliar trails, we immediately find ourselves lost behind the Korean monument. Although we know that the red ribbons we see are not the right trail mark, we follow them anyway, up and up the rocky and loose-dirt slope.

Giggles on her hands and feet negotiating the steep slope with boulders, fallen branches and loose dirt., not quite knowing where she is heading to. Peppy and her troupe are further up the slope, determined to find either the real trail, or something even more interestng.

An old air tank hidden in the middle of the slope. One wonders what it has been used for.

At the top of the trail, we realize why the ribbons are placed on this tough incline, as Giggles and Jason discover this cave. They are anxious to explore this new find.   

Jason climbs up part way into the cave. It's quite large, but not connected to any other caves. Nothing significant is found inside the cave.

Peppy, Lee, and Giggles wait outside and decide what we should do next. We can go back down and try to find the Banaderu trail, or explore around this area some more.

Someone says there is another cave to the norh, so everyone heads that way.

Jason, Celia, Lee, and Giggles looking up at the high ceiling of this new cave. An upper cave that looks reachable by climbing up a narrow ledge against the rock face. No one volunteers for this adventure. Meanwhile, Peppy is waiting at the other cave area, Crystal and Jamika have gone off in a different direction looking for any signs of another trail.

Crystal and Jamika climbing up to the new cave, back from their exploration. They have not found any new trail, but are very excited about a large coconut crab they have encountered. We want to see this big crab, so everyone follow the two explorers, climbing over rocks and boulders, and reach the small crag where they have last seen the creature. Unfortunately, it must have been forewarned, and has gone and hidden somewhere further into the rocks.

We head downhill back to where we have started. On the way down, we see this fan shape mushroom.

Back on the foot path just south of Last Command Post. Of course it's snack time. An assortment of snacks and goodies are laid out for everyone to sample and enjoy. CC decides to go back into the boonies to find the trail marker. After climbing up to the left and finding a couple of red ribbons which are not going in the right direction, CC goes back down to take a group photo of: Celia, Peppy, Jason, Giggles, Lee, Jamika, Crystal and Capt. C.

 

It is obvious that we have not hiked enough. Different suggestions for our next move are offered. When it is discovered that Jason and Celia, after 14 years on Saipan, have not been to the Kalabera Cave, and the Serena statue which happens to be Jamika's family tour garden. We all pile into our cars and head to the Kalabera Cave first. The road from Bird Island to the Cave is terrible, full of giant potholes and deep gouges. Lee, Peepy, Crystal, and Jamika in awe of the dark and foreboding Kalabera cave that seems almost bottomless.

Jason is dwarfed by the size of the giant cave. Different adventurous people have ventured down to the base of the cave. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

From Kalabera, the hikers walk to The Serena statue on the Reyes property. It is open to the public to enjoy the scenery. The legend of Serena is available by Googling.

Jason takes a picture of eight "mermaids". There is a platform hanging over the cave for observation, but it is not currently usable. After sampling some sweet tangerines from one of the trees at the entrance to the garden, we head back to Kalabera Cave to pick up our cars and end our short hike.

Jason's new Hikers name: The Cowboy!

This is the first time the hikers are not able to reach their goal. Although the hike is quite short, we enjoy finding two new caves, and introduce new sights to Jason and Celia.  

For this coming Sunday, we are hiking the newly opened MacDick, Bananarama, and HoChiMin trails. These trails are open only once a year for the Xterra Race. We will park at Esco, or Tun Goru on Capitol Hill and go from there. It will be a medium length hike.