On August 2, 2015, Super Typhoon Soudelor wrecked havoc on Saipan, causing unprecedented devastation to the population and environment. Many people proclaimed it "the worst typhoon" they had experienced. Others called the scenes looking like a "war zone" or "hit by a tornado". It will take months and years before the island could return to its previous glory. Thousands of residents are still struggling to recover, and there is no power and water. Everyone is going through some big adjustment in daily lives.
However, some Sunday hikers are anxious to get out of the funk and get some exercise, even though everyone suspects that most of the trails have been "destroyed" and probably impassable.
Peppy suggests that we try the CowTown trail, RedEye and Cutie concur, and Chops agrees. To keep things simple, five of us, the original charter members of the Saipan Sunday Hikers, decide to check it out.
Note: As the blog title indicates, this hike turns out to be the toughest and longest hike we have done in the past several years. Being so busy and absorbed in finding our way through the wild and tangled mess on and off the trail, CC takes very few photos during the hike. The fallen trees, overgrown bushes and other debris obliterate most of the trail. It is almost like it has never existed. Despite the numerous times we have hiked on this trail, and despite knowing the various landmarks, and our being able to hear the surfs, the thick "jungle" is such an impediment to our progress that it turns out to be a marathon hike!
Brilliant sunrise at 5:00 a.m.
We gather at the Last Command Post of 6:30, anxious to go. RedEye brings his machete ready to chop away anything that gets in his way. Check out RedEye's tee shirt!!
Morning is pleasant, and we are surprised that the damages in this area seem quite minimal. We are hopeful that the trail may not have suffered too much.
Peppy notices paper money scattered on the ground. We get excited.
Turns out to be play money.
Cow Town trail head, looking pretty good. We happily start our adventure.
As we approach deeper into the overgrown ground covers and a few fallen branches, RedEye whips out his machete to get some action.
Soon enough we are in the thick of downed trees and tangled branches. RedEye gets really busy, although mostly we are able to climb over the branches.
We hear someone sawing, and see Peppy busy with her saw trying to get rid of a few annoying obstacles. The criss-crossing tree branches are continuously present on the barely visible trail. While trying to avoid some of the large mounts of fallen greeneries, we veer away, and soon lose the trail completely, unable to relocate it again. We land in very rocky, murky and nearly impassable boonies, constantly climbing over and ducking under mossy and broken trees limbs.
A welcome break from the thicket, we try to reorient ourselves.
We are already over two hours into the gymnastic-like hike, everyone is rather tired, so we take a break. Cutie has omiboshi, Peppy has cold grapes. We enjoy the treat. RedEye rests against the tree, Chops is down on her back for a good rest.
After the rest, we continue on the over-and-under maneuver, climb over, duck under, over and over again, until our legs start to complain bitterly for having to lift over, squat, and crawl under countless times. Realizing that we are too close to the water, and way below the trail, we turn right to go up.
At almost exactly the 3-hour point, we land on the trail again. Great joy!!
Chops come crawling through one of the numerous challenges.
Cutie and RedEye follow suit. Do that a few dozen times, one can get pretty tired!
While we are still not sure how far we had gone, since time seems to have little relevance to the distance we have covered, we are surprised at how "long" this trail is. We begin to feel like kids who keep asking, "are we there yet?"
Imagine how happy we are to see the barracks, a most welcomed landmark. Although sometime after the barracks, we lose the trail once more in the thick and jumbled mess of rocks and tree trunks. Being able to hear the trucks in the dump, we are clear as to which direction we should take. We know we are inside the Cow Town compound, and we should look for the perimeter rock wall, which we are able to spot shortly after that. We climb over the wall, and walk up the beach road.
Three of us, Cutie, Peppy, and CC arrive at the CowTown gate at 11:30, five hours after we start from the Last Command Post.
We walk past the dump, the big taotaomona tree, and down middle road to get the car so we can go back to pick up RedEye and Chops who are behind us on the trail.
When we return to the CowTown gate, only RedEye is there. Chops is still in the jungle.
We are concerned, so we honk the horn. Soon we hear whistle by Chops. She sounds still some distance away. Cutie and CC walk down the road, climb up on the rock wall, and begin to shout to Chops to follow our voices. Chops responds with her whistle, as we try to establish a straight line direction for her with our voices. This goes on for almost 40 minutes, as we can tell, eventually, Chops is getting closer, but still in the jungle area. Now we are all out of water and very thirsty.
Meanwhile, Rexplorer is concerned that we are not back from the hike after 12 noon. Runs into Peppy who tells him where we are. Rexplorer comes to the rescue with cold water bottles. He goes into the jungle and locates Peppy (at 12:54 p.m.), who is quite totally exhausted and overheated. The cold water helps to bring her around. All is well.
Too bad Peppy is not here, but the four originals have a memorable photo taken at the Cow Town gate at 1:30 p.m. Remember RedEye's tee shirt?
The total time from the start at the Last Command Post to the photo-op at the gate is 7 hours. This longest hike also teaches us a great deal for preparing for future hikes. Despite our dehydration and sore muscles, we really enjoy it. It turns out to be a big adventure. The charter members of the Sunday-5, plus Rexplorer the rescuer, will mark this as the most memorable hike!
