GC49JYT KET #5: ET Pupukea (Traditional Cache) in Hawaii, United States created by A Dark Cloud on a Beautiful Day

GC49JYT ▼

A cache by A Dark Cloud on a Beautiful Day Message this owner

Hidden : 3/26/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Back Story:
We (kailua.cat&matt) attempted to do this trail back in 2010 but ran into a “Dark Cloud” and got completely lost. This was BC (before caching) and before we had a GPSr. We bushwhacked through strawberry guava trees, crossed gulches and streams, climbed cliffs, leaped over a wall in a single bound…wait, maybe not the last one, but we ended up at a Scouts Camp. We thought we had luckily hiked back to the Boy Scouts Camp where we had parked our car, but it was not to be. It was dusk and getting dark fast by the time we found out we were at the Girl Scouts Camp, which is on a completely different ridgeline at the top of COMSAT Road. By the good graces of a Girl Scouts caretaker and a Starbuck’s employee we got safely back to our car which was still parked at the top of Pupukea Road.

Years later, we decided to tackle this trail again after hearing that several members of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC) including, Stuart Ball, had successfully hiked and marked the trail. We were now armed with a GPSr and in the company of another experienced cacher, CelticGuardian, who assisted with all the cache placements. The trail was well groomed compared to when we first attempted it several years ago making our experience a pleasant hike. A huge mahalo to CG for your assistance with all the caches and for putting up with a Dark Cloud on what turned out to be a very beautiful day!

The Kaunala to ‘Ehukai Trail (KET)
The 6-mile long (one way) Kaunala-‘Ehukai Trail is located in the Pupukea-Paumalu State Park. This trail is maintained by HTMC and is open to the public. You can approach this trail either from the top or bottom, however, the waypoints and directions provided in this description will guide you along the KET from the Kaunala trailhead to the Sunset Beach Neighborhood Park. It is highly recommended that you take this route as you will have a pleasant downhill journey along the KET. Both parking and upper and lower trailheads are marked as waypoints.

The lower trailhead is located at Sunset Beach Neighborhood Park which is a public park located in front of Sunset Beach Elementary School. The lower trailhead is located just to the left before the metal gate leading into the school. PLEASE DO NOT PARK INSIDE THE SCHOOL. The school gate is locked during non-school hours.

The upper trailhead for the KET branches off from the main Kaunala Trail Loop which has a sanctioned trailhead located at the Boy Scouts Camp at the top of Pupukea Road. To find the upper trailhead for the KET, travel about 100 yards from the Kaunala trailhead sign. You will see the KET branching off to your left.

If you plan to do the entire 6 mile KET trail, it is recommended that you take two cars and park one car at the bottom at Sunset Beach Neighborhood Park and then drive your other car to the top of Pupukea Road and begin your journey from there.

The Six caches in the Kaunala to ‘Ehukai Trail Series:

CAUTION:
There are well over 22 miles of hiking and biking trails tangled in the Pupukea-Paumalu State Park area. Please be aware that the special sets of candy-cane-striped ribbons marking the KET are distinct at both ends of the trail but sparse in the middle. You will see sets of pink and other orange colored ribbons that dart off in all kinds of directions to designate different mountain biking and hunting trails. Throw in some jeep roads and metal placards into the mix and you can easily get disoriented while you are on the trail. If you are traveling the recommended route and beginning at the upper trailhead and heading down towards Sunset Beach Neighborhood Park, please maintain an overall mountain to ocean direction and pay attention to topography. We tied new orange ribbons, planted the “KET” caches along the way and posted some key waypoints to help guide your way. Happy caching!!

By the way, the caches in this series vary in sizes – please BYOP!

Tree on crutches - turn right!

KET #5: ET Pupukea
After leaving KET #4: Onward Cacher, you will head North for about 1000 feet before the trail veers West. Stay on this jeep path until you come upon a fallen tree supported with "crutches." This is marked as the waypoint "Tree on Crutches". From this tree, you will leave the jeep path and turn right and continue down a bike trail in a NNE direction. After about 600 feet, the trail veers left and you will be heading back in a NNW direction. From here, you will notice that you can get glimpses of the satellite dishes at the Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network Satellite Access Station that you first saw from the KET #1 cache area. By now, these satellite dishes should look monstrously huge. Keep going; you will get better views once you reach the cache! The site of these large dishes made us wonder if someone was trying to contact Extra-Terrestrials out in Pupukea?

Congrats to GeoGerms and 808LadyBug for FTF!!!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Va gur ebpxf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

KET #5: ET Pupukea Traditional Cache

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