Sea-to-Summits

[JChitwood]

Mt Waialeale the Kaua’i highpoint is one of the three wettest places on the planet in some years it is the wettest. A trail couldn’t survive long in a place that gets 500” of rain in a year. Haleakalā and Mauna Kea might be the easiest to hike even though they have 10k and 13k vert. What a challenge to climb the highpoints and get to the next island under your own power. I wonder if Justiner can swim?

[12ersRule]

I wonder if Justiner can swim?

How about a bike powered pontoon?

[kimo]

I wonder if Justiner can swim?

How about a bike powered pontoon?

I can get onboard with a pedal-powered pontoon after reading Linda Kaiser’s account of shark encounters.

It was during her 1990 Pailolo Channel swim from Maui to Molokai when she noticed a dark shape in the water beneath her. She said the shape was “no larger than a fist at first, but was growing quickly and racing straight [up to the surface] All of sudden I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a shark.’ He just kept coming straight up, and I said to myself, ‘Ooh, this may not be good.'” But after the 12-foot shark circled her a few times, the shark lost interest.

“Mentally, the toughest crossing was from the Big Island of Hawaii to Maui across the Alenuihaha Channel. We did it after Mike Spalding got bit by a cookiecutter shark. I had lots of thoughts throughout that swim – and there were lots of sharks.”


But then I read further accounts and realized the pontoon could end up in Fiji, or worse, capsized.

“The most difficult channel was swimming from Kahoolawe to Lanai across the Kealaikahiki Channel. We had probably five different weather and current changes.”

“The most fun crossing was from Maui to Kahoolawe across the Alalakeiki Channel. Even though the swells were 20-30 feet (6-9 meters) high, we literally bodysurfed those swells. It is a 7-mile swim and the swells were with us. The hardest part was getting in our escort boat at the end because it was so rough.”


And then after all that, you still have to get up what may be the hardest county highpoint in the country excluding Alaska: Kawaikini (the summit of Mt.Waialeale).

Good times.

[WanderingJim]

The only Sea-to-Summit I've done (many times) is from Stinson Beach to the East Peak (2,571 ft) of Mt Tamalpais in the SF Bay Area. So, a pretty easy hike.

So has anyone done any Sea to Colorado 14er summits? THAT would be impressive.