Fire officials say three men and a woman in their 20s left to go hiking at 4 a.m. Saturday at Castle Trail in Punaluu and were supposed to return at 6 p.m. The woman’s father got worried and called the Honolulu Fire Department at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. HFD made contact with the hikers who walked out themselves through Sacred Falls by 12:15 p.m.
DLNR says after bush whacking their way toward a ridge line they found themselves in a gully and decided to spend the night as inclement weather and darkness fell. Hikers saw a red helicopter fly overhead and realized that rescue personnel might be searching for them so they took the most direct way out that also allowed them to establish cell phone contact with rescuers. While in contact with rescuers they came out through the entrance to Sacred Falls State Park, but they had not been on the Sacred Falls trail and thus were not subject to citations for entering the closed park. The hikers were in good shape with no injuries and did not require emergency medical assistance.
Sacred Falls trail has been closed to the public down since the Mother’s Day landslide in 1999 happened where eight people were killed.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
