Along the Trail
The Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Newsletter
January - February - March 2005
THE PASSING OF A LEGENDRICHARD HARDING DAVIS 1920 - 2004
Richard "Dick" Harding Davis, an almost legendary member of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, passed away, Sunday, September 19th, at Castle Hospital. He was 84. Although his exploits and contributions to hiking in Hawaii are almost legendary (see accompanying articles), he is probably best known for his single-handed construction of the Likeke Trail, which runs at the base of the pali between the Likelike and Pali Highways, and which was named after him, "Likeke" being the Hawaiian rendition of Richard.
A memorial service and celebration of his life was held for Dick at the HTMC Clubhouse on Saturday, September 25th. Approxi- mately 120 members and friends attended the informal gathering. In addition to his family, many old timers, too numerous to name, came to pay respects to Dick and talk story about his legendary escapades. Later on in the day, family members and friends scattered some of Dick's ashes at the water- fall on the Likeke Trail.Dick is survived by his four daughters, Jacobson of Washington state, Ramona and Anne Marie of Kaneohe, and Marilyn of Volcano, and by five grandchildren.
On the following pages are some tributes and reminiscences by club members, providing an insight into the life of an extraordinary man.
FAREWELL TO
THE OLD MOUNTAIN GOAT
John Hall
In September, the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club lost one of its oldest and most widely known members, Dick Davis. Dick was a true, and very daring, back- country adventurer, and was also known for building trails and organizing mountain rescues. His career in Hawaii began with a typically hair-raising exploit. Recently arrived in the Islands, in the early 1940's, Dick decided to hike up Mau'umae Ridge, emerging at the top of the Pali in the vicinity of Lanipo. He had grown up in New Hampshire, and recently worked in Alaska, and thought that he could traverse virtually any mountain that he encountered. Even the view from the top of the Pali did not discourage him, and he proceeded to descend it, on the Maunawili side, probably near the junction with Aniani Nui ridge.The way soon became very steep, and before long he was scrambling from one shrub to the next, clinging to each until it began to pull free of the cliff, and then frantically clawing his way along the slope to reach the next. At the end of a desperate effort, he finally reached the bottom, fingernails broken and bleeding, and boots shredded and split, with his feet sticking out of their ends. He still must have had a long struggle through dense brush to reach the roads out of Maunawili Valley, but finally emerged long after dark. World War II was still in progress, and for some reason sentries were stationed at the mouth of Maunawili. You can imagine the surprise of the young solders when this battered apparition limped out of the darkness behind them! He was lucky he wasn't shot! This was the first of a series of escapades in Hawaii in which Dick was fortunate to escape with his life.
The story of his fall on Ka'ala is well known. Ten days before Joyce, his oldest daughter, was born, he was returning from a climb of the mountain, long before there was a road to the top, with a number of other HTMC members including Club president, Joe Nielson. Dick grabbed a rope to help in crossing a steep slope, but unfortunately the rope was not secure, and he fell and tumbled between 60 and 400 feet (depending upon whose account you accept). He had been picking wild oranges on the mountain and his pack was full of them, which may have helped to break his fall. When Joe reached him, it was clear that he had suffered severe back injuries and it was a long and difficult job to get him off the mountain.The doctors fused the vertebrae of his lower back, but thought that he might never walk again. However, he was determined that he would, and got out of bed as soon as he was able to move, a procedure that was forbidden at the time, although considered the best thing to do now. He was soon out hiking again, and in fact, was instrumental in laying out the route for the paved road that now winds up to the summit of Ka'ala and was needed for the construction, manning, and maintenance of the radar domes on that mountain.
Dick was something of a loner, and often went into the most remote and hazardous mountain areas by himself. Even in the mid-1990's, when I was hiking on Wednesdays with the Over-the-Hill Gang, we would occasionally see him working by himself, usually on some branch of the Likeke trail. We would ask him to join us on our Wednesday hikes, but he preferred to be out by himself. One time, he had gone into the dense rain forest on the northeast slope of Haleakala, to collect the seeds of a rare species of loulu palm for someone, according to his daughter Joyce. He was chopping his way through the brush, or leaning into it and forcing it down so he could step or jump over it. At the end of one jump, he fell into a lava tube hidden in the vegetation and fell a considerable distance, hurting a knee and a floating rib. Fortunately, he was able to crawl to the end of the cave and regain the surface. He could no longer carry his pack and clear a trail at the same time, but by leaving his pack, he could chop his way through the bush and then return and carry the pack to the end of the trail. In this way he slowly worked his way down to within about a mile of Hana before he was found, taking a week to do it and running out of food, since much of his grub was spoiled during a heavy storm, and when he had to float his pack across pools.
As you can see, just to survive the things he did, he had to be an extremely strong and hardy person, as well as possess enormous self-confidence in his ability to handle almost anything. I remember accompanying him on a Club hike up the Castle trail in the '60's which he was leading. The trail was badly overgrown and in places the uluhe was shoulder high. I can still see Dick, arms flailing as he chopped through the fern with a machete in one hand while the other hand and his whole body pushed the uluhe out of the way at a pace that was nearly as fast as the rest of us could walk.Loren Gill tells the story of how he dealt with uluhe in a different manner. The Club had gone up the Alewa Heights trail and come down by Kekoalele ridge, on the other side of the O'ahu Country Club, a route that we can no longer use. Kekoalele ridge was steep and covered with uluhe, so Dick decided to break trail through it by rolling head-over-okole down it. They reached the bottom successfully, but Dick discovered that in the process, his machete had fallen out of its sheath. He was determined to recover it, and said that he would just go back up and roll down again! Loren and the others objected, and they climbed the ridge and found the machete embedded in the fern, handle to the ground and blade up. He might well have found it by his method--and been skewered in the process!
While Dick clearly had a keen sense of adventure and a love of our wild back- country, he was also devoted to hiking and providing hiking opportunities to others. In the early '60's, he laid out and built the Likeke Trail, which runs along the foot of the Kane'ohe Pali from below the mouth of the Pali Tunnels to that of the Wilson Tunnel. This is a lovely, relatively easy hike, and while clearing the brush along the route would be arduous, it would not be a particular challenge for most of our trail crew. However significant sections of the trail had to be dug into steep slopes and represented a great deal of very demanding, hard work. Dick wanted to keep this project a secret until he had finished it, and so he did almost the entire job completely on his own. While the Club has a policy of not naming trails after people, it is only appropriate that this trail, Likeke, (Richard in Hawaiian), should honor his efforts.
Likeke was not the only trail building that he did on O'ahu. He also developed trails in Kahana Valley, especially after the construction of the water tank required re-routing of the major access trail. He opened the Pu'u Manamana and Kahekili trail complex. He built the switchback trail to the top of the ridge leading to Ka'au Crater in Palolo Valley, thus providing an easier and safer alternative to the waterfalls trail to this Crater. During World War II, hiking was restricted and many trails became badly overgrown. Dick played a major role in recovering the Castle Trail, and many others that suffered this fate.
Dick's great skill in laying out trails was recognized by various government agencies who needed trails built. When the new State trails agency, Na Ala Hele, wanted to build a demonstration trail to enhance the trail system on O'ahu, it asked Dick to lay out a route from the Rainbow Curve on the Pali Highway to Waimanalo. The route was a 9-mile track along steep hillsides that wound in and out of dozens of gulches, and which required maintaining a fairly level grade, while avoiding impassable cliffs. Dick accomplished this feat, and, over a period of three years, the trail was built under contract with the Sierra Club, with labor furnished by volunteers, many from HTMC. Dick was often in evidence along the trail as it was being built, helping with construction and occasionally re-routing areas when a better siting seemed advisable.
After he retired, the US Department of Fish and Wildlife asked him to clear a series of transects through the rain forest on the slopes of Mauna Kea, between the top of the sugar cane fields on the Hamakua Coast (which was still in cane at that time) and the open ranch lands above the forest. These transects, each several miles long, were spaced at 2-mile intervals along the Hamakua Coast, and were designed to allow biologists to survey the native wildlife populations in this relatively pristine area.
Another of Dick's interest was in rescue operations. He was called on by the Air Force a number of times to help get young airmen from Bellows Air Base down from the cliffs of Waimanalo, where they had ventured and gotten stranded. Later he founded the Windward Rescue Squad, composed of volunteers from the military, fire and police departments, and even high school boys. They trained in mountaineering and rescue techniques, and practiced rock climbing, using extra-long pitons that Dick had made. One time, to hone their skills, they climbed the Castle Trail to Kalua Nui stream (the stream that flows over Sacred Falls), and descended this small river in its precipitous descent to the sea, down many a long waterfall. Part way down, there was a flash flood and the creek rose to dangerous heights, so they were obliged to climb to higher ground and wait until the flood passed before they could complete the expedition.
After he retired, Dick hiked the length of both the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail. As he was walking along the side of a road in Oregon on the PCT in 1984, he was struck by the protruding side-view mirror on a passing truck and knocked down. He suffered a concussion and some scrapes and bruises and was forced to rest for a few days. But he then returned to the trail and finished the hike. Another time, he was nearing the end of the Appalachian Trail at Mt. Katahdin in Maine when he suffered a heart attack. He lay down for a bit, but recovered enough to walk out and get help. After returning to Honolulu, he had quadruple by-pass surgery. The next year he returned to the trail and completed the hike. It took a lot to discourage Dick Davis!Farewell, Dick! We'll miss you. Good hiking, wherever you are!
THE MOUNTAIN GOAT OF LIKEKE TRAIL
Dayle Turner[This account is in the present tense because Dayle wrote it early in 1996 after his first hike on the Likeke Trail]
What Duke Kahanamoku is to surfing in Hawaii, Richard "Dick" Davis is to hiking on Oahu. In the early part of 1996, while I traveled along the Likeke Trail on Oahu's windward side, I was fortunate enough to meet the man who not only built the trail I was treading upon but is also the most respected hiker on the Island.
I had been hiking for about 30 minutes after setting out from the Old Pali Road starting point when the sound of a gas-powered weed wacker pierced the quietness of the Koolau foothills I was tramping along. Rounding a corner in the trail and emerging along an open vista that overlooked the Koolau Golf Course, I came upon an elderly haole gentleman, about 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, power tool in hand.
I had an inkling this was the legendary Davis, for I knew this was his trail , and I had seen a picture of him in a newspaper article I had photocopied from a Honolulu Advertiser microfilm archive.
"Hello," I shouted over the din. The 75-year-old Davis, switching off his weed eater, echoed my greeting and asked if I were familiar with the trail. After telling him I was, I asked if he indeed were the famous Dick Davis.
"That'd be me," he smiled, extending his hand to grasp mine. "I don't drink alcohol, but I do do this," he grinned while using his thumb to stamp down a wad of tobacco into his dark brown pipe.
The conversation that followed will stay in my memory for a long time, for in the next 40 minutes, I was treated to an array of Davis' hiking anecdotes. To say I was in heaven during that time would be an extreme understatement. Here's some excerpts:
Davis had begun working on Likeke in 1959 as a favor for Windward area Boy Scouts, who claimed they had no decent place to hike in the Kaneohe area. Working mostly alone, Davis began carving out the trail, completing it in 1963.
"I've changed the route several dozen times over the years," said Davis. In fact, he says he still is working on some modifications. As he spoke with me, his eyes sparkled with pride as he surveyed the route he had devoted much time to building and maintaining. He pointed out an ancient Hawaii village site along the trail and directed me to a side trail he had blazed that dropped down, and led to Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden.
He recounted the hunt for a hiker named Cannon in the 1960s. "Spent about 500 hours looking for that young man," said Davis. "Never found him though." The son of a local millionaire, Cannon was lost while hiking above the Pali Lookout to Pu'u Konahuanui, the highest peak in the Koolaus. The hiker's mother paid for a team of Mainland mountaineering experts and specially trained dogs to take part in the search. The young man, a Zen Buddhist practitioner, was never found. Davis said he found a Buddhist book belonging to the hiker atop the mountain and even recounted an eyewitness sighting of the man above the upside-down waterfall. "Never found a body," said Davis.
He told me about his 1944 Christmas day descent to the windward side from a ridge at the top of the Koolaus where the Lanipo Trail (Lanipo starts at the top of Wilhelmina Rise in Kaimuki) crests out. Feeling lonely, Davis decided to hit the trail to attempt to shake the holiday blues. When he reached the summit, he spied a nearby ridge that dropped down toward the valley floor on the Waimanalo side. He decided to give it a go. The descent was treacherous. Davis described how he had to leap to snag guava trees, clumps of ferns and rock outcroppings on the near vertical mountainside.
"These mountains are the most dangerous in the world," remarked Davis, a man who has traversed all the trails on this Island, most of those on the Neighbor Islands, and many of North America's most well-known routes. Davis did make it down Lanipo, but did so sans all the fingernails on both hands (he had lost them clawing his way down the steep mountain), and well after the sun had set. "Could hear the pigs snarling at me in the dark as I wacked my way through the jungle toward the highway."
Davis rehashed several other rescues he had assisted with, including a dangerous one in a steep-sided, hidden pocket in the Koolaus behind the Kaneohe State Mental Hospital, the Maunawili Valley search for a hiker named Tim Pantalioni, and the fairly recent search above Laie for the BYUH student which resulted in a fatal helicopter crash where three rescue personnel were lost. In the latter two cases, the hikers were never found.
Davis blames the rash of hiking accidents on lawyers and judges. The lawyers, he says, are wrong for taking on frivolous cases where hikers file suit when they get hurt on the trail. The judges are at fault, says he, because they should throw these cases out of court. What has resulted, says Davis, is a situation where landowners have blocked access or made getting to trails so difficult that these formerly well-used paths are becoming overgrown and more dangerous than they should be.
He told me interesting accounts about the forging of two other trails: Ulupaina and Maunawili Demonstration. Ulupaina begins near Haiku Road in Kaneohe and continues on toward the Valley of the Temples. According to Davis, Ulupaina was part of a horse trail used by the pineapple companies in the 50s. He had re-opened the route with the urging of his daughter, who had found traces of the trail while exploring the area.
The Maunawili Demonstration trail begins at the hairpin turn on the Kailua side of the Pali Highway. Assisted by members of the Sierra and the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Clubs, a detachment of Marines, state prison inmates, and other local and mainland service project volunteers, Davis hacked his way along the base of the Koolau Range from the highway to the trail's ending point ten miles away in Waimanalo. Having done the trail from start to finish, I knew what a huge task it was to complete the project. When I thanked Davis for his hard work, he nodded his head and smiled.
There's much more that Davis shared, but I'll end here, thankful for the chance to sit down trailside for a short but enlightening and memorable chat with the man local hikers affectionately refer to as the "Mountain Goat."
Mahalo nui, Richard "Dick" (Likeke) Davis.
I SHALL NOT LOOK UPON HIS LIKE AGAIN
Jay FeldmanIt's really too bad that most of us never got to hike with Dick Davis; he belonged to a different generation, most of whom no longer are on the trails. I only saw him once in hiking mode, at Schofield Waikane, where he showed up, chain saw in hand, to assist the clearing crew. He was still a very big man, but you could tell he was past his prime, yet I was impressed with the agility and grace he retained in his movements. His feet seemed to skillfully find their way, even though his upper body was a bit unsure. I didn't know his medical situation, but I believe his heart was troubled even then, and he was clearly in some decline even though his robust appearance, voice, and demeanor belied it.
He was full of good humor and large stories, though some reported, with broad grins, that was not all he was full of. He was a grand man, full of vivid memories and wildness, descended from a Falstaffian universe filled with adventure, warmth, and bravura camaraderie - all seasoned with a touch of hardship and pain. He is perhaps best defined as Hamlet described his dead father: "He was a man, take him for all in all. I shall not look upon his like again."
HTMC is most fortunate to be able to claim Dick as a staunch life member and endless supporter of hiking. We are most unfortunate to lose his treasured company. But if there are fields of uluhe in heaven for him to cut trails through, I am absolutely sure he is keeping very busy.
With deep respect and fond memory.
HIS SPIRIT WAS ENORMOUS AND HIS HEART SO OPENThea Ferentinos
I am so sad this light has gone from us, but his last years were such a battle. I had meant to send him a copy of Dayle's writing a while back. I hope he got to read it.I thought about visiting him with a tape recorder but I never did. Such a grand story teller, and I even believe most of his stories were true. Whenever I got to chat with him at the clubhouse, he'd tell tall tales full of life, humor and death. He communicated stories of beauty, tragedy, ghosts, remote places throughout the Hawaiian Islands that he'd taken himself and others. Places that many had never been to and maybe none have
gone to since. His stories usually revealed his rascally sense of humor and his joy of being in the mountains. In his time, he probably upset none to few with the strength of his character and will. His spirit was enormous and his heart so open. I always enjoyed being in his company.I've run into maybe only one or two of his breed in my life, I'd venture since the middle of the last century we no longer produce his kind. He had saved many people's lives in the mountains, on this island and others. Some of the stories I heard directly from Dick, some from his son-in-law Greg Santos, some from others. Some I read about in old newspaper clippings in the clubhouse. The time I spent around him was pretty brief, but it didn't take much time to be touched by him and know he was extraordinary.
We're poorer for his exit but his spirit is surely blazing some beautiful new trail. Prayers to his family and loved ones.
OTHER REMINISCENCES I had a chance to chat with Dick Davis several times. We once traded pipe tobacco on an alternate trail he was building to Ka`au Crater I can't remember the exact details but he told me a story about climbing to several pu`u surrounding Diamond Head to build and light beacon fires years ago. These beacon fires were preplanned to help orient a glider pilot at night who successfully set a glider plane endurance record of several days duration.
I have also seen him twice while I was driving over the Likelike Highway. He was alone, trudging with pipe in mouth and shovel over his shoulder into the jungle near the Wilson tunnel to work on the Likeke trail.
George Shoemaker
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That shovel may have been to dig for bottles; he had an enormous collection. In the 70s, whenever there was a lost or injured hiker, Harry Whitten in the Star Bulletin would always cite the views of "veteran mountain man, Richard H. Davis."
Joe Bussen====
I think I was very fortunate to have many discussions with Dick. He contributed so much to HTMC and is everywhere in our archives. We started to put together a book about his ventures in the 1950s, and he gave me many pictures for our records. Thanks Likeke and mui aloha from all of us for your wonderful, creative trails. Aloha .
Deetsie Chave====
My memories of Dick go back over thirty years. I remember the ti leaf slides that he prepared for us in Nuuanu. I recall struggling to the top of Ohulehule to find Dick gazing down at me. He complained even then about the spreading Clidemia, coster's curse. I had the privilege of working with him one day on the Maunawili Demonstration Trail. On one of his last hikes as leader, I took the long ridge hike in Palolo to meet him at the lower poles on the rim of Kaau Crater. He shared with me the time he had sloshed across the crater in the swamp.
Dick was an icon to the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club. His legacy is larger than we could ever hope to duplicate. He is responsible for many hikes which he blazed, cleared and then shared with us - beautiful trails like Likeke, Maunawili, Palolo.You never knew when you would run into Dick. On Maui in 1976, I was driving home from work one day and there was this man trudging along the side of the road to Kahului. It was Dick. He had simply been walking around West Maui. Dick was bigger than life and I will miss him.
Joyce (Rumel) Oka
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I once met him years ago on the path leading up to Likeke from Ho`omaluhia. He was walking very slowly--hardly moving--assisted by two hiking poles. This was before hiking with poles was popular. (It reminded me of Erwin (Ski Poles) Jaskulski, who I believe was the first person to use them in Hawaii.) As I watched his labored progress, I realized he was struggling with some infirmity, so I called out and went down to meet him.
We had a pleasant conversation (I no longer remember what about), and then said our goodbyes. As we stood there, I realized he was waiting for me to be the first to leave. Mountain Man to the end, he did not want me to see him struggling to make his way on the trail that he loved.
Richard McMahon
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ALONG THE TRAIL is a quarterly publication of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club designed to inform the membership of club activities and matters of interest to the hiking community. HTMC members and any other interested parties are welcome to submit articles to ALONG THE TRAIL. Submissions must be received by the 5th day of March, June, September, and December in order to appear in the newsletter pub-lished for the following quarter, and may be sent in any of the following ways (email preferred):
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