Lost Hikers From Lahaina Pali Trail Found in Ukumehame

Kaheawa Wind Farm, aerial file photo by Wendy Osher.

On Sunday Nov. 29, 2015, at 5:47 p.m., firefighters in West Maui, were called to search for two hikers lost on the Lahaina side of the Lahaina “Pali” Trail.

Lahaina firefighters spoke to the lost hikers via cell phone, and combined with positioning information from emergency dispatchers, learned that they were on a ridge above an Ukumehame subdivision, about a 1⁄2 mile north of the Ukumehame firing range.

A Lahaina ladder crew found the two hikers uninjured at 8:10 p.m. and walked them down to Paekiʻi Place in the Ukumehame subdivision at around 8:45 p.m.

The hikers, a 28-year-old man and 24-year-old woman from Kahului, started their hike from the Māʻalaea end of the Lahaina Pali Trail.

Firefighters believed the hikers took a wrong turn when they got to the Kaheawa Windmills, and hiked up above the last windmill, then descended the mountain following an access road used to service Maui Electric Co. electrical transmission lines.

The road did not lead back to Honoapiʻilani Highway and they ended up over a mile Lahaina side of where the trail normally ends.