JACK ARMY

Fading History: Marine Corps Air Station Ewa

After my run on 2 February, I became interested in the railroad history of the line that runs from Honolulu around Pearl Harbor and through Ewa and Barbers Point.  The railroad grad is still there and from Ft. Weaver Road to the west the tracks are still there, at least as far as Kapolei, I'm not sure beyond that.  Anyway, my internet search for maps lead me to this very interesting site about abandoned airfields on Oahu.  Of particular interest was the section about the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Ewa.  There are some great historical photos of the MCAS there and a little bit of history. 

My curiosity piqued, I dug a little more and found this awesome site, www.december7.com, with some fantastic photos. I highly encourage you to cycle through the various pages on that site.  From there and a few other websites, I learned that the MCAS Ewa was abandoned by the Marines in 1952 when they consolidated their aviation activities at Kaneohe on the east (windward) side of Oahu, primarily because the runways at Ewa were too short to accommodate the new jet aircraft and due to how close the Barbers Point NAS was the Ewa runways could not be lengthened.  MCAS Ewa was absorbed into the Barbers Point NAS though the runways were not used and eventually two of them were torn up to build the Barbers Point golf course. 

Back to WWII, MCAS Ewa was likely the first location attacked during the Pearl Harbor raid by the Japanese on 7 December 1941.  Marines at Ewa fired on the Japanese aircraft and four lost their lives fighting there.  In fact, two Japanese pilots parachuted into the Ewa area.  More here and here.

There are folks interested in preserving MCAS Ewa.  Not only the guy that runs www.december7.com mentioned above, but others as well.

What's Going On

Have I gone off the deep end?  Taken a long vacation?  Quit blogging?

No, none of the above.  Having a hard time finding things to blog about.  I've been relegated to the sidelines at work, due to my impending retirement.  Which is great!  I have plenty of time to take care of my stuff, instead of putting off my appointments, etc.  I'm running a lot now, which is what I've always wanted to do but let my procrastination/laziness/bad attitude get in the way of.  But I've thrown all that to the side and am running between 5 and 7.5 miles a day.  Ultimately, I'd like to run an ultramarathon, 100 miles.  That's a few years down the road though.  For now, I'm aiming at the Great Aloha Run in February and a half-marathon on Maui (if I can find out more about it) in March.  There's a couple of trail races in Texas in the latter half of the year and then the San Antonio Marathon in November.  Of course, all that barring injury.

So, retiring after 22 years in the Army, not sure what I'll do next but I've got a few things to look into.  I'll let you know how that goes.  Also, I intend to blog more about politics, a topic I've tended to avoid while on Active Duty.  That whole 'conflict of interest' thing, I guess.  Anyway, more to come.

Anything you'd like to see me write about?  Questions about life in the Army?  I've been doing it for a little while so I might be able to say a thing or two about it.

16.5 = Thoroughly Smoked!

Especially when the first half is up the mountain!

I ran/hiked up to a mountain ridge, one of the major ones on Oahu, today.  Round trip totaled approximately 16.5 miles and 5 hours 15 minutes, including breaks... all four of them.  It was an awesome hike.  While I'm totally wiped out now that it's over, I loved it. 

I surprised myself a couple of times.  Near the summit, I rounded a bend and came upon a small patch of grass tucked in between two little ridgelines.  The patch was about 20 feet square and for some reason it made me laugh.  Out loud, like people do when they read something funny on a blog or something.  After I laughed I wondered why and I realized it was because I was having so much fun!

Another little surprise came on the way down.  The last stretch up, first stretch down is pretty tough.  A very narrow trail with lots of water on it, mud, crap growing across it and it's on the side of a freaking ridgeline, the side of which seems to be straight down and in a few places literally was.  On the way up I was trying to avoid the puddles and mud, with a little success until I reached a point that was just to difficult to jump across and there were no good looking dry footfalls.  So, I shrugged and jumped into the ankle-deep water and keep pushing up.  On the way down, however, I was having better luck jumping over the water and mud, maybe gravity was helping me.  I slipped at one spot though, and planted both feet straight in the middle of another ankle-deep puddle.  It really did surprise me, mostly because I didn't fall down into the puddle or over the edge of the trail, so I again laughed.  More fun!

A third surprise came in the form of a piggy.  As I rounded a bend where the trail wrapped around the ridgeline, I came to a sudden stop when I spotted a pig about 10 feet away.  He looked like he was 400 pounds and had tusks the size of spears... but when I calmed down, he was only about 40 pounds and I didn't see any tusks at all.  Fortunately, he took off arunning away from me down the trail.  Well, fortunate that he didn't charge me, but it did worry me that I was running in the same direction he was running.  I expected to see him around the next bend, but I guess he found a way off the trail that is invisible to human eyes.  Thank goodness!

All in all, awesome hike/run.  I'll do it again in a few weeks and take some Joes from work with me.

Here are the photos taken today (Titled "On the Trail (1-9) 27 Nov 2009). 

Sunday Evening Run

About 7.5 miles round trip.  Awesome views... can't really tell you where since I figured out after the run that I should have a hiking permit to be on that particular road.  Oops.  Anyway, I may sneak onto it once or twice more before we move, it was worth the effort.  And if what I'm reading about this particular road/trail is true, I should be able to work it into a longer round trip... up to 16 miles or so.  Pretty sure I won't run the full 8 miles up, and depending on the width/condition of the trail, I might not run the whole thing down either.  We'll see.

I might just do the responsible thing and get the permit and bring along up to four other folks as well.  It would be a great hike/run with awesome views.  Again, we'll see.

In the meantime, I'll just remember how great that run was (despite the darkness forcing me to walk the last mile or so) and look forward to the next one.