A 27-year-old local woman who died while hiking Friday slipped and fell about 500 feet near a place called The Puka, one of the most popular spots for photos along the Makapuu Tom-Tom Trail, according to police.
The woman was hiking with a 29-year-old man when she fell, fire Capt. David Jenkins said. Her body was found 500 feet below The Puka.
The Honolulu Fire De-partment was called at 12:44 p.m., and fire personnel found the woman unconscious and not breathing, he said. She was airlifted by helicopter to a landing zone near Sea Life Park where Honolulu Emergency Medical Services technicians declared her dead.
Police and a medical investigator were examining items found at the scene, but homicide Lt. Walter Calistro would not disclose what they were.
The Makapuu Tom-Tom Trail was one of the trails Kamehameha Schools "has clamped down on," said Nate Yuen, a hike leader with the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club.
In March, Kamehameha Schools, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Hawaiian Hang Gliding Association and others issued a letter asking travel websites and bloggers to stop promoting the Kamehame Ridge Trail, also known as Dead Man’s Catwalk and the Tom-Tom Trail.
The letter said, "A rise in hiking accidents has elevated our urgency to act."
Some of the parcels around the Kamehame Ridge Trail are owned by Kamehameha Schools and DHHL.
Yuen said the trail itself is not especially dangerous as there are no "super narrow" sections, for example. "But there’s cliffs, if you go right to the edge," he said.
"The Tom-Tom Trail is an old Hawaiian trail" that was a favorite of the late Mabel Kekina, who was known and beloved by the community for doing search and rescue for the club.
"She was source of comfort for the families of lost hikers and people who have died on the trail. Her ashes were spread from one of the peaks further down," Yuen said.
Yuen noted there’s a trend that involves hikers taking selfies at The Puka.
"People like to take selfies. They’ll climb inside The Puka," Yuen said.
"It’s kind of dangerous. You could slip and fall," he said, noting that he did not know whether the two hikers had been taking such photos.
Yuen said the other popular selfie spot is atop what’s known as the Pinnacle, which is about 100 feet from The Puka on the Hawaii Kai side.
"People climb on that to get pictures of themselves," he said. "Taking those kind of dangerous selfies is a trend."
