Helicopter Rescues on Lanikai Pillbox Trail

Part of the goal of this site is to increase the safety of hikers.  It’s important that everyone know the trail can be hazardous if you don’t take enough water, go hiking on a really rainy day, or have an averse reaction to the physical strain of the steep climb.  If you have any heart conditions, suffer from dehydration, or slip off the trail, it can mean a costly rescue, and most importantly, injury or even loss of life.  This is a collection of some of the news stories prior to August of 2015 that illustrate that injuries and fatalalities do happen.  It is not meant to be sensationalized but rather to use the real news stories to help illustrate the risks.  We want to help prevent these types of incidences as much as possible.  Be careful up there!  Take this trail seriously and make sure it is a happy memory.

Please note that only a small portion of rescues make the news.  All of the following involved a helicopter rescue:

March 2008: Lost and injured

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Mar/09/br/hawaii80309059.html

March 2010: “Non-life threatening injuries”:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2010/Mar/14/br/hawaii100314036.html

February 2011: Leg injury

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/116786898.html?id=116786898

May 2012: Broken leg

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/154575935.html?id=154575935

September 2014: Fall and head injury

https://www.facebook.com/mykailua/posts/740599039308916

May 2015: Fatal cardiac arrest

http://khon2.com/2015/05/31/man-dies-after-being-rescued-from-lanikai-pillbox-trail-2/

 

Miscellaneous Pillbox articles

KITV – 07/03/2015
Usage of the Lanikai Pillbox Trail.
http://www.kitv.com/news/Hiking-survey-shows-some-Oahu-trails-bursting-at-the-seams/33992052

“A lot of people say, ‘Forget it, you know, we want to go somewhere different,’ and they look on their phone, boom, they have 14 different options that are out of bounds,” said Cottrell. “That leads to an unfortunate increase in injury of people out of bounds, which jeopardizes our county rescue guys, because now they’re having to go and save these people and find them.”

KHON2 – 08/18/2015
Pillboxes deteriorating
http://khon2.com/2015/08/18/pillboxes-at-lanikai-hiking-trail-deteriorating/

Civil Beat- 6/24/2014
Too many people on the trail
http://www.civilbeat.com/2014/06/denby-fawcett-the-state-must-save-the-lanikai-pillboxes-trail-from-its-popularity/