ASH: At my grandma’s house
We got back to the island [of Kaua’i] yesterday afternoon and moved in with my grandma and grandpa. They have a big house but it feels really crowded because this is the first time that the whole [Outcast Earth] team has stayed there at once. I’m sharing Coyote’s room and Meridian and Rune are sharing the guest room. Dad and Cipher are in sofa city. We are going to spend a few days with the family in Lihue and then we will drive to the north shore to see Jeremy. He is living in Princeville and that’s where [his] shop is at. When we get ready to go into the island’s center, apparently we will have to do part of it on horseback, part of it on foot and the some of it swimming. We don’t know what that means about the location of the place Jeremy’s taking us to, but dad and Rune said they think it must be related to the sea caves and tunnels that run all through the north shore area.

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WEBMASTER'S NOTE: While waiting for Jeremy Riposte to make arrangements for the expedition to the "lost ruins," the Outcast Earth team visited some of the other mysterious, spiritual and paranormal sites around the island. As a result, new images and expanded information has now been added to the existing Kaua'i page. Click here to see more.

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CIPHER: Our introduction to Ancient Footprint Tours
We drove up to Princeville from Lihue today, a journey that takes a mere 45 minutes on such a small island. Jeremy’s tour company, which is not yet open for business, is called Ancient Footprint Tours of Kaua’i. He has rented a little storefront a few blocks off of Kuhio Highway so it’s a little hard to find. The front of the [business] has a small lobby and an adjoining office. Jeremy has an office in back along with a tiny bathroom / kitchen and storage room. Other than some simple office furniture and a bunch of unpacked boxes, the place is empty. One of the first things we noticed was that Jeremy doesn’t have any of his own “gear.” As Ash mentioned in his previous diary entry, we are supposed to ride horseback, [hike] and swim to our final secret destination. It’s going to be extremely expensive for Jeremy (and his clients) to rent all the gear and horses each time he’s going on an outing, but apparently that’s what he intends to do. He told us that the price he is charging will cover all the expenses and the experience will be worth it. I think he had better be offering the sunken ruins of Atlantis if he’s going to charge over $2K per head!! He told us he doesn’t have any staff (yet) so he plans to handle everything himself at first. Once he’s had a few successful tours, then he’ll hire staff. I hope this dude has a lot of energy, but Polaris told me that this is pretty typical of Jeremy. He’s all energy and big dreams.



MERIDIAN: Our introduction to Jeremy Riposte was interesting to say the least. He is a large, robust man with a bald head and a scraggly beard who dressed in loud Hawai’ian shirts and cargo shorts. Imagine Magnum P.I. melded with George Costanza of Sienfeld. I will admit that he is not what I envisioned. He is both older and heavier than one would expect an upstart entrepreneur offering “adventure tours” to be. But, to be fair, Josh Bernstein [former host of the Discovery Channel’s DIGGING FOR THE TRUTH] has totally ruined me for other adventure tour guides. Truthfully, I want them all to be dark, handsome, slightly exotic men with bulging arms and safari hats. Jeremy had the hat, at least.

Jeremy is also one of the most intelligent and engaging people I’ve met in a long while. It was obvious from the first moment that this is a meticulous, detail-oriented individual who is carefully planning every aspect of his fledgling business. His headquarters is a quaint little wooden house converted for business purposes. He has a pretty sign outside in a flower garden decorated with tiki gods. Inside the building it’s so empty it echoes. Despite his unique twist on the tour business, he has a lot of competition and I have to wonder if week-long quests searching for lost Hawai’ian ruins will appeal to as many tourists as zip-lines and SCUBA diving? He explained the emptiness inside the store by the fact that “we aren’t quite open for business yet,” but to me it didn’t look like he was even close.

Jeremy, Rune and Polaris spent about half an hour just catching up and then we got down to business. Jeremy spread a topographical map of the island on the floor (no desks or tables were available) and generally explained where we would be going and what we would be looking for. The idea (which I am not allowed to detail due to our confidentiality agreement) is to travel on horseback south through the Hanalei Valley to the foothills of the Namolokama Mountain and then proceed west. Jeremy insists that the ruins are not on state park lands, although that may be irrelevent. If there are “undiscovered” ruins out there, they are automatically protected under state and federal laws. Including them as part of an adventure tour is a dubious practice, but Jeremy said he has guidelines in place to ensure the integrity of the site. The ruins are on private property and he is paying the property owner for the right to access them as part of the tour. It was the son of the property owner who found the ruins, having stumbled upon them in 1997. The family kept their existence secret for fear that the temple would either be looted by souvenir hunters or seized by the government. He still refused to tell us any details about the site, other than to say it “is unlike anything else you’ve ever seen in the Hawai’ian islands.” A tantalizing claim! I must admit, even though Jeremy didn’t fit my Josh Bernstein image, he does seem to know his stuff. His knowledge of the island is encyclopedic. I’m looking forward to getting started!

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MERIDIAN: Early this morning, we drove to a private ranch in the picturesque Hanalei Valley to meet Jeremy. Hanalei is renowned for two things: it’s beauty and its lush crop lands. From the highway above, you can oversee the entire valley and its patchwork of taro fields, meandering streams dotted with kayaks, mountain vistas and rolling cloud banks. Nearly all of Kauai’s poi production occurs in this location, which is a staple of both the local economy and cultural history.

As promised, Jeremy was waiting for all of us with horses tethered and provisions stacked nearby. We knew that we would need to pack all our supplies in and out as it would take about a day and a half to reach our “base-camp” area, then three days at the temple site, and then another day and a half riding out. Seven days total. This should be an interesting experiment in pain and discomfort, as Cipher, Rune and I have little to no experience with horses. Jeremy assured us, however, that these animals are very familiar with the route and there’s nothing particularly treacherous between the Hanalei Valley and the base-camp area. From the base-camp we will have to hike and swim to the temple ruins, as the area is too overgrown for the horses to traverse. We will be allowed to photograph or film anything, as long as we do not show landmarks (such as identifiable mountain peaks) that may help unscrupulous people find the ruins.



RUNE: Jeremy was totally in his element today. He is never more interesting – or more imperious – than when in front of an audience. And we are an audience that he seems very dedicated to impressing. Every “I” was dotted and every “T” was crossed. When we rolled up in the car, he had all the horses and supplies waiting, along with a thermos of freshly brewed coffee, pastries and granola bars. He was dressed in what I will call “island adventure business casual,” a combination of an oversized shirt with a bold print, a wide-brimmed hat, baggy shorts and hiking boots. Thin, rectangular glasses balanced on his glistening nose. I thought he looked a little overdressed for the outing, but I think the look will fit what tourists might expect for their two thousand dollar experience. Toward that end, he was also practicing the tour guide’s “cheer:”

“Is everyone ready to have fun today? Are you pumped? Are you psyched? Are your ready for an adventure you will remember for years to come?”

At one point, I really wanted to remind him what we do for a living, but decided to let him have his moment. After all, we are his guests. Civility and our undivided attention is the least he deserves. Big props for his self-promotional efforts!

At around 7:30 a.m., we slathered on the sun block and mounted the horses for the slow, sweaty amble toward the foothills. As we traveled, Jeremy kept us entertained with friendly conversation and a running commentary on the scenery and people we encountered. Although he grew up in Lihue on the south side of the island, he’s been living in Princeville for the past year and a half, a move that was partially inspired by Outcast Earth. He told me that he’s been regularly visiting the website since we began the project and thought that there might be others out there who would like a taste of the mysterious.

“Who are the tourists here?” he asked. “They are mainlanders or Asians. Most of them probably lead pretty mundane lives. They come to Kaua’i to do something different, something completely separate from their ordinary lives. What’s more different than exploring the primeval forest in search of a lost civilization?”

No argument here, big boy.

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POLARIS: We reached our base camp area mid-afternoon yesterday. This area is clearly an established campsite and Jeremy confirmed that he and the family that owns this parcel have used it extensively to visit the ruins. There was already a fire pit and cleared areas under the trees ideal for our tents. We spent the remainder of the afternoon setting up the camp and tending to the horses. The animals will have a three day break before they are called up again to haul our heavy asses back to Hanalei.

This morning, Jeremy had us dress in wet suits and protective water shoes for the hike-swim to the temple site. I was very curious about this unusual requirement. Most of the heiaus I am aware of on Kaua’i are closer to the coast or perched on mountain sides. This one, however, is at the bottom of a valley. I asked Jeremy if any other ruins had been found in the area, particularly any residential structures for the people who would have used the heiau. He believes that the temple was probably a pilgrimage site, but not in continuous use. Certainly its geographical isolation and the lack of useable resources would seem to support that idea.

To reach the site, we had to carry our wetsuits, water, equipment and food up a muddy hillside, slipping and sliding the entire time. Once over the hill’s crest, we came upon a beautiful pond fed by a trickling stream that abutted a volcanic hillside. On the muddy beach, Jeremy had us change into our wetsuits, masks and snorkels. Most of this gear was precautionary. The freshwater streams and lakes here are cold, but not that cold. The greater danger to humans comes in the form of Leptospirosis, a water-borne disease spread by wild animals defecating in the water.

“From here we swim,” he grinned.

We paddled out to the far end of the pond where Jeremy pointed out a tunnel carved into the lava rock. Tunnels and caves are common, especially on Kaua’i’s north shore. In fact, you don’t have to travel as far as we did to see one. If you take Kuhio highway west toward Ke’e Beach, you will encounter a variety of wet and dry “sea caves” right along the roadside, the most accessible ones being Waikapala’e Cave and Waikanaloa Cave. These formations date back to the island’s creation, before uplifting moved the shoreline further out revealing the caves that the tides and currents had cut in the soft volcanic soil. Other tunnels are lava tubes, some of which you can actually SCUBA dive offshore. Not being a geologist, I couldn’t tell you which geologic mechanism created this tunnel but regardless it was pretty freaking cool. It was about twenty feet long and you could dog paddle through most of it. On the other side is a large basin filled with lush vegetation which spilled off the surrounding hillsides into the water. Since caves and tunnels were considered sacred to the Hawai’ians, and often appear in their mythology, swimming through this tunnel to a hidden utopia must have been a very powerful experience for them. No wonder they chose to build a temple here.

Once on the beach, we stripped out of the wet suits and made an ungainly scramble up the bluff and through the heavy growth to the heiau site. All that’s left of the temple is the stone foundation which is roughly rectangular in shape and measures about fifteen feet wide and nearly twice as long. To one side are several columnar-shaped stones set upright into the ground. Some of these formations are grouped into smaller arrangements, almost as if they were altar sites. Cipher referred to these arrangements as “mini Stonehenges.” All of the masonry appeared typical of Hawai’ian construction, using naturally formed stones fitted together without any polishing or mortar. Most of the ruins were hard to find because the vegetation was so terribly thick and waist-high in a lot of places.

I could definitely see how this experience might appeal to the more hearty vacationer. Although it was physically strenuous the entire way, you really did get any amazing sense of discovery that probably isn’t encountered much in the modern world.

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POLARIS: I have chosen to wait until our return to Lihue to write this journal entry, the logic for which I will explain in a moment. First, I want to back up to the last article posted on the OCE website, the one written by Cipher about the path in the woods.

The path Cipher and Ash found has some interesting implications for this “undiscovered” archeological site. We had been told [by Jeremy] that the land owner’s son had found the temple ruins [eleven years ago.] But the way Jeremy described it, the son’s visits here were irregular with years between each visit. We were also told that the son camped where we are camped, on the outside of the water-filled tunnel in the area which is still accessible to horses. The path discovered by Ash and CIpher would indicate that visits here by outsiders have been more frequent and perhaps longer in duration than we were led to believe. Certainly these visits were long enough to establish a second campsite and cut a path through a heavy thicket. Cipher also showed me photos of the piles of volcanic rock they found at the second “campsite.” This is the same type of rock used in the construction of the heiau, and in fact in most heiaus on the island. What didn’t initially register with me is why the piles of the rock?

Up to this point, we have all been thinking that we are going to see an ancient Hawai’ian heiau. Why? Because we were told so by someone who is an acknowledged authority on Hawai’ian history and mythology, even if he is self-taught. We were primed for adventure with cryptic tales, a long horseback ride through the beautiful Kaua’ian wilderness and camping in a lush, seemingly untouched paradise. And we are guilty of one of the first sins of the investigator: we believed without the benefit of skepticism, inquiry or proof. Or at least initially this was the case.

Upon discussion with the other OCE members, we are now willing to state that we believe that the “undiscovered heiau” being promoted by Jeremy is a hoax. Here’s why:

First, the timing and logistics of the discovery are illogical. If this site was known for eleven years, why is the family (whose name we have never been given) suddenly interested in exploiting it? And why would they choose to sell the tour concession to an individual whose previous work experience was as a high school teacher? And why a tour concession at all? If I wanted to protect the site, even for tourism, my first phone call would be National Geographic... or at least the University of Hawai’i.

Secondly, the construction of the heiau does not appear to be consistent with other legitimate sites. There’s a beach on Kaua’i’s south shore that is frequented by surfers. Just off the beach and under the trees is a large volcanic stone enclosure. The first time I brought Coyote and Ash to that beach, Ash pointed at the structure and asked if it was built by the ancient Hawai’ians. I had to disappoint him by revealing that the structure had been built by modern men and women looking for a place to build a campfire and get drunk. Sometimes the answer to a riddle is in the details.

Despite what Rune wrote [See Photos (and Questions) A Plenty!], Hawai’ian temples are more than a simple pile of rocks. The people who built heiaus did not have the ability to fashion the stone, so they spent a great deal of care picking stones that they could fit together like puzzle pieces to make their structures more sturdy. These stones were sunk into the earth and then layers fitted on top of layers. Jeremy’s heiau is, in fact, a pile of stones. There is none of the care or engineering you see in similar sites on Kaua’i. The workmanship is sloppy, but if covered with enough underbrush and presented to an unknowing witness, a simple pile of stones could become a sacred Hawai’ian sanctuary. The lush and rampant vegetation of the area would hide a multitude of sins.

My third point has to do with the path and second campsite. Here we caught Jeremy in a deliberate deception. He had been to this isolated spot on many occasions and he is a man of great intellect and observational skill. There is no way he couldn’t have found this path and campsite when Ash stumbled upon it by accident (or providence, as the case may be). So what was the purpose of the second campsite? I think the answer also lies in the piles of rock. It seems to me that this was the “quarry site” where modern people scavenged the volcanic rock needed to build their temple. The stone would have had to be moved a few at a time through the forest, which probably took years. Maybe even eleven years?

I certainly don’t think Jeremy created this bogus archaeological site by himself. It is too complex for that. Somewhere he had help.

Fourth, the restrictions put on us were dubious from the beginning. We weren’t allowed to photograph anything that would indicate where the site was located, presumably to protect it from “looters and vandals.” But you would have to be a very dedicated vandal to go through the backcountry ordeal we did to even reach this site. Plus, how could you enforce such a rule once you started taking in tours regularly? He also seemed very opposed to us measuring or examining the stones too closely. He wanted us to look, be impressed, leave, believe.

What I and the other team members think is that Jeremy invited us as a way of both testing and publicizing his new business. Perhaps the rationale was that if he could fool the native Kaua’ians and fulltime investigators of the strange and unusual, he could fool out-of-towners to the tune of $2000 a pop.

We have a meeting with him later today to confront him with this information.

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RUNE: We met Jeremy at the coffee shop attached to one of the large bookstores in Lihue. I got to tell you all, I was pretty pissed going into this meeting. From the moment he first contacted us, there was something nagging at me about him. As I’ve indicated previously, our last encounter with Jeremy was not a pleasant one and I was convinced that he would never speak to us again. The days I spent with him in the forest led me to believe that we had been sucked into a game of one-upmanship. Our meeting today did nothing to change my belief.

He came bounding in, shook everyone’s hand and offered to buy everyone coffee. We declined. Polaris came right to the point and told him that we didn’t believe that his heiau was a legitimate ancient archeological site. I think he was genuinely shocked as we rendered him speechless for nearly thirty seconds, which may be an event of some importance. When he asked why, Polaris took out his laptop and we showed him the photos Ash and Cipher had taken of the second campsite. We had not told him up to this point that we had made this discovery. He seemed shocked by the photos. He did not deny or become angry as you might expect. Frankly, he’s too intelligent and controlled for that kind of reaction. Instead, he did the intelligent thing. He wanted to hear all our details and theories. He even took out his Treo and started taking notes! To anyone observing our exchange, Jeremy would have appeared like an unflinchingly honest man who just discovered that the used car salesman had rooked him. He vowed that he would contact the property owner at once and look into our allegations.

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