Kapa Kapa Trail

rdf:langString Kapa Kapa Trail

rdf:langString The Kapa Kapa Trail is a steep, little-used mountain trail that stretches from the Kapa Kapa village (an English mispronunciation of Gabagaba) on the south coast of Papua New Guinea, across the extremely rugged Owen Stanley Range, to the vicinity of Jaure on the north side of the Peninsula. Also known as the Kapa Kapa-Jaure Track, the trail is parallel to but 48 kilometres (30 mi) southeast of the better-known and more accessible Kokoda Track. The 84-mile-long (135 km) Kapa Kapa Track is half again as long as the 135-mile-long (217 km) Kokoda Track. At its highest elevation of 2,700 metres (8,900 ft), it is 510 metres (1,670 ft) higher than the Kokoda Track's highest point (2,190 metres (7,190 ft)). Total ascent and descent is around 17,000 metres (56,000 ft). Because the track is very steep, difficult, and unimproved, it has been hiked by very few non-native individuals. During World War II, more than 900 members of the United States 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division trekked across it in 42 days in an attempt to flank the Japanese on the Kokoda Track. They endured an extraordinarily difficult march, and the majority of the men became ill with malaria, dengue fever, bush typhus, and tropical dysentery. It was "one of the most harrowing marches in American military history." They never saw a Japanese soldier during their nearly month-long trek. After only a week of recuperation, the Battalion was immediately put on the front line against Japanese troops in hundreds of extremely well-concealed bunkers and machine gun emplacements developed in depth. In the ensuing battle the Americans soon ran short of ammunition, weapons, medicine, and even food.