Category Archives: Photo Challenges

Ka’u Desert Trail

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘I’d Rather Be…’ See more responses here.

It had been a while since I went hiking, for various reasons, and it’s something I was missing, something I’d rather be doing. So last week, I headed down to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to try the Ka’u Desert Trail. This backcountry trail has been on my list for a long time, but I had never done it before. For one thing, it’s about as far from my house as one can get on the island. For another, it’s directly downwind from Kilauea Volcano, so when the volcano is active and the trade winds are blowing, gasses blow across the length of the trail.

The latest eruption of Kilauea is currently either paused or over, so gas emissions are much reduced, and last week, the trade winds had given way to winds from the southwest. So off I went.

A sign on the Ka'u Desert Trail, Hawaii — Signs explain the rich history and geology of the area.

An ohia the Ka'u Desert Trail, Hawaii — Signs explain the rich history and geology of the area.

The trailhead is several miles west of the main entrance to the park, with a strip of parking along the highway. The first mile of the hike is also known at the Footprints Trail. It’s a sort of paved path that threads through ohias to a small building that houses footprints left by early Hawaiians in volcanic mud and ash. Alas, I couldn’t identify any footprints in the display. Shortly after the footprints, the path breaks out of the vegetation into open lava fields. This isn’t a tropical Hawaii walk, this a bleak hellscape Hawaii walk. Or is it?

The Ka'u Desert Trail, Hawaii — A view of the Kamakai’a Hills from the trail junction.

The trail ascends gently to the only junction for miles around, at Mauna Iki. To the left is a trail back towards the heart of the park. The Ka’u Desert Trail heads to the right and into backcountry wilderness. Mauna Iki was the site of an eruption in 1919 and the trail traverses the lava fields from this eruption.

Ropey pahoehoe lava on the Ka'u Desert Trail, Hawaii — A’a and pahoehoe lava flows can be seen side by side.

Much of the trail is over pahoehoe lava, which is rounded and much easier to walk on than jagged a’a lava. The trail is marked by cairns and single rocks placed alongside it. It’s pretty easy to follow with just one or two parts where attention has to be paid to make sure one doesn’t stray.

Bronze pahoehoe lava on the Ka'u Desert Trail, Hawaii — Bronze colored lava.

Colored lava on the Ka'u Desert Trail, Hawaii — Bronze colored lava.

It wasn’t far along this part of the trail that I first encountered blue lava. That’s right, blue lava. Who knew? But not just blue. There’s bronze, pink, red, orange, gold, and who knows what. I’ve seen colorful lava on the Puna Coast Trail, but this was more varied and quite wonderful. In places the trail crossed this colorful lava and I felt bad for walking on it, though as I hiked I could see many more patches of color out in the lava fields. It’s not wise to leave the trail since there are many lava tubes, some with very thin ceilings.

This is an out and back trail and I turned around once I reached the Kamakai’a Hills, after about 5 miles. It’s another 2 or 3 miles to the next junction where there is a small cabin.

Also posted for Jo’s Monday Walk. See more responses here.

The scenery is greenery

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Foliage at Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Garden

This week’s Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge is ‘Green.’ See more responses here. One of my favorite spots on the island is Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden and I stopped by there again just last week. As luck would have it, I took a few photos – OK, more than 200; I can’t help it. Many of them – OK, all of them – featured some shade of green. It is a tropical garden after all. Here’s a selection.

All sorts of greens, all sorts of patterns!

Going green. That’s what fronds are for!

Why the long faces? things are looking up.

There’s a gecko in two of these photos. There’s probably geckos in all three, but two are visible.

For more information about Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, go to htbg.com.

Night sky

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This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Out of this World.’ See more responses here.

Having managed to miss all the recent big astronomical events, such as the green comet and the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, I’ve dipped into my archive for a few other worldly photos.

The first two are of the moon, first rising, then setting. The third is a view of the night sky with distant stars peeping through a typically cloudy North Kohala night.

Baby red pepper

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I was about to cut up a red pepper recently, when I heard something rattling around inside it. I sliced the pepper open and I found this cute baby pepper.

Posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

Common Waxbill feeding young

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This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Feeding the Birds.’ See more responses here.

There’s one kind of bird feeder that has stood the test of time. An example of it is this Common Waxbill feeding a couple of youngsters.

Birthdays take the cake

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Sweet.’ See more responses here.

This birthday cake came from the Sandwich Isle Bread Company in Waimea, which also makes cakes and pastries. It was just the right amount of sweet, and the right amount of rich and chocolaty.

Well red

A red windsock at Upolu in Hawaii — The windsock at Upolu Airport with Maui in the background.

This month’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge is ‘Red.’ See more responses here. A variety of subjects for this one!

A red pencil sea urchin in Hawaii — A Red Pencil Urchin in the shallows off Kohala.

A portrait of a chicken in Hawaii — A Red Pencil Urchin in the shallows off Kohala.

That look

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Frosty.’ See more responses here.

Since there’s not a lot of frost on the ground around here, I thought I’d go with the frosty look I got when I pointed my camera at this green anole, which currently lives under the eaves.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii