Tag Archives: Bees and Wasps

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.

Bee on Lantana

A bee forages on a colorful Lantana flower.

Praying Mantis waiting

This Praying Mantis spent several days on this Agave Attenuata, waiting patiently for food. There were bees all over the flowers and I think the mantis got some of them, as well as other insects.

I presumed the mantis was a female as it seemed to be getting bigger. A couple of days after taking these photos, the mantis disappeared but I saw an egg sac on a nearby tree, so maybe there will be more on the way!

Stop that incessant buzzing

A gecko and a bee on an agave attenuata in Hawaii

I couldn’t resist returning to the Agave Attenuata currently blooming in the yard. On this occasion, I was watching a gecko buried in the flower when one of the bees that have been collecting from the flowers came into the frame.

The gecko looked decidedly unimpressed by the bee’s proximity, and relieved when it disappeared.

Posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (See more responses here).

A wasp in the grass

I noticed this wasp clambering through the grass one day recently. It made no attempt to fly, but didn’t seem damaged in any way. Its movements were a bit frenetic and, frankly, it looked a bit insane. So naturally, I got down on my hands and knees and shoved my camera into its face, taking photos!

I shoved enough that at one point the wasp climbed onto the lens and up onto the camera. At that point I decided discretion was the better part of photography, set my camera down in the grass, and waited for it to finish its exploration and stagger away, which it duly did.

Bee on a Tree Heliotrope

A bee forages on a tree heliotrope in Hawaii

Tree Heliotropes are blooming along the coast. They’re not showy flowers but there are lots of them and the bees are all over them.

Bee in cannonball tree flower

A bee in a cannonball tree flower in Hawaii

In a follow up to yesterday’s post, a few close up photos of the flowers, which were very popular with the bees.

Butt out

When I got home from work yesterday afternoon, the sun was shining, the mock orange was blooming, and the bees were busy. So I took some photos, the last one of which was the top one, which is posted in response to Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge (see more responses here).

That photo is unedited for the challenge, but the bottom one shows how I’d edit it, mostly involving a crop to remove some dead space and put the bee in a better place.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii