Tag Archives: Hiking

Colorful pahoehoe lava

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Art Unexpected.’ See more responses here.

This was a timely topic since, a couple of days ago, I went for a hike in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I headed out on the Puna Coast Trail, one of several longer trails west of Chain of Craters Road, that I haven’t explored before. (I’ll do a post about the trail once I’ve gone through the way-too-many photos I took that day!)

One of the highlights of the trail was the extensive areas of colorful pahoehoe lava. I’ve lived here a while now and I know lava doesn’t just come in basic black. I’ve seen lighter and darker flows; I’ve seen flows with a brown tint; I’ve seen flows with hints of red or green in them. But prior to this hike, I had never seen flows with such a variety of vibrant colors.

Instant Hawaii has a description of different types of lava (here) and they say “All the differences in pahoehoe flows stems completely from the temperature of the lava as well as chemical composition. Since both can change during a flow – it is possible to get all types of pahoehoe flowing from a single flow, over time.” I would also say that, what they call ‘quiet flow’ lava, is an apt description of these areas. When I was walking over them I thought they seemed harder and more metallic than the surrounding black pahoehoe lava, which tends to crunch a bit when walked on.

But the other thing I thought, as I found myself continually stopping, stooping, snapping photos, was that these flows were art, Madame Pele’s art, and that wasn’t something I was expecting when I set out on the hike.

For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/.

Beach at Hualalai

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Simple Joys.’ See more responses here.

This is one of the beaches at Hualalai Resort on the Kona coast. While the resort is private and access is restricted, Hawaii law states stipulates that the public has a right of access along the beaches and shorelines in the state situated below the “upper reaches of the wash of the waves.”

Any developments along the shore are required to provide designated public access points. The catch here is that sometimes parking at these places is limited and if it’s full, getting to the beach involves a much longer walk.

At Hualalai, there’s a good-sized parking lot, an easy walk to the coast, and a paved trail along the waterfront. Some beaches can be quite crowded but, in my experience, it doesn’t take much of a walk to find a stretch of sand that is either sparsely populated or entirely deserted. And in my book, walking along the coast, past palm trees and sandy beaches, is definitely a simple joy.

I’iwi

I saw this I’iwi (Drepanis coccinea) on a trail off of Saddle Road, between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. These bright red birds are native Hawaiian honeycreepers and in the old days, the feathers of the birds were collected to make cloaks for Hawaiian royalty.

The curved bill is suited for feeding on native lobelias, but a decline in those plants has seen the I’iwi adapt to feeding on other native plants including ʻōhiʻa lehua, māmane, and ohelo.

While the numbers of I’iwi are still fairly good, particularly on the Big Island and Maui, they have suffered, like other birds, from loss of habitat. In addition, They are susceptible to avian malaria, spread by mosquitoes. Consequently, I’iwi are doing better at higher elevations, such as where this photo was taken at around 6,000 feet.

Signs: Practice makes perfect

I was hiking in Kalopa Native Forest State Park when I came across the trail sign above. Nothing too remarkable about that, but I happened to notice the back side of the sign (middle), which showed that getting the sign right took a bit of practice.

On a subsequent visit, I noticed that the back of sign at the other end of the trail (bottom) had also seen a rejected first effort.

Captain Cook Monument

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Whereabouts.’ See more responses here. ‘Whereabouts’ means ‘the place or general locality where a person or thing is.’

My whereabouts are the Big Island, Hawaii, which is also the place where Captain James Cook, of the British Royal Navy, lost his life on February 14, 1779. He was killed by native Hawaiians with whom he was involved in a dispute over the loss of a cutter from one of his ships. I won’t go into a detailed history here, but more information about Captain Cook can be found at www.captaincooksociety.com/.

Captain Cook’s whereabouts were often uncertain, in that he was an explorer who visited unknown or little known places around the world. Not only did he sail to far flung places, but he made excellent, detailed maps and charts of the places he visited, which made him highly thought of in the British Admiralty, and which made it easier for future travelers to know their whereabouts.

Between 1768 and 1779 Cook made three voyages around the world. The first two focused on the search for the theorized southern super-continent of Terra Australis. The third was intended to find the Northwest Passage across the northern part of North America.

It was on this third voyage that Cook became the first European to officially visit Hawaii (as opposed to other European commercial ships that were believed to have been there before). He sailed on to the north to attempt (unsuccessfully) to fulfill his commission before returning to Hawaii.

This time he anchored in Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island (official name, Hawaii Island). He was well received, in part because his arrival coincided with a Hawaiian festival for the god Lono. After a month, Cook left to resume his voyage, but when one of his ships lost a mast, he returned to Kealakekua Bay.

Unfortunately, by then the festival for Lono was over and his return was not greeted with the same enthusiasm. Soured relations led to several incidents culminating the theft of a ship’s cutter and the incident that led to Cook’s death. However, the killing of Cook did not diminish his standing in the eyes of the Hawaiians. In 1874, the Captain Cook monument was put in place and, in 1877, the land on which it stands was deeded to Britain by Princess Likelike as a sign of respect.

The top photo shows the monument, surrounded by a chain supported by twelve cannons from HMS Fantome. The second photo shows the inscription on the monument. I particularly like the bit about how he discovered these islands, islands which were occupied by a substantial population governed by an established royal line. The third photo is the plaque marking the spot where Captain Cook is believed to have been killed. Below is the location of that plaque in relation to Kealakekua Bay, which is the water beyond the rocks in this photo.

Bench near Green Sands Beach

Most people going to Green Sands Beach, near South Point, hike in or pay for a local to transport them in one of a variety of dubious-looking trucks. Once there, people head down to the beach to swim or broil on the green sand.

Beyond the place where the trucks stop is a pu’u and a hike over this hill and down the other side takes one to this bench, which overlooks the bay, though not the beach itself. It’s a quiet spot unless the wind is howling, which it often is, but the view is lovely and it makes a great resting spot before either carrying on along the coast, or returning whence one came.

Kalopa State Recreation Area

I recently went hiking in the Kalōpā State Recreation Area, not far from Honoka’a, on the northern end of the island. I’d been there before, but only to check it out, so this was an opportunity to explore the trails more thoroughly. One of the treasures of this area is that it features plants that were on the island before even the native Hawaiians arrived.

The recreation area is about 100 acres, and it neighbors the 500 acre Kalōpā Forest Reserve. At an elevation of around 2,000 feet, and on the wet side of the island, it’s cool and damp. There are a variety of trails that intersect and criss cross, which allows hikers options from short loops of less than a mile, to a 6+mile hike around the perimeter.

I took one of the longer routes and it reminded me greatly of hikes I’d taken back in the Pacific Northwest where I used to live. Light rain, water dripping from the overhead canopy, ferns bordering the trail, and tall trees stretching up into a grey sky. These were all features of those hikes. Only the species were different. Eucalyptus, ohia, and kopiko instead of firs and cedars.

The photos show – Top: towering trees line the trail alongside Kalōpā Gulch. Above: A view down into Kalōpā Gulch. Flash floods often race down this gully so it’s a good idea to watch your step. Third photo: Strangler figs envelope native trees and take over resulting in weird, twisted shapes. Below: The old Jeep Road, bordered by invasive kahili ginger, cuts through the center of the area. It’s hard to imagine anyone driving this trail.

For more information about hiking in Kalōpā State Recreation Area go to bigislandhikes.com/kalopa-state-park/.

Signs: Ka’awaloa Trail

The Ka’awaloa Trail starts near the top of Napoʻopoʻo Road, on the edge of Captain Cook – the town that is, not the person. The trail goes down to the water near the Captain Cook Monument on Kealakekua Bay.

As you can see, there are a lot of warnings on the sign. It could be greatly shortened to, “Abandon hope all ye who set foot on this trail.” But there are a couple of things to know about this sign. One is that most people won’t read it. I mean, who needs to waste time reading a dumb sign. The second is that quite a few people will end up in difficulty on the way back up, because the trail really is steep, hot, and exposed. Locals often take extra water with them to help out those in need, but if you don’t meet one of them on the trail, you’re on your own. An iced tea stand two-thirds of the way up could make a killing.

I also like that someone has taken the time to obliterate the word ‘vehicles’ in the ‘No vehicles’ admonishment. A car would never make it and even a trail bike might have a tough time. Perhaps it was just the principle of the thing that someone objected to.