Caves, Rainforest, Water Systems and Cattle Country

Yes, fearless readers, this blog will cover all these topics!

This morning we chose to take a hike in the Kohala Forest Reserve.  The hike was notable for several reasons. 

Kohala was the first volcano to breach the surface in Hawaii, and hence is the oldest volcano on the big Island.  In the area, there are many caves formed by old lava tubes, and we had occasion to visit Cave #3.  You must understand that this was noted in our guide book, had driving directions to it, but was unmarked in any way whatsoever.  It took keen eyes and a quick pullover on the road to find the entrance.  The entrance dripped with ferns and moss.

The cave was huge—you could easily stand inside it.

Although we had flashlights, the light didn’t penetrate far.  The pictures required a better camera than mine, but you can see the barrenness of the floor and the walls.  I’m sure you could explore for miles, but a few hundred feet were enough for us.

Because this area was a site of very old volcanic activity, and is in the rainy area of Hawaii, we were essentially hiking through rainforest.  And of course, it was raining today.  The range of vegetation was amazing, and in the mist became surreal.

One member of the rainforest is a fern tree.

Because we were in rainforest, there was actually soil on the trail, but volcanic rock protruded everywhere.

Bamboo is commonly seen here, and we passed by a stand of bamboo babies just starting to grow.

At the top of the trail, there was a spectacular lookout.  Right.

Theoretically, the trail was closed, for good reasons.  At least it seems to me that potential earthquakes are good reasons. 

That didn’t prevent us or a number of other hikers from setting out.  Remember I mentioned a couple of days ago about flip-flops?  This is the Hawaiian shoe of choice.  There were more hikers on the trail wearing flip-flops (or bare feet) than there were those of us wearing hiking boots.  My mind boggles.

Another interesting aspect of this walk was an insight into part of Hawaii’s water system.  When we asked at the beginning, we were told that Hawaiians used wells or catchment systems from the hills.  We obviously saw part of the catchment system today.  There were concrete channels gathering water from the surroundings and funnelling it downhill.

At one point, the water had to transfer over a valley, and a short but impressive set of piping accommodated that.

For any engineers viewing this blog, let the pipe connections give you thrills.

Ultimately, the water was funneled into a very large reservoir (today looming in the mist……).

For a couple of side notes, we saw paths through the bamboo that suggested trails for feral pigs.  We came upon some ground that was obviously of interest to them:  apparently they can dig up a storm.

On a second note, part of our trip was through Hawaiian cattle country.  The old volcanic areas are well-grassed, although very hilly due to lava tubes.  There are some large ranches here.  When I asked Brian to pull off so I could take a picture, we chanced upon a side road where a loose cow was trying to become feral herself!  She took one look at me, and galloped off as fast as she could!

A Trip Down Into Waipi'o Valley

We are now in a much lusher part of Hawaii and the scrub vegetation has been replaced by huge trees and extensive growth.  Our cottage is a rustic made-over farm building surrounded by greenery.

A recommended hike was that to Waipi’o Valley, so after breakfast we took a short drive to the trailhead.  The view from the lookout was impressive.

Access to the valley was via a paved one-lane road.  The signage got my attention.

Descent was a steep 800 feet (a knee-shaker!) but the vegetation and views along the way were lovely.  As I looked closer, I could see little begonias and impatiens growing wild.

There were lots of pedestrians, but even more vehicles, driven by tourists thrilled to use 4 wheel drive.  When the trail flattened out in the valley, the paving ended and the mud road began.  There, drivers began to have REAL fun.  At one point, we would watch vehicles move over the bumps with a maximum of three wheels hitting the ground at any one point.

At the end of the trail, we came upon more feral animals.  Yes, there are feral horses here (as well as feral pigs, goats, sheep, and of course chickens).  The mare and her foal paid no attention to humans until someone made a motion towards their car.  Clearly, these animals have been well habituated, because they wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to mooch.

The beach itself was impressive—black sand.  People were everywhere, playing in the water, sitting on the beach, and generally enjoying life, although the beach wasn’t badly crowded.

Another part of Hawaiian culture became evident.  For want of a better term, I call these Hawaiian Inukshuks.  All of these “sculptures” are merely rocks (and sometimes shells), delicately balanced on one another, forming rather attractive totems.  (I haven’t mentioned it until now, but marijuana seems to be firmly entrenched as a fundament in Hawaii.  The inukshuks are perhaps a product of this…….)

The climb back was sufficiently engrossing to prevent much further picture-taking, so the next descriptions will have to wait until tomorrow.

Travelling to the next place: the Rainbow Bee Farm

Today was a relatively quiet day as we moved from our B&B in south Hawaii to a cottage at the Rainbow Bee Farm in north Hawaii.  We started with a tour at a coffee farm, which proved to be extremely interesting.  A coffee tree in bloom has the most pleasantly fragrant flowers.

Coffee fruit are called cherries, which are harvested as they become yellow-orange-red.  

The farm we visited had thousands of coffee trees, but they also bought cherries from farmers around the area.  Cherries are tumbled with water to strip them of the flesh, and then the beans are dried in huge low drying houses.  

After drying, the beans go through blowers to strip an outer skin, and ultimately go to roasting.  Kona coffee refers to a very specific geographic portion of Hawaii—one step outside that area does not count for labelling.

We had to provision up along the way:  the Walmart and Costco stores are here in force.  Please note the lovely feral poultry at Costco, in the parking lot.

We visited a state park called Kalako-Honokohau in the afternoon, which was a major Hawaiian village site beside the ocean.  It is unbelievable to think of a village here, because the site is merely an expanse of miles and miles of raw moonscape lava. 

There was an area where there were some Hawaiian petroglyphs, including a “checkerboard” for a game they played.  Speculation is that the game board was used for other purposes such as divination, planning, and teaching.

Down at the beach we found sea turtles basking.  As we approached, we saw a jagged shore line with people stretch out along it.  As I turned to ask the closest group whether they had seen sea turtles, I saw six merely 20 feet away.  You could see turtle heads appearing above the water as many others floated just offshore.

We are inland in a rural area, and outside our cottage is a tiny little pond, which contains—to Brian’s horror—bullfrogs.  Big loud bullfrogs just beginning their mating season.  Last night did not feature great sleep for Brian.

We drove out to a tiny little town for dinner and ended up at an Italian restaurant.  Dinner featured live entertainment included a male guitar player and a female saxophone player, who were very good.  At the end of their set, the guy walked around to talk to people at their tables.  It turned out he was the owner of the restaurant!  Both he and the female player were 70 years old.  Talk about an inspiration as to what to do when we get older.

Wandering around a Historical Site

Our B&B was designed to emulate a large Hawaiian plantation home of the sugar cane era.  Breakfast included a view from the veranda that was truly impressive.  The haze you might notice is called “Vog” which is a combination of the words “Volcanic”, “Smog”, and “Fog”.  It occur when volcanic emissions of sulphur dioxide and particulate matter interact with oxygen and moisture in the air, and has been an issue here since the Kilauea volcano starting erupting in 1983.

Today we visited Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, or “The Place of Refuge”.  Here lived royalty and priests and supplicants coming to get absolution for breaking rules (serious ones like a women eating with a man).  Early Hawaiians planted coconut groves to provided food, building materials, etc.

The guardians suggested this many not be a nice place to visit, but this was not the case.

Much of the compound was delineated with “dry” volcanic walls, where stones were held by friction rather than mortar.

We went on a walk called the “1871” trail that wound through some areas originally inhabited for fishing and agriculture.  As usual, the trail was through a volcanic area.  I will try to refrain from too many lava pictures, instead focusing on the lava shot of the day.  Today's shot is that of a collapsed lava tube.

One of the weirdest views today was that of a Hawaiian Toboggan Run.  I kid you not.  Holua was a sport of Hawaiian royalty, consisting of sliding down specially paved hillside runways on a narrow sled with two runners.  The runway was covered with grass and leaves, and the sled runners were greased to enhance speed.  Knowing how many times we fell off our toboggans as kids, I can only imagine the outcomes here.

The trail winds along the base of some lava cliffs left by a torrent of lava coming down the slope, but cooling in the sea winds to end abruptly.  Apparently Mark Twain called this “a petrified Niagara”.

The flora is truly amazing.  We have seen papaya, mango, pomegranate, breadfruit and lychee trees.  

Avocadoes are in season, and they grow them big here!

    

                                                                                    

My bird pictures aren’t great, but there are some interesting (and loud!) birds here.

Tomorrow we will be heading up the west side of the island to take in a coffee plantation, another state park, and who knows what else.  Wait and see!