Back to Maui, and our December trip to Hawaii (wow-that long ago?) The West Maui mountains are older than Haleakalā, and consequently more eroded. Hawaiian volcanoes tend to reach their largest extent as massive dome-shaped mountains that have a somewhat symmetrical appearance (as Mauna Loa looks today). Once the eruption rate of the volcano slows down, erosion starts to work: rainfall creates streams, and eventually these streams create deep valleys. This is the stage the West Maui volcano is in.
ʻĪao Valley is a picturesque spot deep within the West Maui mountains. It’s a popular tourist attraction, but also has historical significance. The highlight, for most people, is probably ʻĪao Needle, a rock formation at the end of an eroded ridge.
'Iao Needle
ʻĪao Valley contained important agricultural agricultural and religious sites for Native Hawaiians. ʻĪao Stream watered many kalo lo’i (taro fields) and supported a large population. ʻĪao Needle itself was a sacred site, as it represented the phallus of Kanaloa, the god of the sea and the underworld. It does seem like a reasonable association.
Another view of the valley.
Hawaiian culture is frequently presented as lu’aus, surfing, and beautiful women dancing, and other historical cultural elements are frequently glossed over. ʻĪao Valley, for example, was the site of a huge battle in 1790, between the invading forces of Kamehameha (who would go on to conquer all the Hawaiian Islands) and the defending Maui chief Kalanikūpule. So many were killed that the stream was dammed up by bodies, and the remaining water ran red with blood.
Today, ʻĪao Valley contains a state park, and the stream is only likely to be dammed by a wall of tourists. Aside from Kanaloa’s phallus (which is, appropriately, the most prominent sight), there is now a botanical garden with many ethnobotanical specimens, as well historical markers about the Native Hawaiians and later immigrant groups.
Perhaps it’s a bit of a comedown for the valley to go from a sacred site and royal burial area to a well-groomed historical park. But that diminishing of magnitude (both sacred grandeur and terrible deeds) is something that we see in many places in Hawaii.
It’s been a while, but I thought I’d revive my posts on our (not-so) recent trip to Maui. While we were there, there was a lot of rain. This wasn’t so noticeable when we were on Haleakala (except for interfering with the view), but we had a lot of drizzle, showers, and then downpours for a day or so. Luckily it cleared up the last day we were there for more birding! But more on that later.
After we finished our most excellent Waikamoi hike, it was early afternoon. We headed back down the mountain through fog, having a few close encounters with cows along the way. Part of the road up to the summit is open pasture, and in the fog with hairpin turns, it’s pretty creepy to suddenly see a cow looming on the shoulder, stupidly chewing its cud and gazing at your car with an unfazed expression.
It was pretty rainy and overcast, and we didn’t feel like finding another place to hike in the rain (the beach was out, too), so we decided to drive down the Kula road a bit and check out the scenery. This is mainly an agricultural area, with a fine view downslope to the sea. We stopped at a wayside memorial park dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, in bronze.
Why a park on Maui dedicated to one of the men behind the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty? Well, it turns out that he attended school in the Kingdom of Hawaii, back in the late 1800s (`Iolani School and Oahu College-now known as Punahou). There are a number of statues of him on other islands.
These lion statues were really cool, until we realized they were made of hollow fiberglass...
At one point, he was issued a (false, for he was born in China) birth certificate from the then-Territory of Hawaii stating that he was born in Kula. Hence the Kula connection, and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park along the Kula Highway.
Lion detail.
Sun Yat-sen is apparently one of the few Chinese revolutionary figures revered in both the People’s Republic and in Taiwan. His time in Hawaii was also a time of revolution: he attended school here during the reign of King Kalakaua, the second-to-last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. By the time he returned to Hawaii, the Kingdom had been overthrown by a cabal of American businessmen, and political power rested in the short-lived “Republic of Hawaii.” While he was here the second time, the Hawaiian islands were formally annexed to the United States as a Territory.
Agave plants in the garden, known locally as "dragon's tail" or "lion's tail."
For Hawaii, as well as much of the Pacific, those years were a time of change and turmoil. This period of time is something that’s definitely hidden when Hawaii is presented as just an entity subsumed into the U.S., and the formation of the contemporary political situation in the Pacific is taken as something of a forgone conclusion. For example, there’s not a lot of effort in public schools in Hawaii to tie the local events of those years to the turmoil in China and other parts of the Pacific, except as they relate to the U.S. snapping up territories that the European empires were losing control of, like the Philippines. Definitely an eventful time in the Pacific, and though Sun Yat-sen didn’t play a huge role in the contemporary political scene, he’s a formidable player in the larger picture.
'Alauahio (image from Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project)
One of the reasons we went to Maui on our recent trip back to Hawai’i was to look for endemic birds. There are three species in particular on Haleakalā that I really wanted to see, and hadn’t seen before: the Maui ‘Alauahio (or Maui Creeper), ‘Akohekohe (or Crested Honeycreeper), and Maui Parrotbill (recently given the Hawaiian name of Kiwikiu). All three species are endangered, the latter two critically (there are perhaps 3,800 ‘Akohekohe and 500 Parrotbills remaining). The Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project has a lot of info on these birds and their conservation.
'Akohekohe (image from USGS/Wikipedia)
While the ‘Alauhio is fairly easy to see within Haleakalā National Park (at the Hosmer Grove campground), the other two species have a more restricted range. The best way to see these birds is to go on a hike into the Nature Conservancy’s Waikamoi Preserve, which is located just downslope of the north side of the park. Three of us went on this hike: myself, my husband Yan, and my cousin David. Surprisingly, no one else had signed up for the hike- this one is only offered once a month.
Maui Parrotbill (image from Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project)
TNC offers guided hikes into the preserve in two locations: we opted to go on the Boardwalk hike, as we’d heard there was more of a chance of seeing ‘Akohekohe on this route (Parrotbills are much harder to find). The hike starts at about 6,800 ft, and descends about 1,000 feet. We’d been warned about cold and rain (it does descend into cloud forest), but the weather was pretty great. Given that the day after our hike a big storm system swept through and it poured all day in this area, we were pretty lucky.
After scrubbing our boots to remove any alien plant seeds, we climbed through the gate to the Preserve. While the forest is managed to keep feral goats and pigs out, we thought this warning sign at the entrance might be overstating the hunting frequency by a wee bit:
At upper elevations, the forest is a mix of alien species introduced to combat erosion caused by feral goats and cattle. These included various pines and redwood trees, which you can see in the background of this photo- what you see in the foreground are ‘Ohi’a lehua trees, one of the dominant native species in Hawaiian forests.:
Upper Waikamoi Preserve.
Throughout this area, you can hear the calls and whirring wings of the native honeycreepers: mainly ‘I’iwi, ‘Apapane, ‘Amakihi and ‘Alauahio at this elevation. It was definitely very cool! These birds are mostly restricted to high-elevation forest without mosquitoes, which carry avian malaria- a big reason they’re threatened. Some are nectar-feeders (the big poofy flowers of the ‘Ohi’a are a favorite) while others eat insects or seeds. It was interesting to see that they were able to use the alien parts of the forest for shelter, if not for food- I wasn’t expecting that.
Ohia lehua blossoms (image by P. Fukunaga, USGS)
Once we got into the relatively pristine cloud forest, we saw a huge diversity of native plants- sadly, my native plant ID skills have eroded and I couldn’t identify many of them. The trail here goes on a boardwalk path that’s effectively a very long set of stairs. The ground here was covered with moss and ferns- an indication of the high level of rainfall. The boardwalk keeps damage to the forest floor at a minimum and provides solid footing. It was pretty damp.
And, right as we got to the cloud forest, we saw four ‘Akohekohe! It was pretty cool- our guide, Michelle, was talking about the birds and the forest, and discussing how rare they were and how uncommon it was to see them. And then one-two-three-four: they landed on a tree behind her. Excellent timing.
At the bottom of the boardwalk, there’s a platform and a seating area. On the rare non-cloudy days, there’s probably a great view from here to the ocean. We hung out here for maybe an hour, looking for birds and just listening to the total absence of human noise. Birds, insects, the wind in the trees: that is all you hear in this spot.
David, going back up the stairs.
Then it came time to go back up the trail. We knew that the rain front was rolling in- it was getting mistier and rain was starting to fall. It didn’t get completely foggy until we got back up to the top, though. The weather was excellent, overall. We never did see any Parrotbills, but that was a very slim chance anyway. I think the ‘Akohekohe is probably the most endangered bird species I’ve seen. And we saw several of them, with their cute little feathery crests.
I’d been a bit worried about hiking at this elevation, after living at sea level for so long, but it wasn’t a problem. It probably helped that we’d been at the summit for a few hours beforehand, so the 5,000-ft drop to the trailhead made us breathe much easier.
Overall, we got to spend several hours immersed in the sights, sounds, and scents of one of the most unique forests on the planet. This was truly a wonderful experience, and definitely made the trip to Maui worth it all by itself.
What lives in a Hawaiian alpine desert at 10,000 feet?
Here’s one species: the Haleakalā Silversword- `Ahinahina in Hawaiian.
Silversword in bloom, by Karl Magnacca (Wikipedia).
Descended from the lowly tarweed, these majestic plants have fuzzy, pointed leaves that gather tiny drops of dew in the rare high-elevation mists.
Dewdrops on silver.
Each rosette of leaves grows for many years, then flowers, sending a single spike of flowers high into the air. If pollinated, they release seeds, then die. These plants only have one chance at vegetative glory, so they make the most of it.
While rain is rare in Haleakalā, it’s more likely in winter (snow is even more uncommon). Silversword leaves resist freezing, so this cold moisture is welcome.
View into Haleakala under clouds.
High clouds turn the sun silver, and add iridescent light to the experience of Haleakalā. Do misty days mean happy Silverswords?
On our recent trip to Hawai’i, we spent one weekend on Maui. Maui’s never been my favorite island: it lacks the overall grandeur of Hawai’i, the cultural activities of Oahu, or the general quirkiness of Kaua’i. It does have these things in at least patches, though. And if you’re into hanging out at beach resorts, Maui may be a great place to visit for you. It’s also well-represented in the areas of entitled yuppies, crappy traffic, somehow-creepy mountains, and flat industrial agriculture vistas of sugarcane.
All that aside, we did have a good time there. We mainly concentrated our visit on Haleakalā, the eastern and younger of the two volcanic mountains that make up the island. Note the macron over the last ‘a’ in Haleakalā- that last syllable is what’s supposed to be accented.
Haleakalā is an enormous mountain: over 10,000 feet tall from the ocean surface (with another 20,000 feet or so to its base- one of several Hawaiian volcanoes that are technically taller than Mt. Everest!), containing 7,200 cubic miles of rock (USGS). Technically, the mountain itself is called ‘East Maui volcano’; it’s the valley at the top that’s called Haleakalā (meaning ‘house of the sun’). The sun does spend a lot of time up here: the summit is above the usual cloud line.
Haleakalā crater from the mountain summit, Pu`u `Ula`ula (Red Hill).
While the current valley is at the original site of the volcanic caldera, it’s not technically a ‘crater’- it’s an erosion-cut valley that later filled up with cinders from fresh eruptions. This is where the impressive landscape of red and gray cinder cones comes from.
The valley itself is several miles across, and over 2,500 feet deep!
The weather up here can be brutal: zero shade, nasty wind, and bitterly cold. But the views are awesome (in the true sense of the word). Here’s Hawai’i Island, off to the southeast (or at least the tops of 4 of its mountains):
Mauna Kea, Kohala, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai from the summit.
Did you see the snow on top of Mauna Kea? Pretty nifty.
And here’s a view west across the isthmus (and all that sugarcane) to the West Maui Mts., Lana’i, and Molokai in the background (though it’s hard to see what’s the West Maui summit and what’s Molokai):
View of the West Maui Mts., with Lanai to the left. Molokai's in the back, but hard to make out.
We didn’t do any real hiking up near the summit, but did do some down below the treeline -both warmer and easier to breathe down there :). More on that later, though…
The north-west tip of O’ahu is Ka’ena Point. This, the tip of the Wai’anae Mountains, is the one part of the island that’s not reachable by (paved) roads. There used to be both a dirt road and a railroad out here (the railroad for sugarcane transport). Now, the railroad has been removed and the road is extremely non-maintained.
You can actually drive along the non-maintained part of the road for a ways, from either side- fishermen do it. But with a rental car, you probably don’t want to risk it. This car, which apparently broke down at some point, has been out near the end of the road for a few years- every time we go back it’s just a bit more degraded. Last year, for example, the seats were still in decent shape.
Guess someone stripped it, then abandoned it...
A few miles toward the point from either side, the remaining road is fenced off. The reason is that this is one of the last non-developed coastal sites on O’ahu, because of its remoteness. It’s home to several species of threatened plant, and also serves as nesting ground for native seabirds: Laysan albatrosses and Wedge-tailed shearwaters, as well as a pupping spot for endangered Hawaiian Monk seals. The fence is intended to keep predators from slaughtering these ground-nesting birds.
A few dozen nest here each winter.
I think Laysan albatrosses are one of the more sophisticated-looking birds: isn’t that contrast between white head, slaty body, and subtly shaded eye mask cool?
Photo: Jlfutari at wikipedia.com
Back in the day, I did an internship with the Fish & Wildlife Service on Kaua’i. One of the things I got to do was help band Laysan albatrosses. These are the smallest albatross species, but still have a wingspan that’s up to two meters in length. More importantly for banding, those beaks are razor-sharp; we learned how to get around them pretty quickly! Despite their size, they don’t weigh much, and I strongly remember thinking that they smelled like feather pillows (unlike the Red-footed boobies, who would regurgitate half-digested fish onto you when approached- gross).
At any rate, Ka’ena Point is one of the last places on the main Hawaiian Islands where these beauties nest, at the end of the Wai’anaes.
Albatrosses nest on the ground; shearwaters dig burrows.
The day we went out, it was both hot (“Ka’ena” means “the hot”) and the surf was up. We didn’t see any Monk seals, but that just meant that we could go cool our heels in the tidepools.
All in all, this is a good hike on a winter day- there’s pretty much no shade, so it’s nice when it’s a bit cloudy. It can also be pretty breezy out at the point. While it’s generally quite dry, we’d just had rain and there were a lot of mud puddles on the road. It was pretty easy to get around them, though. Take water and a snack, and be prepared to just sit at the point for a while and watch the waves and the albatrosses coming in to land.
Just mauka (mountainward) of urban Honolulu is a ~19.6 mile system of trails in the Ko`olau Mountains: the Honolulu Mauka Trail System. This system includes the Judd Trail, which I talked about in a previous post. While the Judd Trail is in Nu’uanu Valley, most of this trail system is on the south side of the crest of the Ko’olau range. It’s probably the best-maintained trail system on Oahu, and one of my favorite places to hike.
The map above is centered on the area where the trail system is: the area marked “Honolulu Watershed Forest Reserve” is in the back of Manoa Valley (there are trails all along the ridge lines on all three sides), the central area marked “Makiki-Lower Punchbowl-Tantalus” contains several trails, and then Nu’uanu Valley (which Hwy 61 runs through) has a few trails on the east side. Downtown Honolulu is in the lower left, and Waikiki is just off the map to the lower right.
One of the hikes I’ve done a few times is the Pu’u ‘Ohi’a Trail, which goes to the top of one of the high points in this part of the range, called Pu’u ‘Ohi’a (‘Ohi’a Tree Hill), or more popularly, Tantalus. The summit is about 2,000 feet; the trailhead starts at about 1400 (?) feet. It’s a bit of a climb. Part of the trail goes through bamboo forest, which is a bit eerie- the bamboo (which is invasive) blocks out a lot of light.
Escaped cockatoos live in upper Manoa Valley.
We actually went a bit onto the Manoa Cliffs Trail, which as you might guess from the name, goes along the cliffside above Manoa Valley. I have to say that Manoa is the prettiest valley on Oahu. Others may disagree, of course 🙂
After our quick view of Manoa Valley, we took the Kalawahine Trail, which hugs the western side of Pu’u ‘Ohi’a. The narrow valley on this side is Pauoa Valley. From this side, you get a great view of Nu’uanu valley to the north, and can see across the Ko’olau Mountains to Kailua.
Upper Nu'uanu Valley, with Kailua off in the distance.
Further south along the Kalawahine Trail, you get a great view of downtown Honolulu and Pearl Harbor off to the west, along with the Wai’anae Range (which you can’t see in this photo).
Downtown Honolulu.
The Kalawahine Trail is really botanically interesting: there are actually quite a few native species here. Part of the forest here is fenced (to exclude mainly pigs) and is intended to be a native tree snail preserve. Tree snails were very diverse in Hawaii before human settlement; now habitat loss, collecting, and an invasive predatory snail have made most of the species extinct. A few species are hanging on in remote mountain refuges. Native forest birds are often sighted here, but we didn’t see any this time. There are also quite a few native plants, including a stand of hibiscus trees that were blooming.
This is also a great trail to look at ferns: there are quite a few different species here (both native and introduced). This was a fun place to botanize when I was in college.
For scale, this boulder is about a meter in height.
The Honolulu Mauka trail system has some pretty diverse terrain, vegetation, and views. It’s also pretty accessible from either downtown or Waikiki. You can access it either by car (though parking is limited & the area is sometimes prone to break-ins) or by bus. It’s definitely one of the unique things about living in Honolulu…
Another trail accessed via the Pali Highway is the Judd Trail, also known as “Jackass Ginger,” for a waterfall along Nuuanu Stream, which you walk along part of the way.
View of Nuuanu Stream
It’s a pretty small waterfall, but a popular swimming spot. I have no idea how it got its name.
There is ginger in the area, though...
The Judd Trail is a loop, which takes you above Nuuanu stream and into the forest. Most of Hawaii’s native forests were effectively eaten to the ground by feral goats and cattle after Western contact, and were replanted with non-native species once people realized that massive erosion problems and reduction of stream flows were a result. The Judd Trail runs through non-native forest, including dramatic plantings of Norfolk Island pines. It’s also named after one of the early foresters in Hawaii, Charles Judd.
I’ve heard descriptions of this trail as running through “Hawaii’s beautiful native forest”- this is ridiculous. I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a single native species along the route- maybe a fern or two.
On our recent trip to Hawaii, we got to do a lot of hiking. Nothing too serious, but we did try to do at least short hikes each day. We were fairly successful when it wasn’t raining.
One of our first hikes was on Oahu, on the Old Pali Highway. This route leads along a decommissioned road that run between Honolulu and the Windward side of Oahu.
Google terrain map showing the Pali Hwy. The "gap" in the mountain range is actually a ~1000-foot cliff.
Oahu was formed by two volcanoes, which have now eroded to form the western Wai’anae and eastern Ko’olau mountains. Millions of years ago, about half of the Ko’olau volcano slid off in a massive landslide, creating a 100-mile long debris field under the ocean to the northeast, and leaving a long, tall series of cliffs on the remaining above-water part of the volcano. This cliff (the Pali) limits travel between the coastal Windward side of the island and the plateau between the Wa’anae and Ko’olau ranges.
Steep part of the Pali from the Windward coast (from NOAA).
The Old Pali Highway takes advantage of a slight gap in the range, where there is only about a 1000-foot vertical cliff between the two sides, rather than the ~2400-foot cliff that’s found elsewhere. However, this road was always wet, steep, narrow, and dangerous to travel. It was eventually replaced by the (new) Pali Highway, which is larger and uses two tunnels and a set of ramps to make the current highway less steep. Hikers can take the Old Pali highway from its high point at the Pali Overlook down to where it connects with a state trail to a waterfall.
Stream valley, not visible from road.
When walking on the Old Pali Highway, you can really get a sense for how much more sketchy this connection between the two sides of the island was at the time. Water constantly seeps onto the road from the porous basalt, and ferns and other plants abound. The hike gives you views into some pretty gorgeous valleys that aren’t visible form the new road.
Waterfalls were running because of all the recent rain.
We hiked this as a loop from the top down, then back up. We did go a bit onto the waterfall trail, but it was starting to get dark (and we were hearing wild pigs), so we went back up.
View of Kailua & Olomana (double peak in foreground).
There are some interesting birds on this trail, but not much that’s native: it lies within the range of avian malaria-carrying mosquitoes that have decimated most native forest bird species in Hawaii. Within the mosquito zone, there are pretty much no more native forest birds. Scientists are quite concerned about the effect of global warming on Hawaiian forest birds: mosquitoes are limited to lower elevations because of cold mountain air. As the climate warms, their zone of infiltration expands up into the former mountain refuges of the birds, who have no immunity to avian malaria.
Feral chickens, descended from Polynesian Jungle fowl, at the Pali Overlook.
This is an easy-to-get-to hike that’s not too strenuous, very scenic, and has some history. The footing is mostly good (though slippery in spots), and parts of it are a bit steep. Nuuanu Valley, which the Pali Highway runs through from Honolulu, has some pretty significant historic sites, and the Pali Overlook itself was the site of a dramatic and bloody battle when Kamehameha was trying to conquer Oahu- Oahuans’ first encounter with cannon, people being pushed to their deaths over the cliff with spears, and other details. It’s interesting (though disturbing) to contemplate that event here.
Yay, vacation! I’ll begin at the end, and the funky souvenirs we got. They’re not Hawaii-themed: it’s hard to buy into the tourist-industrial complex for a place once you’ve really lived there.
Item one we’re calling Sushiman: a solar-powered nodding plastic ikura (salmon roe) sushi. And yes, this toy really does work!
Welcome!
Apparently, this also comes in shrimp, egg, and salmon versions. We thought ikura was the best. Oh, as an added bonus, it has fairly interesting Japanese-English warning label translation on the package:
In order not course the danger of asphyxial, Please do no to put the spare parts into the mouth.
In order not course the danger of swallowing, forbidden to give the toy playing by the Children who are not enough 3 years old.
In order not course the danger of asphyxial, please do not cover the plastic bag on the head or face.
In order to avoid accident, please safekeeping the toy that make sure the children who are not enough 3 years old not reach the toy.
Please do not shake and haul the toy.
Please do not use the sun energy battery tough and don’t throw it away.
Fun for the whole family!
Item two outdoes Sushiman by at least two orders of magnitude, because of its sheer geekery. It’s a Hallmark ornament depicting Kirk & Spock’s dramatic battle of kal-if-fee in “Amok Time” (also known as the episode where Spock goes into heat). What makes this ornament awesome is that it plays the theme music from the scene.
Pic from hallamark.com.
Hallmark’s website has a video with the music (it would have totally have racheted up the excitement of the video to do a few zooming in and out shots). Seriously, this is a really cool toy, and Yan & I are going to have to have a discussion of who gets to keep it in their office.
As far as I know, these things are on sale at Hallmark stores everywhere: we got this one at 40% off. Seriously, you might want to consider looking for one of these. I have to say, it’s on par with the Tauntaun sleeping bag in terms of sheer geekery- though if it was animated, it might eclipse that… I’m sure it smells better, too 🙂
