Waikamoi Cloud Forest Hike

We headed back up Haleakala this morning for a hike with a ranger into the Waikomoi Preserve, a Nature Conservancy project adjacent to the National Park. A ranger met us at Hosmer Grove. It was a gorgeous day and there was only one other couple with us. No clouds on this particular day :-)



The project is attempting to restore this area to totally native Hawaiian plants. When Hosmer came to Hawaii, he wanted to help stop erosion etc and introduced all sorts of conifer plants in this area. They have shaded out many of the native plants. Because it is an island, many of the birds and plants have evolved together, making many species of birds very specialized in what they can use as a food source. When those plants are removed from the environment...the birds will disappear. All the Pacific Islands are making a concerted effort to protect their native plant areas and try to enlarge them.

Below is a sampling of what we saw on this great hike - .

Native tree flower

Blueberry Plant

Mexican Weeping pine - really cool - not native.

The birds below are the 'I'iwi, the Maui Creeper and a 'Apapane

Hawaiian Tree Fern

Haleakala National Park

We started this Trinity Sunday out at Trinity Episcopal Church by the Sea. A brief history from the brochure says, "Cradled within the ancient stone walls of Kilolani Church built in 1852 by famous Hawaiian David Malo. Rev. Malo was only the third native Hawaiian ordained to Christian ministry. After fire and flood the church lay in ruin until 1976 when a group of Episcopalians revived it as Trinity-by-the-Sea. Our Sunday services are held within these hallowed walls, under God's spacious skies. Wonderful place. More info at www.trinitybts.org.

Then off to the adventure for the day--the 10,023' Summit of Haleakala volcano and the crater there. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. The road up was a continual switchback with outstanding views. At about 7000' we hit fog and clouds but came out of it about 9000'.


Then the cinder cones in the crater.



At the summit is one of the few places where you can find silversword plants ('Anhinahina). It's an endangered species and unique to Hawaii. It has dense covering of silver hairs to protect it from the intense sun and help it retain water. It lives up to 50 years and flowers once and dies. The plant below is starting to flower.



Also at the top are the Haleakala Observatories, a joint project between the University of Hawaii and the US Government. It's not open to the public.


View from the top...


And we saw a little wildlife up there. The first is a chuckar and the others are of the nene, the State bird of Hawaii.

Upcountry of Maui

A gorgeous Saturday morning found us heading for Upcountry where the up means 2-4,000 feet up the slope of Haleakala. Haleakala is an erosion crater which tops out at 10,023 feet. We took a short cut (which actually is longer, but really interesting) through all the sugar cane fields. There is a sugar factory also and we happened to see one of the cane trucks taking a load of cane to be processed. There are 37,000 acres of sugar cane being grown here...all in the central valley. We stopped at the Surf Goat farm where they make wonderful goat cheese products, but we were too early so headed on south.








We went through Kula and a stop in the road called Ulupalokua down 31 to the shoreline. This whole area is cattle country, though you only see an occasional bunch of cows. Scrubby trees and some grasses grow on the lava through here. The whole area south of there is lava flow - the same one we hiked on Friday but further to the east toward Hana. The shoreline is spectacular through here and the water an incredible blue--right between Carolina & Duke blue! The other side of the road was scrubby grasses and lava rocks.

The Pokowai Sea Arch was great! The surf just crashes in there and continues to break through the rock. For the last several miles we have gone from double lane paved to single lane paved to single lane patched paved (poorly done and a long time ago!). However, there are two federally funded bridges through here that are two lane and beautiful. Federal funds can't be used to finance single lane bridges.


As we were heading back along the shore we spotted some white tropic birds flying out over the water. What a wonderful show they put on for us.


Further down the road we took a turn off to the Ali'i Lavendar Farm. There were about 25 classic cars ahead of us that pulled into the parking lot so we decided to head to the top of the hill. Great switchbacks and into the fog. Unfortunately, when we got to the top it was fogged in, but a wonderful eucalyptus and cedar forest.

We returned to the Lavendar farm where we found wonderful gardens and marvelous Lavender Tea! They grow 122 species of Lavendar and alot of Protea. The flowers are stunning and go through and incredible number of stages. This is the last stage of this particular type.















So after a nice leisurely wander, we headed back down the mountain. Views were stunning!

And then home again to a beautiful sunset on the beach just down the hill. Delightful day!!!

First Day in Maui

Well, we arrived safely in Maui. Seems the flight that John read as 6:00 was actually at 5:00, but we made it just fine and didn't have to sit around and wait. Must need a better printer or new glasses :-) We picked up the rental car at 6:00 sharp and headed to the timeshare to drop off our luggage. The room wouldn't be ready until noon. So, we checked out the beach at the bottom of our hill and found wonderful lava outcroppings and crystal clear water. Then stopped for breakfast at a great place and then headed to and Iao Needle. The valley is what remains of the central caldera (crater) of the West Maui volcano. There is a wonderful stream through the valley that has trails along it. Quite pretty. Got a few short showers along the way, but we were pretty well covered by the trees.




















After our walk there we found our way to Costco and stocked up a little for the week and then headed back to the room. It's great with a lanai on the front and the back and you can see the ocean from the front one. The landscaping is wonderful and folks seems to be very friendly and helpful.


We got stuff moved in a we settled a little and then headed down south through Wailea, a planned resort area with some really posh places. We checked out the beaches there, as they are all public access--the white building behind it is one of the resorts.







We then headed further south to the end of the road to Makena-La Perouse State Park. That area is all lava flow. The King's Trail along the sea takes off from there and we followed that for awhile. In a few places some lichen has begun to grow, but most of it is still barren black or dark brown lava all the way into the sea. Some beautiful blow holes where the lava has been broken through by the crashing surf. Very interesting!

As we were driving back, we saw these cute little quails along the side of the road. Turns out we have some of our own right here that wander by our lanai when we're having dinner. A very fun day!!

A Day in Oahu

Thursday was Fun Day at school for Colin and Jill helped out all morning so we got lucky and had Ryan all to ourselves :-) We just pretty much hung out in the morning. John went across the street to the pool area and took pictures of the trees in full bloom. They are stunning!























Then Ryan and I got out the baseball stuff and played for quite a long time. Seems some of my pitching skills have diminished over the years, but did pretty well. We had a great time!

















After lunch and Jill and Colin's return, we headed to the Macadamia Nut Farm for their tour. The "Chief" did the first part for us...he's quite a character!! It covers some of the skills needed when the Polynesians first arrived in Hawaii, to include making fire with sticks, palm weaving and cracking coconuts. Ryan loved the coconut milk. There is also a tour of the plants on the property as well as a boat trip on the fish pond. Alot of the Lost series was filmed there so many of you would recognize the area. It was a really fun afternoon.

Headed home and had a great chicken enchilada dinner and hit the hay early as we had a really early flight to Maui in the morning. Great day!