Sunday, March 22, 2009

Halapepe Trail at Pu'uwa'awa'a

Pu'uwa'awa'a, the furrowed hill, as noted in the linked brochure (it's a spectacular setting for your Hawaii vacation, retreat, or meeting!), is located [about] halfway between Kailua and Waimea. It's recognizable (click on photo for larger version)(note the part of the hill at left quarried away in the days before the word "environment" was heard in the halls of government):

There are two public trails, the Ohia Trail (about four miles roundtrip to the summit of the cone) and the newer one, the Halapepe Trail ( just over a mile). Today I walked the Halapepe Trail for the first time. It's named after the native dracena. There was quite a large one (and many smaller ones) along the trail (note the two flower clusters at the bottom):

Earlier in the day I drove up to Waikoloa and noticed that some of the wiliwili were in full foliage, possibly a result of the recent release of predator wasps to control the gall wasps, but good news in any case. Some of the wiliwili along thr trail looked dead, or dormant, but this one had plenty of nice new foliage:

Finally here's a good view of the fairly long, usually deserted beach at Kaloko-Honokohau (the vog was at "plus ungood" levels that day):

1 comment:

Andrew Cooper said...

The wiliwilis below Waikoloa were in full leaf not long after the first good rains several months ago, and before the release of the wasps.

I do hope the bio control works in this case, these are great trees and worth the effort.