Haleakala

Just about 1 mile from where we were living in the park housing complex is Hosmer's Grove. There are many different types of non-native trees planted here during a forestry "experiment" by Mr. Hosmer a number of years ago after the area had been deforrested. Trees such as Pine and Cedar and two varieties of Eucalyptus were planted in the area. Here is a self-portrait Russell took in the Eucalyptus section of the grove.




I never knew how beautiful Eucalyptus trees were previous to living here, but I think they are one of my favorite trees. Not only are they a visually amazing, they also have a slight fragrance when the wind blows strong and they make a baetiful sound when their leaves flutter in the breeze.




Here is the Plantain plant. It grows all along the roadside here in the park. It looks pretty much the same as the ones in Florida. Not to be confused with the delicious fried Cuban plantains from Tampa that we miss so much, those grow on a tree, like bananas! But this Plaintain is a good plant to have around while hiking in case of insect bites or cuts.





This plant with the yellow flowers is Evening Primrose. It grows all along the roadside in the lower portion of the park.











This is the Pilo plant. It has darkish stems and, when fruiting, bright orange berries about the size of a small blueberry. Pilo is in the coffee family. We don't eat these, but the birds probably do . . .









This is one of my favorite plants in the park, Pukiawe. We like to remember it's name by the leaves "poke-y" qualities. It has small berries on it all the time, some will be bright pink-red and others will be white. Apparrently there is not any known reason for the color variation
and it is not an indication of ripeness. People can eat these, but they don't have much taste.



This plant is called the Ohelo. This one has edible berries that do have a taste! It is in the same family as blueberry, and has a similar flavor, although milder, maybe more like a wild huckleberry in flavor and appearance; dark pinkish-purple.






This is the silver-geranium, or Nohoanu. It is a native, endemic Hawaiian plant. It is another one of Katie's favorites. The leaves are silvery and shimmery and makes it really stand out amongst all the other green foilage along the mountain slopes. This one is flowering. the flowers look similar to the flowers of an Arugala plant.

















This is a view along the Supply Trail. The dead looking tree is the Oheo, and is actually not dead, it just looks very dry and as if it should be in a desert.







This is the overlook into the bowl of Haleakala, at the top of the Supply Trail. It is pretty amazing because it just suddenly pops into view, after about an hour and a half of hiking upwards. We have hiked all the way up there and it is totally hidden by a curtain of clouds. This day Katie was lucky and had a clear view.






Did we mention how windy it is up here?! Finally, Katie's hair has a natural windblown look!

Waikamoi Ridge

Last weekend we went on a short hike at this beautiful ridge along the Hana Highway, which winds along the north coast all the way to the east side of the island. It is only 55 miles long but it is said to take around 4 hours to reach the town of Hana. Waikamoi ridge was really beautiful and had a great view of not only the ocean but also of the bamboo forest that filled the gulch below the ridge trail.

About half way up the ridge we found this great little resting spot, complete with cool ocean breezes and a spectacular view. Strangely, we reminisced about Florida, or rather perfect fall days in Florida with similar cool breezes. I think sitting under the shade of the very tropical Pandanas, or screw pine, tree had something to do with it. I know it made me think of being near the bay in Sarasota.


Here's a photo of the Pandanas tree's roots.
















And a close-up of the bark.
















There were other familiar plants growing in this area, like the awapui ginger.












And heliconia.
















There were also some unfamiliar plants, such as the strawberry guava! This variety of guava were growing wild all over the area. The fruits are similar in size and color to a strawberry but have a watered-down strawberry-ish taste. I am a bit partial to the pineapple guavas, which we buy as a treat from a roadside stand on our way up to Haleakala. Here's a photo of Russell reaching for some ripe fruit.







This is a Paperbark tree. There were a lot of these growing in the area, and as the name suggests, the bark is very soft and paper-like. The color was beautiful, similar to a cedar but much more pink. This one was about 4-5 feet around.

Ho'okipa

Ho'okipa is the beach closest to us along the North shore of the island. A popular surf spot. . . and a great sunset!



This is a partial view of Haleakala from Ho'okipa overlook at sunset.

Iao Valley

A couple of weeks ago we went over to Iao Valley State Park at the base of the west maui mountains. There was a very historic and bloody battle fought in this valley in 1790 when Kamehameha I attacked Maui warriors in his attempt to unite the Hawaiian Islands.
In the middle of the valley is the Iao Needle, a basalt rock formation, (now covered in plantlife) that juts over 1,000 feet up and has survived many years of geothermal and environmental changes.








Here is a view looking down at central Maui from Iao Valley State Park.



















There was also a little garden area at the park where they had traditional taro gardens (terraced aquatic gardens, sorry no photos) and some other plants. Here is a Monstera plant (on the left) that we were lucky enough to harvest a fruit from! Yumm! Although it is not the most convenient fruit to eat, it has a unique flavor that is similar to banana, apple and pineapple.


And speaking of delicious tropical fruits. . . there were guavas growing wild all over the valley. Sadly, they are incredibly invasive on the island; all those seeds! But it was a very fragrant hike and had our mouths watering for some guavas. We did our part with "invasive species removal" and harvested a dozen or so that we later turned into a delicious guava syrup for drinks and baked sweets!







Here is a photo of our "collection" of tropical fruits in our kitchen at our park housing duplex. From left to right: longans, mangosteen, limes, atemoya, bananas, monstera, guavas. The longans were great, similar to a lychee. The atemoya was also quite good, though very sweet. Not pictured were some delicious small red papayas (one of our new favorite treats when there is lime juice squeezed on the papaya!), 3 different varieties of avocado and a pineapple.





Also in the garden area, there was a really great thatched structure that I caught Russell resting under. It had us both thinking and dreaming about the great adventure story Fatuhiva by Thor Heyerdahl.

More clouds

This is a good example of what we mean when we say we are living in the clouds. Russell took this photo of the sunset up near the park housing complex. A sea of clouds. . .



Last week I hiked up the Supply Trail, which begins about 1/4 mile from where we live. This photo was taken from about half way up to the Halemau'u Overlook. There is an old rock wall and an 'Ohi'a plant. You can barely make out the bright red flowers of the 'Ohi'a that the native bird species called honeycreepers like to feed on. Again, check out those clouds. . .

Clouds!

Living up here in the park at 7,500 feet elevation offers some great opportunities for cloud-gazing. They come up over the far side of the crater and then whisp and turn into all kinds of strange and beautiful shapes and animals, like this one. Looks like some sort of bird with it's wings spread out to me. . .

Hi! We're in Maui

Maui, the "Valley Isle". Here is the view of the valley from Crater Road from about 6,000 Feet. This is taken on a clear day on the drive down from Haleakala National Park. Notice the clouds are below where we were standing!
The valley is filled with sugarcane and pineapple fields. The water you can see is Maalea Bay, on the south side of the island. If you think you can make out a land mass off in the distance, that's the island of Lanai.



Here is a great photo Russell took up here on Haleakala at dusk. The light that time of day is wonderful.