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!