Suzanne Swedo - Hiking the Hawaiian Islands: A Guide to 72 of the States Greatest Hiking Adventures

Hiking the Hawaiian Islands

A Guide to 72 of the States Greatest Hiking Adventures

Suzanne Swedo

HELP US KEEP THIS GUIDE UP TO DATE

Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is publishedtrails are rerouted, regulations change, techniques evolve, facilities come under new management, and so on.

We would appreciate hearing from you concerning your experiences with this guide and how you feel it could be improved and kept up to date. While we may not be able to respond to all comments and suggestions, well take them to heart, and well also make certain to share them with the author. Please send your comments and suggestions to the following address:

GPP

Reader Response/Editorial Department

P.O. Box 480

Guilford, CT 06437

Or you may e-mail us at: editorial@GlobePequot.com

Thanks for your input, and happy trails!

For Keith

Copyright 2010 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to The Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P. O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered trademarks of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

Interior photos: Suzanne Swedo

Text design: Nancy Freeborn

Project manager: Julie Marsh

Layout artist: Maggie Peterson

Maps: Design Maps Inc. Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Swedo, Suzanne, 1945

Hiking the Hawaiian Islands : a guide to 72 of the State's greatest hiking adventures / Suzanne Swedo.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7627-9732-5

1. Hiking--Hawaii--Guidebooks. 2. Hawaii--Guidebooks. I. Title.

GV199.42.H3S94 2009

919.6904'42--dc22

2009022538

The author and The Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Thanks to everyone with the National Park Service for helping and for caring deeply about their islands, especially Judy Edwards and Kiera Strom-Herman-Lyons at Haleakala National Park on Maui, Mardie Lane and Jim Gale at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, and George Enuton at Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site on Hawaii.

Thanks also to Peter Van Dyke, manager of the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden on Hawaii. The Na Ala Hele trails and access specialists for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife for the state of Hawaii, especially Aaron Lowe on Oahu, and Irv Kawashima on Hawaii, were great sources of information. Wade Holmes of the Hawaii Nature Center on Maui and Jennie Peterson of the Hawaii Nature Center on Oahu were especially generous with their time in volunteering help and answering questions, as was Nancy Merrill at Limahuli Garden and Preserve and Paulette Burtner at the Kokee Museum on Kauai.

For help and company along the trail, for moral support, and for technical assistance, thank you to Joellyn Acree, Alix Benson, Karen Cassimatis, Eugene DeMine, Jim DiMora, Melinda Goodwater, Lois Hall, Chris Haun, Jim Johnson, Pat Medley, Fay Metz, and Michael Perry.

Young Cook Pines on the Hauula Loop ()

Introduction

Twenty-five hundred miles away from anywhere, remote, tropical, with crashing surf and steaming volcanoes, Hawaii is as exotic a place as you can imagine, and its one of our own fifty states. The landscape is different; the people a golden mix of races and cultures with their own special foods, expressions, and customs. Its like traveling to some distant land but you dont need a passport, shots, or language lessons. Heart-stopping beauty, waterfalls, rainbows, flowers; Hawaii is truly paradise, and it doesnt even have snakes! No wonder its most important product is tourism.

While so many think of these islands as places to lie beneath a palm tree and sip a drink with an umbrella in it, there are miles and miles of hiking trails and lots of wilderness for more active travelers to explore. There are beach strolls, treks to swimming holes, hikes to archeological sites, hikes through forests, deserts, swamps, and high mountains, hikes from sea level to almost 14,000 feet. There are two national parks with great trail systems, and Na Ala Hele, the state of Hawaiis Trails and Access Program under the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, manages many more. There are vigorous and enthusiastic local hikers and hiking groups on all the islands that help to promote open space and maintain trails. At the same time, a survey conducted by Hawaiis Department of Land and Natural Resources found that 78 percent of people who use these trails are visitors from the mainland.

Theres a whole lot more to hiking in Hawaii than scenery and exercise. It is one of the most exciting places on the face of the earth for anyone interested in the world of nature, a place where new land is in the process of creation, where you can witness geologic forces at work on a global scale. There is a profusion of flowers and birds and reptiles and bugs, offering people so much to learn about how plants and animals colonize a new environment, how they spread and flourish, and unfortunately, how easily they can be destroyed. Hawaii has the dubious distinction of being named the extinction capital of the world by the Hawaii Biological Survey. Walking Hawaiis trails is the best way to see some rare and beautiful life forms before they are gone forever, and perhaps to motivate you to help to preserve them.

It would take more than a lifetime to explore all the wild corners of these islands, so the hikes chosen for this book are the crme de la crme. They are the most scenic and the most varied, and all are relatively easy to access by visitors with an ordinary passenger car. Hikes not included are those that are logistically difficult to reach and without enough else to recommend them, such as those that require a car shuttle of more than a half-day or driving on steep, slippery, dangerous four-wheel-drive roads. Also excluded are trails that are officially closed because they are unsafe or those that cross or end on private property whose owners have not granted right of way.

If you are a resident you might find some new adventures close to home, and if you are a visitor, you will discover a Hawaii much richer and more exciting than anything a sedentary tourist who does not venture beyond Waikiki could ever dream of. Aloha.