Almost Paradise

We have had family in town for the past week visiting from out of state, so we’ve been going out and doing stuff. Last Friday we headed to Makapuʻu Lighthouse for a morning hike. Straight up the cliff face to the top of the hill, then back down on the access road, just like Stuart Ball suggests in his book. I’ve done it probably four or five times in as many years. It’s a fun and fairly easy hike.

I hadn’t been up to Makapuʻu for about a year and a half, and things have changed up there! DLNR has enlarged the lookout parking lot, added a separate lot for hikers using the access road, made them both ADA-compliant, etc. Problem is, they’re not quite done.

A construction foreman intercepted us as we entered the lookout parking lot and told us he couldn’t let us go through the area because it wasn’t ready yet. Too much liability, I guess. Fair enough. So instead, we skirted the construction area and cut through the brush to connect up with the regular trail.

We made our way to the cliff edge, where we could get a good view of the water and enjoy a cool ocean breeze.

Makapuʻu is usually hot and dry, and that day was no exception. It was a fairly steep climb to the top of the hill, but the past few weeks’ unsettled weather gave us welcome breezes all the way up.

The area must have gotten some rain recently — many plants were flowering. The thorny kiawe bushes had flowered and produced beans.

Even the prickly pear cactus were blooming.

We paused at the top to catch our breath, take in the view, and cool off in the stiff breeze coming off the ocean. Behind us, looking up the Windward coastline, we could see Makapuʻu Beach and the red roofs of Sea Life Park at our feet, the triple peaks of Olomana peeking out from behind the Makapuu headlands, the long stretch of Waimānalo Beach in the middle ground, and the Kāneʻohe Marine base on Mōkapu Peninsula in the hazy distance. Mānana (Rabbit) Island and Kāohikaipu Island, seabird sanctuaries, stood just offshore to our left. And before us, over the top of the hill, was the Makapuʻu Lighthouse.

Curiously, when they built the lighthouse back in 1909 they didn’t put it at the highest point on the hill, but instead some 200 feet lower. Here’s a view of Makapuʻu Point from Mānana Island. You can see the lighthouse perched in its cliffside niche about 400 feet above the ocean, well below the 600-foot summit.

Making our way down from the hilltop to the visitors’ lookout area, we came across a couple of Brazilian cardinals who were either utterly fearless, or really bold and hungry. They cheeped and chirped at us until Judy started feeding them pieces of granola bar. Then they really wouldn’t let us alone.

Amy has an Olympus E-500 camera — very, very nice. With her 10x zoom lens, she was able to get closeups that I just can’t match with my little Sony DSC-P8. This shot, for example, was cropped down from a 3264×2448 original.

Here’s a shot she got of the lighthouse itself. Wow, what detail!

The roadside construction wasn’t the only recent addition to the area. I noticed a new plaque that had been installed in memory of a 1942 flying accident.

In addition to the prickly pear cactus, there were also plenty of night-blooming cereus. This green, not-yet-opened flower bud caught my eye.

After enjoying the views, we started the easy return leg of our hike, down the lighthouse access road. On the way back we could see the blackened marks of a recent brush fire along Kalanianaʻole Highway, as well as the back side of Koko Crater.

From this angle, it’s easier to understand Koko Crater’s older name, Kohelepelepe (literally, vagina labia minor). As the Hawaiian legend goes, one day in Kalapana, on the Big Island, the pig-god Kama-puaʻa was making unwelcome advances towards Pele, the volcano goddess. Pele’s sister Kapo, trying to distract Kama-puaʻa, detached her kohe (vagina) and made it fly around Kama-puaʻa to catch his attention. Goddesses can do that kind of thing, I guess. Anyway, it worked. The pig-god forgot about Pele and started chasing this amazing flying kohe instead. Kapo flew her kohe all the way to Oʻahu, Kama-puaʻa in hot pursuit. It came onshore inland of Makapuʻu, where it landed and left an imprint before flying off to Kalihi. The imprint of Kapo’s flying kohe is what we now call Koko Crater.

As we made our way down the access road, I noticed a fairly large spiderweb in the brush at the roadside. It was an Argiope appensa, known by several names but most commonly just called a “garden spider”. I remember seeing these spiders in my backyard when I was little — so for me, it was a cool reunion with an old friend. Tommy, on the other hand, was a little spooked.

After that, it was only a short walk down the (very nice and new) entrance road and to our waiting car. Then, back to Honolulu for shave ice at Waiola Store, followed by a tasty bowl of ramen at Taishōken. Now that was a fun day!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 14th, 2006 at 11:13 pm and is filed under General, Hiking/Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.