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Day Hike to Halape
Posted: March 5, 2010
On the second day of our 3-day adventure in the wilderness area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP), we hiked along the Kau Coast of the Big Island from Keauhou to Halape for the day.
With shady trees to camp under and sources of fresh water, Halape is a veritable oasis in the hot dry landscape. The most popular backpacking destination on the Kau-Puna Coast of the park, Halape’s crescent shaped white sand cove is the only white sand beach for miles and provides an opportunity to see marine life in the park.
Pat Rooney, Pete Clines, and Miyo Kimura, wait for everyone to arrive before pushing off to Halape. Located just 1.6 miles from Keauhou, we could see Puu Kapukapu – the 1,000 foot bluff that overlooks Halape — from our campsite. As we pushed-off from Keauhou, I was disappointed that it was cloudy and voggy which made for less than ideal lighting conditions for landscape photography.
Hiking from one ahu (rock pile) to another, we made our way over a nearly flat landscape of introduced grasses and shrubs until we were confronted by a gigantic pile of rocks.
The cool thing about this jumble of rocks is that someone invested considerable time and effort to build a near perfect hiking surface over the rocks. August ascends a smooth walkway of fitted stones as he climbs up and over the giant pile of rocks.
After climbing the big pile, our destination appeared before us! We could see the Halape coastline with the small islet of Keaoi just offshore and a grove of coconut trees in the distance.
When we reached a small sandy cove with a three dead coconut trees sticking up along the shore, I instantly recalled historic photos from the 1975 Kalapana earthquake and tsunami. On November 29, 1975, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Kalapana. Sections of the Kau-Puna coast subsided nearly 20 feet causing a tsunami to sweep over low-lying areas. 32 backpackers were at Halape at the time — 2 died and 30 were injured. Reaching its maximum height of 47 feet at Keauhou, the tsunami completely destroyed the landing.
The photo on the left (from the National Park Service) was taken months before the earthquake and the photo on the right (from Hawaii Volcano Observatory) was taken a few days after the event. The grove of coconut trees that dropped into the ocean died from salt water immersion soon after.
Eventually, the dead coconut trees toppled and washed ashore where some enterprising craftsman carved them into tikis and erected them throughout the campsites. Today, some 35 years later, the tikis still stand and add much to the ambiance of Halape.
This tiki acts as rear guard to a campsite shaded by coconut (Cocos nucifera) and milo (Thespesia populnea) trees. Haole koa (Leucaena leucocephala) and other scrub thrive in the dry climate along with pohuehue vines which can tolerate salt spray on sandy beaches.
Pohuehue is the indigenous beach morning glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae subsp. brasiliensis) which produces attractive flowers about 2-inches across ranging in color from pink to reddish-purple to violet. The flowers are short-lived — they bloom at sunrise, close by mid-afternoon, and drop off the plant the following day.
Pete, Kevin, and George wasted no time jumping in the ocean to snorkel in near shore waters where they saw prodigious growths of coral and many fishes — papio (jacks), kikakapu (butterflyfish), uhu (parrotfish), and other fishes. I regretted not going into the water when they told me what they had seen.
While part of the group snorkeled offshore several of us explored a brackish pool in a large crack in the earth that had the most incredible blue color. The pool is located in a rift behind the sandy cove about 100 feet wide that is full of large rocks that have fallen into the fissure. The pool is about 60 feet long, 12 feet wide, 10 feet deep, and is mostly freshwater.
Grace swims to the other side of the brackish pool as August, Cheryl, and Jennie wade along the edge. The rocks were covered with a yellow algae that forms the basis for a community of opae (shrimps), pinao (dragonflies) and other creatures.
Branches of indigenous kou trees (Cordia subcordata) with orange flowers dangle over the pool as Puna Pete swims underwater to examine the inhabitants of the pool close-up.
Time passed quickly at Halape and soon it was time to rendezvous at the shelter. Puna Pete and August stand under the eaves of the shelter as we wait for the others. Unlike Keauhou, the spigot on the water tank at Halape was working and we easily refilled our drink water at the shelter.
The outhouse at Halape is elevated and provides a commanding view of the coconut grove, cove, and mountains overlooking the campsite. While I was disappointed we did not have blue skies over Halape — lighting conditions were far from optimal — I appreciated that the clouds shielded us from the full brunt of the sun.
After refilling our water, we began the short 1.6 mile hike back to Keauhou. Miyo and Pat make their way down the big jumble of rocks over a path of fitted stones. As the sun began to set for the day, our campsite bustled with activity as we prepared for dinner and another night of fun under the stars.
Stay tuned for the final installment where we backpack out from Keauhou to the Chain of Craters Road at Puu Loa. This is the third of four posts about our backpacking trek. The previous post is here.
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SOURCES
1975 Hawaiian Tsunami, Tsunami Website, University of Washington
1975 Earthquake and Tsunami Photos, Halape and Punaluu, Pacific Tsunami Museum
Halape, Wilderness Area Campsite, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hawaiian Native Plants, University of Hawaii, Department of Botany
loved it! terrific photos & write-up. Thank you.
I’m enjoying your adventure. Wish I was there with you guys.