Exploring the Kumaipo Trail

Posted: August 6, 2009

For the past several months I have been hiking up and down a series of adjacent ridges and gullies off the Kumaipo Trail to explore the native plants and animals that live in the dry forests below Kawiwi.

The Kumaipio Trail is an old trail that was used by the Hawaiians since ancient times as a shortcut between Waianae and Makaha. The trail takes its name from the area in the very back of Waianae Valley tucked against the mountains where Kamaileunu Ridge meets Mount Kaala.

Access to the Kumaipo Trail is gained from the paved road that services the wells built and operated by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply beyond the gate at the end of Waianae Valley Road.

The wells tap subterranean aquifers within dike compartments 1,000 feet underground. The source of this ground water is rainfall and fog drip on Mount Kaala which seeps into the earth.

After reaching the second well, we veered off the road to descend under large kukui or candlenut trees (Aluerites mollucan) with twisted and gnarled branches. Kukui was brought to Hawaii by the Polynesians in their voyaging canoes – oil was extracted from kukui nuts and burned in stone lamps at night.

While making our way down to the streambed, I admired how the sunlight filtered through the canopy illuminating a branch of kukui leaves. To the Hawaiians kukui was a symbol of enlightenment, protection and peace.

Kumaipo Stream is dry for most of the year. However, there are sections further downstream where ground water is forced to the surface for a short distance before seeping back down into the earth.

While making our way up the dry streambed, I saw a cute little bird’s nest which had fallen from the branches of a kukui tree onto the leaf litter under the tree.

Twisted kukui branches, wavy honohono grass, and large stands of ti thrive along the streambed. Ti was also brought to the Hawaiian Islands in voyaging canoes. It is said that ti spreads only by humans action and that large plantings of ti often indicate that Hawaiians once inhabitated the area. Ti was cultivated for use as thatching, capes, food wrappings, and many other purposes.

Indigenous palapalai ferns (Microlepia stigosa) thrive throughout the area. One particularly large patch of palapalai along the Kumaipo Trail is famous and is visited by hula halau who pick ferns for leis before their performance.

Endemic papala kepau (Pisonia brunoniana) grow in many gullies off the trail. The seed pods of papala kepau are so sticky that the Hawaiians used them to catch birds for their brightly colored feathers which were made into feathered capes, helmets, leis and other articles. In the photo above, I stuck a yellow leaf against the seed pod to show just how sticky they are.

One of the more charming creatures we saw were a number of endemic land snails or pupu (Leptachatina crystallina) on the underside of rocks. These snails feed on decaying leaves and grow to no more than a quarter inch long. We lingered for quite some time to marvel at the geometric spirals on their shells.

One of the more impressive sights along the slopes were groves of large native soapberry trees (Sapindus oahuensis) with thick multiple trunks and a canopy of leaves 50 feet in the air. These trees are endemic to the islands of Oahu and Kauai — the tree was called ”a’ulu” on Oahu, and “lonomea” on Kaua’i.

Many of the big old soapberry trees were gnarled and twisted. The seeds contain saponins, a natural surfactant, which forms a lather and can be made into a soap, hence its name.

The fruits contain brown seeds which were dried and fashioned into leis. The seeds were also used as a catharic by the Hawaiians.

Deep within one of the gullies was a dead mehame tree (Flueggea neowawraea), whose wood decays in a most unusual fashion – parallel groves form down the length of the tree. Mehame trees are extremely rare and are rapidly declining. In 2002, only 70 living individuals were known to exist. These trees are amongst the largest endemic trees in Hawaii reaching well over a hundred feet high and 7 feet in diameter. Its wood is very hard, and was crafted into weapons by the Hawaiians.

Sad to say, but many of the native plants and animals at Kumaipo are in serious decline. We could not find several rare species that were found in this area only five years ago. If trends continue, many more of them will be gone in the coming decades.

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SOURCES

Aulu, Forest Trees of Hawaii, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii

Canoe Plants of Ancient Hawaii, Polynesian Voyaging Society

Flueggea neowawraea, mehamehame, Native Hawaiian Plants,

Flueggea neowawraea, Center for Plant Conservation, National Collection of Imperilled Plants

Kumaipo Stream, Revised Environmental Impact Statement, Waianae Wells, Board of Water Supply, City & County of Honolulu, 1983

Leptachatina lepida, Earth’s Endangered Species

Sapindus Oahuensis, Wikipedia

Sapindus, Wikipedia

2 Responses to “Exploring the Kumaipo Trail”

Melora Purell says:

February 9, 2011 at 9:33 pm

Aloha Nathan,

Thanks so much for these wonderful pictures, stories and descriptions. I am learning a ton about the Waianaes, especially about the snails. I am working with a few schools over here on Kohala, and they are wanting to do field work with snails. I am using a few of your photos in a simplified photo key to snail genera for them. I hope that is OK — I have credited you.

Any plans to visit the Big Island? I would love to show you our Partulina physa and do some snail hunting.

Mahalo nui
Melora
Kohala Watershed Partnership
Nathan Yuen says:

February 9, 2011 at 9:46 pm

Aloha Melora,

Sure… you can use them — thanks for the attribution. You must get to see some awesome things in the Kohala Mountains. I’d love for you to show me your Partulina physa. Too bad we didn’t connect sooner — I just came back from backpacking at Halape. Perhaps I can come over later in the year.

Nate
808nateyuen@gmail.com

Nate

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Exploring the Kumaipo Trail

Posted: August 6, 2009

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