Kipuka on the Old Puu Oo Trail

Posted: June 18, 2009

I hiked through a series of kipuka on the old Pu’u O’o Trail off the Saddle Road to see the native forest birds that live at 5,500 feet elevation on the slopes of Mauna Kea.

My hiking buddy on the Big Island, Pete Morton, has hiked the State Na Ala Hele Pu’u O’o Trail on the south side of the Saddle Road many times but had never hiked on the old Pu’u O’o Trail that continues north of the road. So we opted to see what lay north of the road.

From Hilo, we drove up the Saddle Road to mile marker 23. About half-a-mile beyond the marker, we pulled over on the left to the south-side of the road and parked near the Pu’u O’o Trailhead sign. The State’s 7.4 mile Na Ala Hele Pu’u O’o Trail is on the south-side of the Saddle Road.

Since our plan was to explore the old Pu’u O’o trail that continued north of the Saddle Road, we crossed the road and hiked through a gate in the fence and followed a series of ahu (stone cairns) that dotted the landscape. The old Pu’u O’o Trail was originally created to transport cattle from pasturelands on the slopes of Mauna Kea down to the coast.

The landscape has a been transformed by cattle ranching. Large tracts of native forests have been replaced by open grass lands for cattle grazing. We saw a number of well-fed cattle in the pasture and the kipuka which dotted the landscape.

While making our way along a series of ahu, the landscape evolved into pasture lands dotted with kipuka dominated by big old koa trees (Acacia koa). Kipuka are “green islands” of older trees that escaped destruction and were surrounded by lava flows.

Pete climbed a large koa in a kipuka to inspect the akala berries growing as epiphytes on the tree. Akala is the native raspberry (Rubus hawaiensis) that has lost much of its thorns.

The kipuka along the old Pu’u O’o Trail are often visited by native forest birds – `i`iwi, `apapane, `oma`o, `amakihi, and `elepaio. Since we were perched on top a hill at the level of the koa canopy we were at an ideal place for bird watching.

The sound of singing birds and fluttering wings filled the air. But the birds rarely remained long before darting off again. I was thrilled to see this `apapane (Himatome sanguinea) in the koa tree tops.

While exploring the kipuka we came across several flocks of wild turkeys — many of which left their white and dark brown feathers on the ground. Pete gathered the feathers and stuck them in his baseball cap.

One of the unexpected sights was a large kolea tree (Myrsine spp.) about 30 feet high covered with lichen. Kolea rarely get even close to this size on Oahu.

One of my favorite spots was an elevated kipuka where the native forest gives way to pastureland with a cinder cone shrouded in foggy clouds in the background. We spent quite some time at this spot waiting for birds to visit an ohia tree with a number of red lehua flowers.

When an `apapane finally landed, I was thrilled to get a good look at the bird just before it flew off again. For the rest of the day we wandered around the kipuka looking at the native birds and plants that make their home along the old Pu’u O’o trail. What a great place to see native forest birds!

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SOURCES

Native Hawaiian Forest Birds, Jack Jeffrey Photography

Puu O’o Trail, Alternative Hawaii

Puu O’o Trail, Big Island Attractions

Pu’u O’o Trail, Na Ala Hele, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawaii

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Kipuka on the Old Puu Oo Trail

Posted: June 18, 2009

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