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Kuliouou-TomTom
Posted: September 18, 2009
Some friends and I climbed up the very back of Kuliouou to see the panoramic views and native plants along the spine of the Koolau Mountains before descending back down into Waimanalo on the TomTom trail.
Starting in the back of Kuliouou Valley, we opted not to hike up the regular State trail and took a much less used alternative trail which veers off early-on and climbs to the summit of the Koolou Mountains at about 2,000 feet elevation.
Justin Ohara leads the group through invasive ironwood trees as Miyo Kimura and Louise Tanswell look back to see how the rest of the group is progressing.
Clouds shaded us from the full brunt of the sun when we reached the summit and turned east along the spine of the Koolau Mountains which is dominated by ironwood trees and christmas berry. It did not take long before we reached one of several sets of electrical towers that supply power to the windward side of the island.
Pat Rooney makes his way along the very edge of the Koolau Mountains which drops well over a thousand feet into Waimanalo below. On the coastline far in the background is sandy Bellows Beach with the Mokulua Islands just off shore.
Few native plants are left along this section of the Koolau Mountains except for this mountain ilima (Sida fallax) which has beautiful yellow-orange flowers half-an-inch across.
Grace Yu-Cua leads the group down a hill under a grove of christmas berry, haole koa, and other invasive plants which have take over this part of the Koolau Mountains.
Thea Feretinos surveys the situation to determine the way forward — climb over or contour around the big hill. It did not take long for her to find a path that dropped down and contoured around the imposing geological feature.
Another native plant we saw was ‘ala’alawainui-puaki (Plectrathus parviflorus) which grows as ground cover a few inches off the ground. I was pleased to see several flower stalks with tiny pale lavendar flowers.
Ironwood trees and christmas berry dominate the landscape as Miyo and Pat admire this view of the leeward-side of the Koolau Mountains where a massive rocky ridge descends into Hawaii Kai to form Hahaione Valley.
Mount Olomana looms in the distance as we made our way along the spine of the Koolau Mountains near Kaluanui Ridge (Mariner’s Ridge).
Justin and Thea wait for the rest of the group to catch up as they admire views of the windward-side of the Koolau Mountains where multiple ridges descend into Waimanalo.
Bright orange lichen (Teloschistes flavicans) and white lichen (Usnea australis) grow in profuse patches on the rocks along with ahinahina (Artemesia australis) one of the few endemic plants left in this region of the Koolau Mountains.
Pat Rooney uses a cable to drop down onto a rocky ledge as we make our way to our destination — the TomTom Trail. The TomTom Trail is named after Tom McGuire, a forester in the territorial government in the 1920′s, and Tom Cadle, president of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, who rediscovered this ancient trail used by the Hawaiians as a shortcut from Kamiloiki Valley in Hawaii Kai to Waimanalo.
Grace climbs down a rocky outcrop as we descend TomTom. Although the ridge appears to be incredibly steep, there are numerous ledges and footholds along the way which make the descent more than doable.
It did not take long before we all made it back down safely and emerged in a residential neighborhood in the back of Waimanalo. We then made our way to the clubhouse of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club we relaxed under the shade of hau trees and reflected our on adventure for the day. What a great hike!
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SOURCES
Native Hawaiian Plants, University of Hawaii, Department of Botany
Very nice article. “Uncle Tom” McQuire was my mothers uncle and I remember visiting him and “Auntie May” occasionally when I was young at his house in Pacific heights (one of the first). His house was full of things he collected from the forrest over the years including a collection of brillantly colored snails(I really loved them as a kid. He was part Hawaiian and a Hawaiian plant kahuna. I still have his brass binoculars he used in the forrest, a few native wood walking sticks as well as articles written about him. Tom McQuire is also responsible for planting many of the Norfolk island pines you see in Hawaii today.
Very cool. You might be interested in a reference I found about HTMC’s first luau which was held in the 1920s at Jimmy McGuire’s home near Kapiolani Park someplace — uncle of Tom McGuire. Jimmy McGuire was part Hawaiian and was a chamberlain or some other court position in the Hawaiian Monarchy. His home was a veritable museum of Hawaiian artifacts. Let me know if you want the reference.
Noel:
I stumbled onto this webpage. Tom McGuire was my grandmothers brother (Ann). I never knew him but have cards and letters from my early childhood which were written by him and Aunt May.
I would greatly appreciate knowing more about him. Hope to hear from you.
Hi Wendy,
Did you see my other post about Makapuu-TomTom in the Vog? I included in the post a scanned article from the Honolulu Advertiser, Feb 6, 1922 which explains in further detail the old Hawaiian route rediscovered by Tom McGuire and Tom Cadle. Here’s the link to the post.
http://hawaiianforest.com/makapuu-tomtom-in-the-vog
Regards,
Nate
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Nathan Yuen
HawaiianForest.Com
Nate: Yes, I did see it. I wish there was more info on him on the internet. The only thing I have left is a very old newspaper with his photo (the entire page) discussing the fact that he was a kahuna.
Thanks for responding tho.
Hi Wendy! Its been awhile since I looked at this site and was very surprised to see all the responses. Tom’s sister Emily was my mothers mother-so we certainly have that in common. Emily married George Hewitt of Hilo whose lineage go back through James Kekela (famous missionary) to Lonoaea and Kuehu of Kauai(?) The Hewitt side of the family still lives in Hilo. I just sent Nate some pictures of Tom which he is putting into a HTMC gathering coming up. I do hope to be out there for the event. Perhaps he can forward them to you or I can. Noel McCully
NOEL ARE YOU THE NOEL MC CULLY STATIONED AT FT. EUSTIS,VA.IN 1970 ? IF SO, PLEASE E-MAIL ME.THANKS! BOB
Bob, Did you get my email? If not, you can call me at (757) 593-3016. If you live in Hawaii now, I’m scheduled to be out there around June 5-23 hopefully. Maybe, I’ll get a chance to see you and meet Nate and Wendy.