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Part 7 – Ephemeral Rock Garden at Kalalau
Posted: October 20, 2008
While exploring the large expanse of sand at Kalalau Beach this year, we stumbled upon a striking display of ephemeral art in a sea cave next to Honopu which exists only during the summer months at Kalalau.
During the summer season, ocean currents deposit a large expanse of sand on Kalalau Beach which allows you to walk to the sea cave next to Honopu.
Each winter, the surf reclaims the sandy beach and large waves obliterate everything in the cave.
Ephemeral art is impermanent by its very nature. They disintegrate, return to the earth, and remind us of the temporal quality of our very own existence.
The ephemeral art in the cave appear to be credit-less. Google searches have turned up nothing. To my knowledge no one has taken credit for the amazing art in the cave.
The hundreds of rocks precariously piled and balanced on each other appear to be impromptu pieces of artistic expression which I surmise are created by many visitors who contribute to the sculptures in the rock garden.
Photographs are the only permanent trace of the artwork’s transitory existence.
These precariously balanced pieces of rock art will be gone when the beach and cave are reclaimed by the winter surf.
This is the 7th blog entry in a series of posts about my Kalalau backpacking adventure with 14 HTMC friends over the Labor Day weekend. The previous (6th) entry is here and the next (8th) entry is here.
Thanks so much for this site. I read all the emails from the club and it makes me feel close to home. This morning I was a bit melancholy, but after hitching a ride on your trip via your beautiful pictures I feel much better. Was on Kauai last year and was mesmorized by the coastline. Now I don’t have to wonder what it looks like up close. Thanks so much! – Rosi (Houston)
Thanks for your kind words… it pleases me that you enjoyed reading my blog and seeing my photos.
I visited Kalalau about a month ago with my girlfriend, and we came across this cave unexpectedly. To say the least it was a magical experience. It seemed like we had uncovered a mini Stonehenge. Had we known about it, we would have journeyed to see it. But to come upon something like this by chance, never having even heard about it, well, that was amazing. This page of yours is the most I’ve seen on this cave, so I’m glad you made it. I’me trying to find out a little more, but your guess about it being added to by visitors was my guess, too. Rather than make one myself, I tried my best to capture some images. Here’s my favorite:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23659672@N02/4961120195/
Hope you enjoy it!