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Puu Kalena

Posted: December 10, 2009

I climbed to the summit of Puu Kalena to see the native plants and animals that live on the second highest peak on the island.

At 3,504 feet, Puu Kalena is the second highest point on Oahu after Mount Kaala, at 4,025 feet, which is less than a mile north.  While the trail to Puu Kalena is only 2-1/2 miles long — making for a round trip of 5 miles — the route gains 2,100 in elevation and confronts hikers with some of the scariest drop-offs on the island.

The initial 1,000 foot climb to reach the spine of the Waianae Mountains provides excellent cardiovascular exercise.  Thea Ferentinos leads the way as we climb up a severely eroded slope where crumbly rock makes the footing unsure.

After the heart-pounding climb to the top, the steepness relents and the trail follows the top of a dike formation forming the spine of the Waianae Mountains.

Due to the recent rain, the vegetation along the trail was green and healthy.  We saw several ‘ala’alawainuipuaki (Plectrathus parviflorus) in bloom with cute little lavender flowers as we made our way over the dikes.

Thea admires the view of Schofield and Wahiawa before traversing one of the scariest parts where the dike narrows to less than a foot wide with drop-offs of several hundred feet.

Undaunted by the steep edge, Thea climbs the dike to scale Puu Kumakalii, one of the peaks along the way.   Our route to Puu Kalena would take us over several narrow dikes.

While making our way up the trail, I saw a number of bright orange gulf frittilary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) which are not native to Hawaii.  Gulf frittilary butterflies are actually native to Central and North America but have come to pollinate a number of native flowers.

After making our way over the dikes, we climbed up and down several pu’u (hills) before reaching the final climb to the top.  Thea hikes under ohia trees covered with umikoa and other lichens as she climbs up to the peak.

Groves of lehua ahihi (Metrosideros tremuloides) thrive on the upper slopes of Kalena.  Lehua ahihi is endemic to Oahu — it has bright green foliage and red leaf stems.  Their flowers are not closely clustered together giving the appearance that the “pom-pom” has “holes”.

While climbing up to the summit, we saw many hoawa (Pittosporum sp.).  Hoawa grows in the foreground of this shot of Kamaileunu Ridge, which lies in the rain shadow of Mount Kaala.

Large ohia trees thrive at the summit of Kalena.  The summits of Kalena and Kaala are often shrouded in clouds which bring considerable moisture and create ideal conditions for epiphytic mosses and ferns. 

One ohia tree nearly two feet thick was draped in 4 different kinds of native moss.  Mosses increase the surface area on which cloud moisture can condense on vegetaion.  Mosses also hold moisture and slowly releases that mositure over time.

Olomea (Perrottetia sanwichensis) which have broad green leaves with red stems and veins also grow at the summit.  After lingering for quite some time eating lunch, admiring the view, and examining the native plants we began our descent of Kalena to return the way we had come.

One of the cool things about this area of the mountains is that the dikes are especially knife-edged.  Thea descends on top a narrow dike with sheer drop-offs into Waianae Valley below.

The neat thing about these dike formation is that they are home to a number of native plants are endemic only to this part of the Waianae Mountains. 

Thea makes her way back up to Puu Kumakalii as we return the way we had come.  The dikes are always exhilarating to descend.  As we reached the bottom and returned to our car, I reflected on the great time we had climbing to Kalana.  What a great place to visit.

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SOURCES

Native Hawaiian Plants, University of Hawaii, Department of Botany