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Upper Hamakua Ditch Trail in Waimea
Posted: June 10, 2009
Over the Memorial Day weekend, I hiked the Upper Hamakua Ditch Trail at the end of White Road in Waimea that follows a ditch system along the edge of Waipio Valley in the Kohala District of Hawaii Island.
Built in 1907, the Upper Hamakua Ditch Trail services an irrigation ditch that provided 30 million gallons of water per day until the earthquake of October 15, 2006. Considerable damage was sustained and repairs are being made to restore the flow. The ditch is located at the end of White Road in Waimea off of Hawaii Belt Road (Hwy 11).
Pete Morton, my hiking buddy on the Big Island, and I hiked up the road past large circular reservoirs and continued into the Kohala Forest Reserve. The road and trail services the Upper Hamakua Ditch System that taps water from the Kohala Forest Reserve.
Low clouds began to touch the tops of trees as we made our way past a gully of native forest of hapuu ferns and ohia trees covered with moss in bloom with red lehua flowers.
While making our way past a forest of bamboo growing alongside the ditch we could see that the ditch it is not yet up to full carrying capacity. Considerably more water used to flow in the ditch.
The sad thing about this area is that invasive species are taking over the forest. We saw many paperbark trees with kahili ginger — one of the most invasive plants in Hawaii — in the understory. Kahili ginger has an extensive root system that crowds out other plants and takes over the landscape.
While hiking up the trail, Pete and I decided to take a short detour to see a small waterfall in a gully. Large hapuu tree ferns thrive in the wet confines of the gully.
The top of the waterfall offered a charming sight – an ohia tree covered with mosses in bloom with red lehua flowers. Since the last time I visited this waterfall the ginger has advanced considerably.
This stream with charming hapuu tgree ferns meanders down the gully. Notice how kahili ginger has taken over the banks of the stream. Unless steps are taken to stop its advance, this entire gully will be nothing but ginger within 5 years.
When we reached the top at the edge of the Waipio Valley clouds completely blocked the view. The area near the lookout looks very different than it did 5 years ago. There is much less shade and the area is much hotter and drier as a result. Many trees are gone — they are either mere stubs of their former selves or their limbs have been trimmed back severly. High winds must have snapped their trunks and branches.
Had clouds not blocked the view, we might have seen this waterfall which falls over two thousand feet down into Waipio Valley. The amount of water in this waterfall varies greatly from nothing to a torrent depending on the rainfall – I took this photo in 2005 during the height of the rainy season.
Despite the lack of view we continued along the edge of Waipio Valley and came across several oha wai trees in bloom with dozens of dark purple flowers about an inch-and-a-half long.
Here is a close-up of dark purple oha wai flowers – Clermontia kohalae — which is endemic only to the island of Hawaii. As we made our way further along the misty trail, we noted that several sections of the trail were obliterated by the earthqauke and no longer exist.
Since the wind picked-up and blew more clouds in just as we reached the sections undercut by the earthquake we decided to turn around rather than to risk forging ahead. So we retraced our steps to return the way we had come.
During he return leg of our hike, we stopped to explore a giant fallen tree whose roots were pulled out of the ground when it was toppled by the wind. The tree survived the trauma and continues to grow although at a angle low to the ground with its roots sticking up in the air.
The mists gave the return leg of our hike a whole new look and feel. I enjoyed the cool mist and low hanging clouds as they crept through the gully.
Considerable progress has been made to restore the water flow, but more work is needed to repair the trail and ditch to restore full carrying capacity.
While the weather and obliterated trail prevented us from hiking deep along the edge of the valley, we had a great time hiking in the mist and seeing the exceptional plants and animals that live in the Kohala Forest Reserve. I need to return after the trail is repaired to explore much further around the rim of Waipio Valley.
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SOURCES
Hawaiian Lobelioids, Wikipedia
Sugar Water: Hawaii’s Plantation Ditches by Carol Wilcox
If this trail still accessible and available for the public at the end of White Rd.?
I am also wondering if the trail is open. I have hiked this trail in the past and on my last visit in 2008 I was met with a No Trespassing sign at the fence gate. If anyone has information, please email as I am returning end of April and would love to hike in this area. Are there any other access points if White Road is closed? Mahalo!
The trail is open. The dispute with the homelands owner has not been resolved, he still posts it. Many people just climb the fence and hike it anyway (it’s been used for a hundred years).
I have a picture from some years back of the original wooden flume if you’d like to post it. I miss it. You can also hike the upper Hamakua Ditch, all the way to the headwaters. Do it before it’s all converted into plastic pipe.
FYI:
My wife and I were just there on Jan 15,2012. There are so many signs, barbed wire and locks on the gate its ridiculous. Anyway, we forged ahead and when we got to the actual trailhead, that gate was closed and locked with a government sign that stated the trail was closed for safety reasons. We decided to turn around and left the area. Way too many bad vibs to hike in peace.