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| Papawai and Rice - Maui, HI | |
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| | Papawai and Rice - Maui, HI | | | |
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Papawai and Rice - Maui, HI
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| Hiking | 3.79 Miles |
1,437 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.79 Miles | 4 Hrs 19 Mns | | 1.83 mph |
| 1,437 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Aloha -
With seven days on Maui, Hawaii, I was able to ‘sneak-away’ for part of a day and go for a hike.
I had done some pre-planning prior to flying to Maui and chose to hike up a ridge on the southern slopes of West Maui Mountain. (This mountain has other, more exotic names, but the locals call it W Maui Mtn).
I started the hike from Papawai Lookout at Papawai Point. It’s a popular ‘whale watching’ spot just off Rte 30 (Honoapiilani Hwy). From Papawai Point, I hiked off trail up a ridge called Kealaloloa Ridge. This ridge is roughly bordered by Kaolin Gulch and the Malalowaiaole Gulch.
This hike is all on the ‘leaward’ side of the mountain, and that’s significant.
Locals on the islands use ‘windward’ and ‘leeward’ alot when describing the weather, especially wind and rain quantities. In general, the windward side of Maui is much windier and wetter, and more lush with vegetation, (almost like a jungle), while the leeward side tends to be more dry, with less dense plant life, and less wind.
In fact, most of the resort areas are on the leeward side for these reasons.
Anyway, I started this hike in clear, sunny, no-wind conditions. That lasted about thirty minutes. As soon as I had some elevation on the ridge, the clouds on the windward side still had enough moisture left to grace me with a constant mist. No rain - Just mist. Of course, the higher I got the windier it got, so the mist turned horizontal. Protecting the electronic gizmos became an issue.
A portion of this ridge is full of power generating windmills, to take advantage of the wind coming across the mountain. All 34 were spinning away.
Once on a little plateau of the ridge I just ‘happened to stumble upon' a benchmark. (actually, no stumble - I had the datasheet). Surveyors, in 1949 called it Papawai, after Papawai Point directly below at the ocean shore. The views were now getting to be quite nice toward Maalaea Bay and the ocean.
I continued up the ridge in the direction of the wind and mist, trying not to drown my camera and lens. Looking back down the ridge gave me sunny and dry photos of Maalaea Bay, while the up ridge shots showed a very angry sky. I was hiking on loose volcanic rock, and tall grasses mostly, with just a few bushes and trees. It reminded me of going up Pinyon Mtn, but without the needle infested plants. I did run across a few ‘wannabe catclaw’ shrubs, but that was the extent of the sticky stuff.
Once I was further up the ridge I ran across another benchmark ….. Imagine that?
This one is called Rice (1949), after a ranch. I was now getting close to the huge windmills, so I wandered further up Kealaloloa Ridge and paid them a visit. They’re quite impressive when standing right next to them.
If I had more time, (and a rain slicker), I would have climbed up even higher for another benchmark, but not in this 30 mph mist. I instead descended on a different portion of the ridge toward the ocean. Once close to the ocean, the sunny skies and calm, dry conditions were back. Actually, the nice weather was never interrupted on the leeward shore.
Two unexpected things happened near the end of my off trail wanderings.
I found a pre-alignment of the Honoapiilani Highway (Rte 30). They’re always fun to walk on.
Also, I heard a soft “Prrrrr” sound off to my right. About 50 feet away, I saw two medium sized birds staring at me and then at each other.
The Prrring was from a pair of ‘Nene’, AKA Hawaiian Geese, the world's rarest goose. Not too long ago, they were almost extinct, (down to about 30 birds in 1952), but now with the help of conservationists, they are making a great comeback, after being re-introduced into the wild. The Nene is the official state bird of Hawaii.
I took some photos of the cute Nene couple and went on my way.
When I got back to my rental-HAZ-ride, I was still soaking wet from the misty hike. People at the dry, sunny whale-watch lookout must have thought I tried to swim with the whales.  |
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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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