Liz in Hawaii: Hiking in the Desert

The drought is officially over, at last, and we have been getting lots and lots and LOTS of rain. Yep, our normal winter weather has returned with a vengeance. I hear there's snow on Mauna Kea again--quite low down, too--but we sure can't see it from here with all these low dark clouds.

After a week of nothing but drippy wetness, high humidity, and chilly temperatures, I was very ready for a change of scenery. We decided to take advantage of the cloud cover and explore the Ka'u Desert.

The Big Island of Hawaii is unique in many ways, not least because it has 13 of the world's 15 climate zones. In theory, if you get tired of one climate, it's only a short drive to another. We drive through this desert area on our way to South Point or when we beach camp at Ho'okena... but we had never taken the time to stop and explore. Usually it's a scorching hot area, but with recent rains (not as much as we've been getting in Pahoa, but still...) the desert was fairly green and full of flowers.

We found the trail head alongside the highway, and began our explorations of this remote part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The high cloud cover was welcome and the vog plume from Halema'uma'u was blowing off in a different direction. The air was cool, the winds moderate. Perfect hiking conditions!

It was so quiet. There are far fewer birds out there; mostly it's the wind you hear. The scenery was stark and beautiful. Ohia grew twisted by the wind into fantastic shapes and covered with bright red Lehua blossoms, thanks to the recent rains.

At first, the Ka'u Desert Trail winds through 400-year-old a'a lava. Then suddenly, it drops to a pahoehoe flow that gradually gives way to sand. The particles are black and green. I bet it's scorching when the sun beats down.

Acacia is a fun hiking companion. Her long legs and high energy easily keep up with the big people, and she has that wondering wandering spirit, just like her Grammy. What's beyond that outcropping? Where does this path lead? Can I get to the top of that hill? Parts of the trail are marked only by ahu, or rock piles. Acacia quickly learned to scan for the next ahu to lead us further along our way.

This is also the area where ancient footprints have been preserved in volcanic mud. We were underwhelmed upon seeing them, semi-preserved under a pavilion. It's hard to tell what you're looking at, but the idea of the ancients trekking through this same area way back when resonated with us as we meandered about and found further prints in the solidified old mud. These latter have been circled by rocks that hikers have placed to protect the artifacts, and they seem to have fared somewhat better than the ones under shelter.

There are several wadi (I'm sure there must be a Hawaiian word for this geological feature, but I don't know it) where it's clear that flash floods rush through. The rocks are scoured and even undercut in some places.