Hawai’i – Page 14 – A Darker View

Another Night, Another Pig…

Two in a row!

After going almost two weeks without catching anything I get two pigs in two nights. As usual the pigs came in to check on my compost pile. The sliced up apple proved too much a temptation and into the trap he went.

I have been been using apples from the sales rack our local village market. There is a shelf at the back where spoiled produce is placed at cut rate prices. A bag of bruised apples for a dollar makes good pig bait.

As you can see there is another pig outside the trap in the video below. Actually I think there are three more remaining in the neighborhood after this one. One big white spotted and two more smaller black pigs. The trap will be reset and ready tonight!

Black Friday Deal

Got a deal this Black Friday… A free pig. Deb heard the crashing in the wee hours as the pig expressed his displeasure at being trapped. No screaming this time, but lots of jumping about in the camera view.

A feral pig trapped in the garden. — A feral pig trapped next to the compost pile.

The pig war continues.

This makes four, with possibly up to four more to go in our neighborhood drove. The pig damage has definitely abated since the numbers have been reduced. particularly after I got mama a couple weeks ago.

The bait this time was a couple spoiled bananas that must have smelled good, the pig went right into the trap with no hesitation. You can see him push under the trip wire to close the trap.

This pig was removed from the neighborhood, never to eat my tomatoes again.

Pig Problems

I have had it with the pigs, stealing my ripe tomatoes crosses the line!

A feral pig trapped and ready for removal — Mama pig… Big, mean, and seriously not happy about being trapped.

The pigs have been around for months, but the damage had previously been minor. A mother and a litter of piglets caught on camera.

As the piglets grew in size so has the damage. Thus I find myself in the pig trapping business and learning the art of baiting pigs. It is not easy, pigs are wary critters.

The trap comes from a local guy who works for the village association, the result of a few emails to put us in touch. He stopped by a morning later with a very nicely made pig trap. Every few mornings I send him a text with an update, and occasionally a pic of the latest catch.

Walking the King’s Trail

Rather than spend the evening obsessing over election results I opted to take a hike. Nothing dramatic, just a short loop hike close to home, along the shoreline south of ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay .

Looking north the Waikoloa Resorts along the King's Trail — Looking north the Waikoloa Resorts along the King’s Trail

The plan was to use the King’s Trail to quickly hike a couple miles out, then to take my time hiking back along the shoreline. I timed my start so that sunset would occur while I was coming back along the beach.

While this section of the King’s Trail is over 150 years old, it is in excellent condition and allows easy hiking across the lava fields. The trail cuts absolutely straight over the ridges and tumuli of piled rock, much faster than slogging through the beach sand.

I had hiked the shoreline here many times, but had not hiked any real length of the King’s Trail. The trail crosses the lava flows well above the coastline, as a result it can be brutally hot under a tropical Sun, while the shoreline offers regular shade and a cool ocean breeze.

This particular election day evening the Sun was muted by a broken overcast sky. Why not use the trail?

Lava Monster

Hand of Lava — Lava from the Kilauea volcano enters the ocean at Kamokuna

Just before Halloween 2016 I took this photo of lava dripping over the cliff at Kamokuna. Was immediately struck by how much it looked like some giant hand with severed fingers, dripping lava blood into the sea.

Kiholo by Drone

Kiholo Bay by Drone — Kiholo Bay taken by the Mavic Air, click on the post for a full size treat

Tree

A gnarled yet graceful in the ranch land at Puʻuwaʻawaʻa — A gnarled yet graceful tree in the ranch land at Puʻuwaʻawaʻa

Shangri-La

Puʻuwaʻawaʻa Take 2

This week I returned to Puʻuwaʻawaʻa.

A rough road on the back side of Puʻuwaʻawaʻa

The plan was to use a mountain bike this time. One nagging issue in hiking Puʻuwaʻawaʻa is the long access road you need to hike just to get to the base of the puʻu. Two miles of straight, and mostly paved road to climb before the hike really gets interesting.

It is old pavement, but in good shape as there is little more than foot traffic. Last time hiking out I wished I had a bike so those two miles would be one smooth downhill roll back to the vehicle. Once above the puʻu I could use the bike to explore the network of ranch roads that lead back into the forest reserve.

That was the plan, reality did not work out quite as well.