Kalamalu

When standing atop Puʻuwaʻawaʻa the scenery is breathtaking. Five massive vocanoes dominate the skyline… Haleakalā, Kohala, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and the looming Hualālai immediately to the south. It is easy to overlook the smaller, overshadowed features of the landscape. Sitting for a while resting, rehydrating, and enjoying the view atop the grassy puʻu one begins to notice more details in the landscape.

A couple miles southeast of Puʻuwaʻawaʻa are a line of more modest volcanic features, dwarfed by the enourmous mauna but still significant, monuments of rock that tower over the surrounding ʻōhiʻa forest. These old vents are clearly arranged along a rift of some sort in a neat line trending north to south with the southern end pointing directly at the peak of Hualālai.

This set of puʻu and the ridge upon which they sit are a curious sight that caught my attention as I sat munching on trail mix. Perhaps I should plan a mission to get there and check out those odd vents. This is a thought that has occurred to me several more times across the years, each time I sit atop Puʻuwaʻawaʻa.

After this last weekend… Been there.

Hitting the maps I find that these puʻu have traditional names… Puʻupapa, Hainoa, and Kalamalu. Not surprising, any prominent feature like these usually have names. I also find that there is indeed an old ranch road that runs pretty much right to and through these peaks. A fact I find quite odd as roadbuilding in these old lava flows takes considerable effort and there seems to be no reason for this particular road. Still, I will take it.

As usual on these sort of West Hawaiʻi missions an early start is called for to take advantage of cool, crisp mornings and avoiding, as much as possible, the hot afternoon sun. Indeed, it was a glorious day, almost chill in the dawn air that saw me unloading the bike at the trailhead.

The eMTB provides a great deal more range to my efforts, making it possible to get places that were previously harder to get to. I could get there before, but it is nice to get there without so much effort that I can spend time exploring and checking out the area before having to hit the trail back.

First major stop was at Protea House, an old ranch cabin where some previous resident had grown protea, perhaps as a source of extra income. When I first visited this place over a decade ago some of the protea were clinging to life and even blooming. This time I noted that they are all gone, the lack of care taking its toll.

The house is now unoccupied but still maintianed by the DLNR and the Nāpu‘u Conservation volunteer group that works on the trails and ecosystems around Puʻuwaʻawaʻa. There is a proper hitching post in front of the house, I just have to use it for the bike and take a photo of my mechanical horse.

The road gets rougher from here, just a rough cut road across these old lava flows that sees very little traffic. Indeed, while I met a few other hikers on the main trail to the top of Puʻuwaʻawaʻa, I did not see anyone once I went through the gate leading further up the mauna.

The rough road reminds me why I bought a bike with full suspension, and I will be using it this time. While previous bikes have had forward shocks, this is my first with rear, which works quite well at keeping that rear tire on the road, providing better control and a better ride. The only real issue is that I cannot shake the feeling that my rear tire is going flat.

The area behind Puʻuwaʻawaʻa is a rich ʻōhia forest laced with old ranch roads and the remnants of generations of cattle ranching. Old stone walls and the occasional collapsed watering tank remind one of the past here. I climb through the woodlands while occasionally checking the satellite to see if I am still on the right path.

There was a point at which I ditched the bike, the road had become a problem. It was not really all that much worse, except it was getting steeper as I ascended the little ridge, and was covered with loose gravel that converted my all my efforts into flying gravel rather than forward momentum. Just a mile left to my destination… No prob.

With the forest around me I had no proper indication of just how close to my destination I had gotten, it was fun to come over the last rise and see Kalamalu looming above the surrounding trees. Caught in a fleeting cloud shadow the pillar of rock was a black monolith, for a moment a dark and forbidding aura filled the air.

The rise I was on was itself one of the three volcanic vents I had come to visit. The smallest of the three and lacking a name on the map, it was in some ways the most interesting. Here a modest lava shield was topped with a rampart of rock and a small crater. The shield was subtle, needing a closer look to reveal that it formed a large section of the ridgeline on which I stood, rising a couple hundred feet above the surrounding land.

A deeply incised lava channel emerges from the side of the crater, first directly to the west where I stood, then turning sharply to the north and flowing down the flank of the shield. The ground around was covered with smooth pāhoehoe plates attesting to the hot, very fluid lava that emerged from this vent.

The second vent, Hainoa, was a bit of a surprise, the large dark blotch in the satellite imagery I had guessed to be some sort of pit crater turns out to be a massive pile of rock that rises above the ʻōhia canopy. This is a spatter rampart, lacking any symmetry or crater at the center, while showing layers of deposited lava in broken away faces. Simply a tower of rock with steep sides now consisting of tumbled black boulders.

The final, most imposing of these vents is Kalamalu, an imposing pillar of rock that rises steeply above the ridgeline. It is an odd formation and is not obvious how it formed. Steep sides of small vertical cliffs and tumbled boulders. The cliff faces reveal layers of built up lava spatter. There is even what appears to be a small crater at the top.

This is clearly a spatter rampart like Hainoa, built up from the falling tephra of a large lava fountain. The steep sides are odd, as if something, perhaps flowing lava, removed the more gently sloping sides lava ramparts usually feature.

The scene is peaceful today, but with even a cursory look one comes to understand the heat and fury which shaped this land in the not too far distant past. These flows are relatively young, apparently between 1,500 to 3,000 years old.

Here the road ends, literally on the shoulder of Kalamalu. The point offers a sweeping view of Hualālai and the forests surrounding this ridge around the vents. Sections of denser forest alternate with grassy meadows, possibly revealing where older or younger lavas have flowed down from the mauna.

A very convenient tree with an even more convenient boulder providing a comfortable seat is where I choose to rest, breaking out the trail mix. The tree is a silk oak, invasive, but quite pretty, especially when in full bloom with the bright yellow flowers adorning much of the tree. Quite a few of these trees are visible through the surrounding forest, the bright yellow blooms impossible to miss.

Sitting in the shade I fly the drone to get a better look at the volcanic vents, circling the tall features and getting an excellent look without scrambling through the tumbled boulders. The aerial view reveals craters, lava channels, and tumuli that would otherwise be difficult to spot from ground level in the broken forest and meadows.

There is a fourth vent off to the north, Puʻupapa, but with no road access it would require a great deal of cross country hiking through very rough terrian to reach. I fly the drone out a half a mile and take a brief look at its craters.

While I pushed right through to the end of the road I now work my way back more slowly, pausing to check out other features or climbing some of the smaller vents to view them more closely. The scouting mission with the drone having given me a good overview I can now explore more effectively.

I pause for another stop atop the smaller shield, sitting at the edge of its crater. Here I fly the drone again, this time to take photos that include some panoramas and even a photo sphere of the area. The afternoon clouds are beginning to appear and I take advantage of the remaining sunny skies.

Exploration complete I turn and head back down the mauna. I recover the bike from its hiding place and then bounce down the rough roads. The carefully hoarded battery capacity turning out to be unneeded on the downhill run, and both tires remaining inflated, for once. The last two miles are paved and I am very tired of bouncing along rough-cut lava roads, it is fun to glide the last bit back to the vehicle.

There was an incident with an iʻo on the way back, but that is another story for another post.