{"id":29327,"date":"2023-02-22T17:57:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T03:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=29327"},"modified":"2023-02-12T18:33:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T04:33:07","slug":"kahuku-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=29327","title":{"rendered":"Kahuku Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/havo\/index.htm\">Hawaii Volcanoes National Park<\/a> has been growing.  A few years back the park service purchased much of the old Kahuku Ranch and a couple years ago opened this new unit to the public.  Like the main area of the park the Kahuku unit is also a product of the eruptions that shape the island, yet with a totally different character.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-thumbnail\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL24-75-23040-DC-200x200.jpg\" alt=\"An old stone wall and gate at Kahuku\" class=\"wp-image-29285\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An old stone wall and gate at Kahuku<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>There is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/havo\/planyourvisit\/kahuku.htm\">an extensive trail system<\/a> through the new unit, the old ranch roads converted to walking trails.  In addition to the ranching history a visitor can explore the volcanic landscape<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On our recent visit we walked one of the easiest trails in the park, the Palm Trail.  This two mile loop trail starts near the visitor station and crosses both recent lava flows and rich forested kipukas. Along the way passing relics of ranch history, fences, gates, and an enigmatic diamond D carved into the rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=29286\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-46-23040-DC-200x200.jpg\" alt=\"Diamond D at Kahuku\" class=\"wp-image-29286\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A diamond D at carved into the rock at Kahuku<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>In early February the ohia were in bloom, splashing the lava fields with bright red.  The dwarf ohia found on the recent flows are natural bonsai as lovely as any garden.  Ripe <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vaccinium_reticulatum\">\u02bb\u014chelo<\/a> berries were to be found here and there, and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leptecophylla_tameiameiae\">p\u016bkiawe<\/a> shrubs dots the rugged rock.  Views stretch from the sea to far up the flank of Mauna Loa towards the summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is more for us to explore at Kahuku, definitely need to plan another day of hiking around this park unit.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=29287\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2400\" height=\"763\" src=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-42-23040-DC.jpg\" alt=\"Ohia in bloom on the 1868 lava flow at Kahuku\" class=\"wp-image-29287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-42-23040-DC.jpg 2400w, https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-42-23040-DC-600x191.jpg 600w, https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-42-23040-DC-1200x382.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-42-23040-DC-1536x488.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL23-42-23040-DC-2048x651.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ohia in bloom on the 1868 lava flow at Kahuku<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been growing. A few years back the park service purchased much of the old Kahuku Ranch and a couple years ago opened this new unit to the public. Like the main area of the park the Kahuku unit is also a product of the eruptions that shape the island, yet &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=29327\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Kahuku Unit&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[1692,2867,2103,1764,1586],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/CL24-75-23040-DC.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29329,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29327\/revisions\/29329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}