The High School Hikers Program of the Sierra Club, Hawai'i Chapter Ka`ena Point By Fred E. Nakaguma, Summer, 2004 Campbell High School Hikers (click on small photos to see larger image)
The mountainside was lush and green from all the rains we’d had this year. After passing Alau Gulch, we would normally see the wiliwili trees (Erythrina sandwicensis) standing like yellow skeletons on the green slopes above the dirt road to Ka`ena Point. These trees usually lose their leaves during the hot, arid summer months, just the opposite from the deciduous trees in the temperate regions of the Earth, which lose their leaves during the winter. On this day the trees could not be seen; they still had their leaves and were well camouflaged against the mountains.
There were about five years of drought before the rains came this year. I saw a decline in the number of native plants each year that we hiked Ka`ena Point. It had become more difficult to find plants such as the `ohelo-kai (Lycium sandwicense), hinahina-ka-kahakai (Heliotropium anomalum), and akoko (Euphorbia celastroides. Others like the ili-ahi-a-lo`e (coastal sandalwood, Santalum ellipticum) were still there, but in decreasing numbers.
"Leina-a-ka`uhane," the legendary "soul’s leap" is a large coral stone sitting on the makai side of the trail on a cliff overlooking the blue-green waters of the ocean. According to Hawaiian legend, this rock is the place from where deceased souls depart into the spiritual world. As we approached this sacred place, I was hoping to see the native plants making a comeback.
The silvery leaves of the hinahina made beautiful rosettes shining in the sunlight and tiny lavender blossoms adorned the `ohelo-kai. These flowers would soon develop into small red fruits. These plants were doing well. As we walked toward the point, I saw more and more of these plants. The rains had done good.
After a quick lunch at the lighthouse, the hikers grabbed fishing poles and went down to the beach and tide pools. We make this is a hike we do each year in August, before the waters at Ka`ena get too rough to fish safely. Almost all the Hikers caught fish, many caught several. The fish were all released.
At 12:30 PM, we left Ka`ena Point to get back in time to catch the bus. We followed the trail through the sand dunes toward Waianae until we came to the dirt road, then headed back toward Molule`ia. This is the part of the sand dunes where the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) and Laysan Albatross (Diomedea immutabilis) nest. Posted signs say to keep on the trail. There was no need for anyone to wander off the trail; we found Shearwater burrows (nests) all along side it.
Many burrows contained chicks, round balls of fuzzy gray down.
We found one burrow with a mother bird sitting on her eggs.
We also found one shallow burrow with a single white egg, probably abandoned. I was hoping to see the adult albatross flying overhead with its seven-foot wing span, an awesome sight, but, we saw neither the adult birds nor chicks.
The hike back was hot and seemed very long. Still the excitement of catching fish and the chance to see the nesting sea birds make this one of the Campbell Hikers’ favorite outings.
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