Looking out from Pololu Beach
Hawaii
(The Big Island): March 6-16
Day 3, Pololu Valley
Looking out from Pololu Beach
After a day at the beach, we decided to go for a
hike on
Sunday. We got underway a little later than the day before, taking off
about
8:45 a.m. and again driving north on 19, stopping at a gas station for
some ice
for the cooler. The northern end of the island is a peninsula (Kohala)
which I
suspect is the original volcano on the island. The last of the nice,
sandy
beaches is in the little bay that separates that peninsula with the
rest of the
island. There, highway 19 turns inland toward Waimea, located in the
saddle
between the Kohala peninsula and Mauna Lea. Instead, we turned
left/north on
270 and followed the north Kohala coast through more savanna-type
vegetation,
looking out over the blue Pacific. About the time we would have reached
the
northern tip of the island, the road turned inland and began passing
through
small communities surrounded in lush vegetation. It was a beautiful
area—one of
the places I can most picture myself living on the Big Island. The
farther we
got toward the east coast of the island, the wetter and more intense
the
vegetation became. 270 narrowed and began to roll up and down and
around the
lush landscape, huge trees 
and
vines beginning to dominate the
landscape. We
could tell we were reaching the end of the road by the line of cars
parked
along the side of it. Luckily we found a free space in the small
parking lot at
the very end. We’d been driving for nearly two hours and were now
solidly on
the wet side of the island.
I was initially disappointed to see such a crowd,
but it
quickly became apparent that most people were there just to see the
view
overlooking the Pololu Valley or, at most, walking to the beach at the
bottom.
We got out of the car just as it began to rain torrentially. I wasn’t
sure if
east side rains are short lived or not, but one way or another we were
going to
do this hike! We headed down the steep trail, which descends right
along the
edge of the valley, past four hazard signs for shore break, falling
rocks,
dangerous cliff, and strong current. Pololu Valley is the northernmost
of a
series of large valleys that cut through the old land on the northeast
corner
of the island. Famous Waipio Valley can be approached by road from the
south;
between the two are several more large, jungely valleys that are much
less
accessible. Each of these valleys is steep sided and flat bottomed and
I’d like
to think they look like they have for thousands of years, though I’m
sure a
good portion of the forests are comprised of introduced species. Look
south
past Pololu, I could see why it was called the “wild Kohala coast.”
Dramatic
cliffs separated black sand beaches with green jungles behind then and
white
capped surf in front.
I wanted to take photos, as we carefully made our
way down
the slick mud and rocks of the trail, passing quite a few hikers
hurrying their
way up out of the rain or sheltering under branches, but we both wound
up
tucking our iphones into our backpack to protect them from the rain,
which was
quickly soaking us. It was warm enough, but not very pleasant! The trip
to the
bottom was relatively 
quick
and spat us out into an enchanting pine
forest.
Tall trees rose up over a smooth forest floor carpeted in long pine
needles and
smoothed lava rocks, some arranged to edge a path. The pines, clearly
visible
in contrast to the rest of the vegetation from the top of the valley,
form an
unexpected fringe behind the beach and created an almost magical
atmosphere.
About 50 feet from the edge of the valley was a stagnant pond that
becomes a
river during wetter times; we crossed the dry mouth of it at the beach
and
headed back among the pines on the other side. In that area, the pines
grow on
high dunes through a vibrant green ground cover. To our relief, the
rain and
wind began to diminish as we crossed the valley.
On
the far side, we found a trail through the
morning
glories and up to the side of the mountain. As soon as we left the
beach, the
trail became a trench with shoulder-high soil to either side, one of
many sections
of this trail that appeared to be deeply entrenched in the landscape.
What
created such deep trails we never learned.
From there the trail crisscrossed back and forth
along the
front (ocean facing) or corner of the narrow ridge that separated
Pololu from
the next valley over. It was more gradual than the trail on the other
side and was
usually tucked in dense, wet foliage of a delightfully jungle
character. There
were many varieties of ferns, including one that looked surprisingly
like
Juneau’s narrow beach ferns, along with an array of unlikely looking
trees and
other plants. Bird songs caught my attention immediately, and I managed
to get
one good look at a stunningly colored bird with an orange beak and red
on green
wings. He was hiding behind a sisal-like plant, but we both managed
good looks
at him—surely, I thought, in this remote valley, I’d finally found a
beautiful,
indigenous bird!
I heard more of his song and other songs as we
climbed the
switchbacks and the slick, muddy gullies of the trail, but did not see
any
others on the way up. We finally found an overlook near the top of the
ridge
that looked back across the valley to the parking lot and revealed a
small
side-gully nearby. Behind the stagnant pool near the beach was a wide,
wet
meadow inhabited by what appeared to be two happy cows. A little
farther along
the trail we skirted a puzzling bar across the trail which we guess was
either
to keep 4-wheelers or cows off the lower trail, or both. Shortly beyond
we
broke out of the dense jungle and onto the top of the ridge where the
vegetation became drier and more scrubby. We passed two people on the
way down,
one of which was finishing up a fresh papaya he’d found at the top; he
said
there were a couple more so we kept an eye out. Among the big, orange
butterflies prevalent all over the island, we walked along the ridge
until the
trail dropped us on the far side at a bench overlooking the next
valley. The
view was stunning.
 Driving north |
 Looking down the wild Kohala coast |
 Behind the beach |
 On the beach |
 Cool trail behind the beach |
 Behind the beach |
 Heading up the trail |
 Trench trail |
 These look like narrow beach ferns |
 Trench trail |
 Jungle |
 Looking across at the parking lot |
As
we headed back down the ridge, I spotted two
yellow
fruits growing together on one of the scrubby trees and immediately
assumed
they were the papayas mentioned earlier. I picked the darker one and
cut it
open with Chris’s leatherman. The inside, however, looked little like
the pink
flesh and small black seeds of the fruit the hiker had been eating.
There was a
quarter inch layer of dense, unchewable fruit and a core of large seeds
in a
gooey mass that were out-of-this-world delicious. I slurped up their
sweet tanginess
with gusto, greedily finishing Chris’s when he offered it up. I had no
idea
what the fruit was and could only hope it was edible! A friend who’d
spent some
time in Hawai’i later suggested it might be a variety of passion fruit,
and
that seems the most likely.
Shortly after we re-entered the wetter forest, we
glimpsed
more birds including another of the orange-beaked friends we’d seen
already as
well as a northern cardinal. We walked along the sand instead of inside
the
trees on the way back across the beach, noting the row of round lava
rocks
piled at the back of the sand. By the time we were at the north side of
the
beach, we were worn out from the heat and humidity and the walk back up
the
steep trail was a trial. It started raining again when we reached the
car, so
we hastily had a drink, packed up, and headed back. Just on the other
side of a
wooden fence, two donkeys grazed right at the top of the cliff!
We
had two choices for our return trip. We’d been
hiking for
about three hours, so it was early afternoon and I checked my cheat
sheet for
potential points of interest in that neighborhood in case we didn’t
drive back
there again (it being rather out of the way). Along the northwest
Kohala coast
is an old navigational heiau where a cluster of standing rocks point
toward
south Pacific islands. You
can see them from the road, or take a hike
to see
them more leisurely. The other option won out, however; another road
cut
through the center of the Kohala area from north to south, connecting
with highway
19 at Waimea, and we chose that for our return route. It proved a
brilliant
choice. The landscape we drove through was the most lush and beautiful
pasture
land I’ve ever seen. Rolling hills of deep green grass dappled with
trees and
populated with what can only be the happiest cows, sheep, and horses
around. From
some of the higher vantage points, the blue of the ocean complimented
the
perfect, green hills.
At last we drove down the south end of the old
volcano past
cinder cones growing out the side and more cattle and, at last, to the
village
of Waimea, a pleasant looking semi-lush community. From there, back to
19 and Ultimate
Burger for a late lunch. It was everything I’d hoped for. Before
leaving
Juneau, I’d done some simple searches for restaurants that served bison
or,
knowing that there were ranches on the big island, 100% grass fed beef.
I found
www.ultimateburger.net--serving
not just 100% grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic free beef, but using
local,
organic ingredients as much as possible, hand cut fries, and buns from
a local
bakery. On top of pushing all my conscience buttons, the burgers were
truly
outstanding. We ate them along with fresh squeezed lemonade and fries
in the
shade outside the restaurant.
After four hours of driving and three hours of
hiking, we
were a little worn out, so we rested in our room for the rest of the
afternoon.
That evening we returned to the original steakhouse we’d visited where
Chris
snacked on wings and I had a fresh strawberry smoothie.
 Valley south of Pololu |
 The ridge |
 Passionfruit? |
 Looking from our ridge to the parking lot |
 Crazy tree root/stabilizers? |
 Chris in the jungle |
 Chris on the trail |
 Pine trees at Pololu Beach |
 Pololu Beach |
 Heading back to the parking lot |
 Pololu Beach |
 Kohala pasture land |
