I'm E-Free

My gas mileage has been junk. On the last two tanks of gas I got 14.6 mpg and 16 mpg, and that's mostly highway miles. I usually do mostly in town driving so my normal mileage is worse yet. Today I filled up on ethanol free gas to see if that will make a difference. It's available at the bargain price of $3.71 per gallon at the harbor. The ethanol was destroying boat engines and their fiberglass gas tanks, thus the E-free gas. The way I see it, my body wasn't designed to run on salads so why fuel my Jeep with corn? That may be an odd analogy, but it doesn't make sense to force the American people to put fuel in their cars they weren't designed to burn. And if our cars don't get as good of mileage with the 10% added ethanol, aren't we burning up more fossil fuels anyway?

, BParadise

(Waimanu Part II)

Saturday went something like this: Watch the sun rise over the ocean. Look at waterfalls and eat breakfast. Body surf. Eat a snack. Hike to waterfalls. Body surf. Eat lunch. Lay on the beach. Look at birds and plants.

We had a view of dozens of waterfalls from our campsite, which were reflected in a pond full of prawns, herons and ducks. The fine black sand beach was all ours, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I didn't want it to end!

Where the river meets the sea:

Best seat in the house:

Over the River and Through the Woods...

to Waimanu

I've been wanting to make the 9-mile trek into Waimanu Valley for ages, especially after we flew over the area in a helicopter more than year ago. The lush vegetation and the steep gulches and cliffs made the land look completely impassible- which made me want to go even more. This weekend I got my chance.

We parked at an art gallery about a mile from Waipio Valley and hiked down the ridiculously steep road in the pouring rain. By the time we reached the bottom the rain quit and never started up again for the rest of the trip. We set up camp on the far side or the river, sat around a campfire and slept to the sound of crashing waves.

Friday morning we headed up the other side of Waipio on the Z trail, which was more difficult than I anticipated. It's steeper and longer than it looks from the beach, especially when you're carrying a 30lb. backpack. The Muliwai trail then weaves around 9-11 gulches (the number of gulches was up for debate by our group) and through forests of ironwoods, eucalyptus and Norfolk pines before dropping down into Waimanu Valley. The descent took about an hour, it's steep and long and the trail is covered with kukui nut shells. Imagine walking down a mountain face covered with marbles when your legs are tired. When we got to camp and I looked up at the pali (cliff) I was amazed hiking down was even possible.

Saturday was a layover day to enjoy the valley and Sunday we packed up and headed home. The hike back took about 6 hours. That's not counting getting back out of Waipio Valley. In my great wisdom, I decided to hike out of Waipio with two other people in the blazing afternoon sun to get the Jeep and drive down to pick everyone else up. At least I had enough sense to leave my backpack in the valley. We made it about a 1/4 of the way up the hill with a local couple offered us a life saving ride.

A view of Waipio Valley from the top of the Z trail. You can see Mauna Kea in the background, and the road we hiked in on cutting across the pali.

Well worth the effort: after a good day of hiking we were rewarded with this view of Waimanu.

If you want to stand under Hiilawe, wear a helmet!


We hiked to Hiilawe falls in the back of Waipio Valley a few weeks ago. The 1,800 foot waterfall is the tallest on the island, but it was less than impressive because it was just a trickle down the cliff. "Who turned off the water?," I asked. I assumed God had done it. But Lisa told me farmers have been using the water that feeds the falls ever since the Hamakua ditch was damaged in October's earthquake.

It was pretty neat to stand directly under the falls- normally there's too much force from the water to get underneath. We speculated what it would have been like in the bottom of the narrow valley during the earthquake. We saw a fresh landslide that we figured happened in the quake. About a minute after Chris got out of the waterfall we heard a loud crack, it sounded just like a gun shot. Several rocks were falling from the the top of the falls! We didn't get a good look at the size of the boulders- instead, we high-tailed it outta there!

I'll be back in Waipio tomorrow. We're camping there tomorrow night, then hiking nine miles to Waimanu for two nights. Don't worry, I won't be pitching my tent under any waterfalls.

Hiilawe trickling down the rocks:

Looking up:

Pepeiao

I did a one-night backpack to Pepeiao in Volcanoes Nat'l Park last weekend with Sierra Club. We went down a 9 mile windy, one-lane road off of Chain of Craters Road, then hiked for 5 miles. I love getting away from civilization. Pepeiao means ear in Hawaiian, I have no idea how the area got that name, but I'll say my ears were happy to be away from TV, cars, phones and barking dogs.

The coolest thing we found was a black widow spider. I didn't even know we had them on the island. It was dark brown instead of black, which I'm told is normal for Hawaii black widows.

It was nice to meet new people and chat about their outdoor adventures. I'm looking forward to future Sierra Club treks like the one we have planned for next weekend- we're hiking to Waimanu Valley. It's a secluded valley on the Hamakua Coast with lush vegetation and towering waterfalls.


A view of Mauna Loa Sunday morning:


Diane in the tall grass:

Extravagance

A bunch of us who play in the worship band at church went over to Oahu this past weekend for a worship conference lead by Bob Fitts. We learned about focusing on God and bringing glory to Him, instead of focusing on exterior factors like whether we had enough practice time, whether the sound is mixed properly, whether that guy in the third row likes our music, etc.

Part of the teaching that really stood out in my mind was on extravagance. God didn't just make a paper box for us to live in- he crafted the amazing detail of every flower and placed every rock on the mountain just so, just for our pleasure. He loves extravagantly- enough to give His Son for us. Therefore, we shouldn't be afraid to express our love to Him in worship, and we should be looking to Him instead of looking at others, wondering what they think of us. I was thinking about this as I left the church and this tree commanded my attention. It shone in all its golden glory with a backdrop of bright blue sky and poofy, white clouds. When I looked at it I saw a picture of God's extravagance towards us.

Would you steal this toaster?

Jim's landlord is out of control. He's a skilled woodworker who just completed a mango wood cedar chest that he donated to Daughters of Hawaii to display at Hulihee Palace. His specialty is gutting antique radios and turning them into beautiful jewelry boxes. He seemed pretty normal until he showed me his latest project- the toaster. This circa 1970 toaster oven looks like a real pile from the front, but the back is a koa wood jewelry box. The concept? Keep the toaster of jewels in the kitchen. No one will ever steal it.