Exploring Puuanahulu

Saturday brought another hiking adventure. We parked Chris's truck on the lower road above Keawaiki and entered the point in the GPS. We parked my car off the upper road at Puuanahulu and began our seven mile journey. This uncertain hike worked out a bit better than the one in Pahala two weeks ago. The Jeep road we started on went farther than the map showed so we didn't have to traverse any a`a, and the last three miles brought easy hiking across a 1959 pahoehoe flow. My favorite terrain was the deep, fluffy dirt at the base of the hillside. It felt like walking through powder snow.

We saw some wicked wiliwili trees and tasted the fruit from a lama tree. The entire Kona landscape would have been covered with these native trees at one time, yet in seven years this is the first one I remember seeing. Another highlight was exploring a lava tube by the light of the GPS unit and a digital camera. They provided just enough light to keep us from hitting our head on the ceiling or stepping on goat skulls.

Inside the lava tube- note brown goat skull with horns in center: