The Pu'u

This post is the third installment from a day I had a couple weeks ago. Sorry so slow — I've been really busy with work. Anyway, after spending some time laying around at Makalawena (see last blog entry), I took off to explore the coast north of the beach and hike up to a cinder cone, which is called a pu'u in Hawaiian. A pu'u is the spot of an old volcanic eruption, like a mini volcano.



This is the four-wheel drive road that leads to Makalwena beach. I am walking away from the beach toward the puu in this photo. The road eventually passes by the puu and connects to the main highway a few miles away.



A goat! Actually, there are wild goats in many locations around the Big Island of Hawaii. I am not sure how they got here, but they are well suited to the rocky, volcanic, steep terrain. The coastal area of Ke Kahakai State Park where I am hiking is a common place to see goats. I saw a half dozen or so on this hike. I tried to be stealthy and sneak up on one. Got pretty close until a truck came down the road. My brother Brett and I saw a herd of 12 to 15 on the mountain once and a couple male goats were slamming their horns together.



This is the view from on the puu looking towards Hualalai mountain. You can see the brown lava flows which are only 200 to 300 years old. The mountain is kind of obscured by clouds. I live on the side of Hualalai at 1,500 feet elevation, but more on the west (right) side.



From the top of the puu, this is looking south, toward the beach I hiked from, Makalawena, which is next to the trees you see on the shoreline. It was late in the afternoon, with the sun shining at the camera, so the colors don't look as vibrate. See the next photo for that.



Kua bay. Looking to the north off the puu, you can see Kua bay, a nice white sand beach to visit. The downside is they have built a paved road to Kua, so it will become more crowded. While four wheel drive roads make for a bumpy 10 to 15 minute ride, it adds to the isolation and keeps many people out. Right next to Kua bay is the Four Seasons resort and Kukio, a high end community with two golf courses. Lots for houses begin at $2 or $3 million. I have one.



When I was standing on top of the pu'u, these two guys showed up with radio controlled airplane gilders. No engines. They just throw the plane off into the wind and steer it with the radio control. They said everything costs about $500. The puu is a good place to fly the planes because of the winds coming off the ocean and warm thermal currents conducted off the hot lava rock fields.



Here's another shot of the two guys flying the radio controlled planes. Guy #1 is about to launch his plane. Guy #2 is flying his plane, which if you look closely, is directly in front of him. Makalawena is in left side of the frame. Time to hike back!