Home on the Range

On Friday I went with Mike the photographer from West Hawaii Today up to Ponoholo Ranch in North Kohala, on the northwest tip of the Big Island. Kohala Mountain Road leads from the lower elevation of the coastline, up and over the Kohala mountains to a town called Hawi. This road provides some of the most dramatic, sweeping views of the island. It's absolutely gorgeous, stunning and is a unique perspective. When conditions are clear, you can see all the mountains, which are actually volcanoes, that formed the Big Island, including Hualalai, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and Kohala. The island of Maui is also often visable -- it's only about 35 miles from our island. Anyway, I went to see Pono von Holt on his 11,000 acre cattle ranch that stretces from sea level to about 4,000 feet in elevation. I have been up there before and can't believe how green the grass is. His ranch is in a Grassland Reserve Program, dedicated to keep open space as open space. He gets some federal funding to be in the program. People don't think of cowboys being in Hawaii, but the're here and are called paniolos. Pono gave Mike and I a tour of his property and I wrote about conservation on Ponoholo Ranch. He said there is tremendous pressure to sell land and allow development, but he loves the lifestyle and the land has been in his family for 75 years. These photos try to capture the sights. The first is looking towards Hualalai mountain, the one I live on the side of. At the base of the mountain to the right is Kailua-Kona (not visable). The whole coastline is dotted with white sand beaches, coral reefs and high-end resorts, including the Hilton that Peggy works at. Ranchland is in the immediate foreground. The second photo is looking towards the Kohala mountains. I still can't get over how it looks like Jurassic Park. I mean, it's bizarre, the bright green topography. But it's amazing.