Photos 3, page 16
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
"Kipuka" hike
| March 27, 2007 |
| Today I decided to explore the "kipuka" near the New Black Sand Beach in Kaimu, just down the road from the house, in the direction of the lava flows. "Kipuka" is the Hawaiian word for a vegetated area surrounded by lava flow. I had heard that there was a path along the kipuka and that there was a hidden black sand beach somewhere out there... CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| appreciated any shade I could get. "Skinny Dip" is where I found the beach mentioned above. On the very left side of The white line along the coast is the outgoing hike and the red line is the return trip. The say was quite hot and I the image, you can see the red where I almost to the road then suddenly turned away and walked further down before I intersected the road. This was because some guy showed up and told me, in a very unfriendly manner, that I was on his property. So I did an about face and walked around. As you can see from the image, this was an area of lava. I don't know what this guy thought I was going to damage by walking the 200 feet to the road. |
| from the new Black Sand Beach |
| I saw this guy walking along the coast wearing black clothes under a black umbrella - not exactly the colors I'd choose for walking in the hot sun. He was looking for the lava flows so I gave my best guidance on the subject |
| Black Sand Beach |
| <-- This is the kipuka I'm heading for. I'd walked out to it (4/16/06) before but didn't have time to explore. |
| Here's the kipuka. You can see why the lava went around --> |
| Another look at the Pu'u O'o vent <-- No zoom Full zoom --> |
| Looking ahead of me. That's the steam plume from the Kamokuna lava ocean entry some 3 miles down the coast. I like the lone palm in front of the plume |
| Approaching the beach I heard about. It's actually two beaches separated by a pile of rocks. I was so hot from hiking, I stripped off all my clothes and waded into the water. It being an unknown swimming place, I didn't just dive in but stood in the water where the waves could wash over me. I didn't go any deeper because someone had told me that if you get caught in a rip tide, the next land mass is Antarctica! |
| Talk about idyllic settings! The beach had a little grove of palms behind it where I could sit in the shade and cool off. I was feeling pretty primal sitting there completely naked and not a soul around! |
| I reached an area I labelled "Bench" on the map. This is where the new lava flowed over the edge of the sea cliff and formed a delta along the coast very much like it's doing every day just up the coast. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw and liked: "THE BIG ISLAND -- GETTING BIGGER EVERY DAY!" |
| the map), that's the ridge I always take a picture of when I start my hikes out to the lava. How do you suppose this plant decides which color to grow? --> |
 | |  | |  |