Hawaii - The Pono Trek to La'au Point (17 JAN 2009)

This lovely day began with a scenic drive and a visit to a beautiful beach (in serious surf condition!!). We then hiked down to La'au to pay our respects for the hard battle fought by the residents here - in 2008 - to keep the Molokai Properties enterprise from developing this special 'aina (land).

First a few scenery shots and videos from the morning, then the hike in 2 parts.


[HELP: IF YOUR VIDEO STOPS INTERMITTENTLY AS YOU TRY TO PLAY IT:
For those without super fast internet connections (including us, at the moment) your videos will probably not play continuously without some advance buffering. It is easy to buffer, however, so all is not lost. Simply click 'play' to start it playing, then just click the pause button (II) on the lower left side of the video screen until you see it has buffered 1/4-1/1 past the right side of the dot (there is a red 'play' line to the left of the dot and a faded red 'buffer' line to the right of the dot). Once buffered, simply hit the red play (>) arrow in the lower left corner again and the video should play through without interruption. If it does not, it is most likely because you did not let it buffer long enough. Slow connections may require you to buffer the entire video before you begin to play it - fine so long as you know what to do!!?? Now you know. Enjoy the show!]

And here, some Wavy Winter Waters for you:



And then, the remote trek to La'au begins...

La'au Hike#1: Malama ka 'aina



Aside from the disgraceful mess left behind by Moloka'i Properties, it was a very beautiful hike. Here are some photos (and remember take only pix, leave only prints):


And someone had set up this nifty coconut seat enroute:



Also, a chunk of coral shelf with shells and other goodies still embedded:


And, finally, we reached La'au Point - the site of immense controversy in Spring '08.
We set this piece of the hike to Lono's music. After all, he says it all so well...
http://www.lonomusic.com/index.html

La'au Hike#2: Keep Moloka'i Moloka'i (w/Lono):




Pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it?

If not, here is a previous post with Lani explaining the situation from a Moloka'i perspective:



And on a more light-hearted note, here is what greeted us in the fridge upon a hot, sweaty, dehydrating return from lovely La'au:


On this evening, with residual sore butts (from Thursday's mule ride) and tender leg muscles from today's hike, we proceeded to a new friend's party, we had graciously been invited to. It was a lovely indoor/outdoor setting with jamming local musicians, nice kine people, and a sky absolutely stuttered with shining stars. Wow!

Malama ka 'aina...
Kepani & Kamila