My first impression of hiking the Kahakapao Loop Trail in the Makawao Forest Reserve was just how ordinary the hike was. Here we were, 5,000 miles from home on a tropical Hawaiian island, and we were slogging through a wet, deciduous forest in low 60 degree temps. Shira had her umbrella up, and my windbreaker was getting peppered with drizzle. This scene wasn't on any Maui postcards I'd ever seen.
Yet, upon closer inspection, I could tell we were off the mainland. For one thing, no squirrels. In fact, other than a couple of fleeting views of birds, we didn't see any wildlife.
As the hike and rain continued, I noticed an unusual phenomenon among some of the trees: they seemed to have tiny rivers running down them. See this video for what I mean. That's unusual, right?
A bit of research revealed that the trees showing this effect were all eucalyptus, and that the effect is known as stemflow. Eucalyptus trees have a combination of smooth bark and waxy leaves that allows them to pull off this water bending behavior.
At first this seemed like a flaw: wouldn't the tree want to absorb the water versus shed it? In fact, stemflow is a clever way for trees to route water directly to where it's needed most: the base of the tree and ultimately to the roots.
While it's a nice find, there's nothing native about eucalyptus trees. They were introduced to the islands during the 1860s, to provide resources for timber-hungry industry. The first "systematic forest planting [of eucalyptus]" occurred just a mere 10 to 15 miles from our hike, in Ulupalakua. Cool, but not a native to the islands.
As we continued slogging up the trail, I noticed multiple clusters of bright orange fungus and thought surely that must be a native resident.
A Google Lens search suggests that this is likely Favolaschia calocera, aka orange pore fungus, aka orange ping-pong bat. Not only is it native to Madagascar, but it's now considered an invasive species.
Favolaschia calocera R. Heim (Fig. 1) is a classic example of an invasive species in the islands. The bright orange poroid fruiting bodies of this fungus were not seen during the twenty or more years of collecting on each of the major islands, but in the last few years it is often encountered in troops on fallen logs and branches in both alien and native forests on all the major Hawaiian Islands. The spread of this fungus from Madagascar to Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China and various Pacific islands is well documented (Vizzini et al., 2009).
So pretty, and with a cool name, but definitely not Hawaiian.
The Kahakapao Loop Trail follows an elliptical path, having hikers travel southward up an incline, then return northward on a roughly parallel path. The hike switches back and forth over mountain bike trails, which are no doubt optimized for uphill and downhill riding. I'm not a mountain biker, but I'm sure if I were, this would be a gem of a location.
Near the southernmost point in the hike, we encountered a thicket of exotic-looking plants. While their flowers had mostly bloomed, you could tell that at the right season, this must be quite beautiful.
Google Lens tells me that we came across a patch of Kahali Ginger. The plant certainly looks like what I'd imagine would grow in Hawai'i. And the name sounds Hawaiian, too.
Not only is the plant alien, but it's considered #40 on the list of the world's worst invasive species. Ouch. Even the name is problematic:
H. gardnerianum has also been called kahili ginger due to its similarity to the kāhili feather staffs symbolic of Hawaiian aliʻi. However, many have taken to calling the plant Himalayan ginger given that the species is native to the Himalayas. A Hawaiian name can potentially mislead people to believe it is a native species.
You know that this plant is a significant problem because the Hawaii Invasive Species Council is considering importing natural enemies to tame it. Just think, next time we visit Maui, we could be hearing all about invasive "flies from the genus Merochlorops, large, conspicuous weevils from the genus Metaprodictes, and moth larvae from the genus Artona."
Introducing new species seems like a massive risk, but I suppose doing nothing isn't an option.
About half way down the hill on the return leg of loop, we came across this tropical looking specimen:
Aha, I thought, surely this plant is a native Hawaiian species. Just look at him (or her?)! Reddit's take on these pics is that I'm half right. Apparently, this is a Ti plant, and it was intentionally introduced by the Polynesians that settled the Islands of Hawaii. That means it's both alien, and thoroughly Hawaiian.
Ti, also known as Ki, is one of the 23 plants that were brought by the Polynesians when they voyaged to Hawaii. Collectively known as canoe plants, these plants served as a sort of civilization starter kit; ensuring settlers had a reliable source of food, medicine and tools when arriving at a new destination. Ti's benefits read like a sort of plant Swiss Army Knife.
In ancient times, the Ki served as a material for clothing, rain gear, sandals, roof thatching, dinner plates, ceremonial activities, fishing lures and making okolehao, an alcoholic brew from the ti roots.
The canoe plant strategy helps me appreciate what the Polynesian voyagers accomplished. Where, say, Christopher Columbus's journey was like a moon mission: risky and ground breaking, but ultimately intent on returning home; the Polynesians were more like colonizing Mars. That is, a mostly one way trip, intent on establishing a civilization where one didn't exit. In that context, canoe plants can be seen as a sort of a proto-terraforming project. Amazing. As NASA considers how it might allow humans to thrive on Mars, they are implicitly taking a page out of the Polynesians handbook: the the right plants may make all the difference.
Form the Ti sighting, we made our way back to the car. Here, I chugged a can of Aloha Maid Pass-O-Guava Nectar. Made in Hawaii, this was probably the most native encounter we had all hike.
In the end, Kahakapao Loop Trail was a well marked, easy to follow trail that helped us transition to vacation mode. If you're a mountain biker, you'll no doubt love the trails and seemingly well equipped practice area. For hikers, it checks the box, but there was nothing spectacular about the loop. In short, it was nice, but not a must do.
