Hawaiian Walkways in

Lillie Suburban Newspapers April 2008

Excerpt from "Highlights of Hawaii"   by Pam O'Meara (4/15/08)

Where everything green grows
From Honoka'a, west of Hilo, we took a half-day tropical rainforest hike — Waipio Waterfall Adventure — through Hawaiian Walkways Company. Tish Tralka drove us through thousands of acres of stately eucalyptus trees to our starting point and handed out walking sticks necessary for balance on the twisty, hilly, sometimes wet trail. At one point, our group, which included Ann and Dave Haider from St. Paul, was hiking on an old donkey trail overlooking the remote Waipio Valley.

Tralka gave us a rundown on the lush vegetation, pointing out macadamia trees with green nuts and coffee trees with red fruit. We stopped to sample strawberry and lemon guavas, which grow wild all over the island. After hiking a couple of hours through often-dense foliage, we stopped at a waterfall for a picnic while two people swam in the pool beneath.
Though the rainforest appears to have ruled the area for centuries, Tralka explained that in the early 1900s, the whole area was a sugarcane plantation. Sugarcane peaked in the 1950s, was declining in the 1970s, and the last plantation closed 12 years ago. Brazil and other countries now dominate sugarcane farming.

The climate on the Big Island is also perfect for growing macadamia nut trees, said Lani Hackbarth at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory in Hilo. She said the nuts fall to the ground when ripe, are dried and then go through steel rollers to crack open their tough shells. The factory processes 8,000 pounds of nuts every hour and ships them all over the world. We savored macadamia nut ice cream in the outdoor cafe and shopped in the factory store. Driving past "mac" farms on the south and east sides of the island, we could smell the fragrant blossoms of the trees, which are native to Australia.

Later, we visited the 150,000-acre Parker Ranch in the center of the Big Island is the oldest and largest privately owned cattle ranch in the U.S. The ranch was founded by John Palmer Parker, who befriended King Kamehameha in the early 1800s and married into the family. He began by domesticating wild horses and cattle at the king’s request.

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