Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

Describes travel via old trails between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, and around Mauna Loa:
KM: When you walked out here, one of the interesting things there’s a, in one of the native
newspapers Ka Hoku o Kapakipika I think, it is in 1865
DW: Uh-hmm. Star of the Pacific
KM: Yes, that’s it. An old Hawaiian, Kanuha, who was at that time living at the Ho‘okena
section of South Kona told Jules Remy that, actually, this was in the 1850s, it was
published in 1865 thereabouts. That there were a set of heiau on the mountain, we know
of Ahu-a-‘Umi. He said another heiau was at the place called Pu‘u Këke‘e or Ke‘eke‘e.
You know what that pu‘u is yeah, it’s near the Saddle Road when you go up
DW: Ahumoa, yeah.
KM: There’s Ahumoa, there’s Këke‘e.
DW: Uh-hmm.
KM: And then there was a heiau on Mauna Kea called Hale-mauna-pöhaku and the fourth
one was Pöhaku-o-hanalei on Mauna Loa. Did you by chance ever hear of or see any
heiau out in this area that you remember traveling, besides Ahu-a-‘Umi
DW: No.
KM: Not here, no
DW: Not really, I came across areas that I think were flat demarked areas, and it’s flat, not
built up. One layer of rocks.
KM: Yes, so marked out yeah
DW: I don’t know the significance of those, and they’re not prominent.
KM: Uh-hmm. It’s amazing, we know people were using the mountain lands you know, like to
gather the ‘ua‘u, nënë like that.
DW: Yes.
KM: And traveling. You can find little ana ho‘omaha ana lulu, where they rest.
DW: These are mysterious, these damn things, fascinating things, pieces of trails.
KM: Pieces of trails out here, yeah.
DW: There’s more sections of trails, constructed trails [pointing to the Kahuku Region].
KM: Yes, Kahuku section.
DW: Apparently the horse trails on the lava, the ä‘ä and where they go on the ä‘ä you can find
‘em, in the pähoehoe you cannot find ‘em.
KM: Yes.
DW: Unless by the grass, in the cracks in the pähoehoe.
KM: Hmm, that’s right, if it’s really worn in.
DW: The horse crap adds fertilizer or something.
KM: [chuckling]
DW: Yes, you can find the trails.
KM: A little scattering here and there.
DW: You can find the trails that way. And you walk to the end, the pähoehoe, you can pick up
the trail on the ‘ä‘ä.
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:338