road trip report

[csgray]

I made a trip across the Saddle, down to south Kona and back to HPP by way of Kau and Volcano this week. There are signs of vegetation coming back on either side of the Saddle, but the area around the Manuka State park and the military base is still just dead, dead, dead. Not a sign of living vegetation for miles. Outside of Waimea, the grazing areas have a shadow of green running in concentric rings around all the hills, but it is going to take a long time for those pastures to be able to support viable herds again.

South Kona was surprisingly lush and green. The friend I stayed with is a professional gardener tending properties from Kohala to Kealekekua, he said South Kona has been getting rain almost every night for about a month now. Coffee and citrus were hit hardest by the drought but are coming back.

Kau was green, with knee high grass in the pastures! The change just blew me away, last time I drove through it was brown and dead and looked ready to go up in flames. This time the pastures were full of grass and the trees are coming back too.

Last time I drove this loop was late last October, signs of the drought were everywhere. It was so good to see the Big Island look green again, but I think the Saddle isn't going to recover anytime soon, unless we get serious snow on the mountain to replenish the groundwater.

Carol

[TomK]

Carol,

You might get your wish - those of us who work on the summit are bracing for some rather wintry weather over the next few days. We might get a foot of snow although the forecasts sometimes turn out to be a little inaccurate especially with complex storms such as the one on the way. It can go either way though - a lot less snow or a lot more!

January is supposed to be very wet this winter, so this might just be a sample of what's to come.

Tom

[dmbwest]

Didja notice the grass growing up through all that slippery pea gravel roadside ? Pretty cool.

Exciting news Tom.

aloha,
pog