![\"Pu'uKukui\/West](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2009\/09\/Misty-Mountains3-199x300.jpg\")
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As I prepare for the upcoming Golf Road Warriors trip to Maui I’ve been looking back fondly on previous trips to Hawaii’s Magic Isle. \u00a0On a journey there some years ago I wrote the following story for Backpacker Magazine. \u00a0It depicts one of my fondest travel memories– an opportunity to hike in a place where very few humans had ever stepped before.<\/em><\/p>\n This story was first published in 2009. \u00a0For current information on Pu’u Kukui and possible access to it, visit the Maui Land and Pineapple Company <\/a>and the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust<\/a>. \u00a0Kapalua resort also maintains several hiking trails nearby, visit here<\/a> for more information.<\/em><\/p>\n As a laughably strong wind blew me off the narrow boardwalk above First Bog in Pu\u2019u Kukui Preserve I sank calf deep into black mud.\u00a0 Some experts estimate that each foot of bog here represents about 10,000 years of vegetative growth, so I had just stepped back\u2014literally\u2014 into prehistory.\u00a0 Which seemed appropriate in this eerie landscape reminiscent of something out of Jurassic Park.\u00a0 And given that barely any humans have had the opportunity to walk in Pu\u2019u Kukui, mine might have been the first calf to come in contact with this particular chilled soup of peat and rainwater.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re the sort of person who\u2019d like to attempt what may be the least-traveled day hike on the planet, don\u2019t worry about visiting Bhutan or Ulan Bator.\u00a0 Just book a flight to the Hawaiian Island of Maui.\u00a0 And start saving your money.\u00a0 And buy a pair of knee-high rubber boots.\u00a0 In a world where few adventures are unique any more, you can still be one of only a handful of annual visitors welcomed to walk in this wild, private, 9000-acre tropical rain forest.<\/p>\n Owned and administered by the Maui Land and Pineapple Company, Pu\u2019u Kukui employs two full-time field technicians and a supervisor who work to fence out pigs and cows and battle invasive foreign plants; protect endangered indigenous species that occur nowhere else in the world; and maintain the health and viability of an ecosystem that you\u2019d otherwise have to visit in a zoo, botanical garden, or lab to see components of.\u00a0 Once each year ML&P chooses by lottery or sells (as a fundraiser) spots on a day-hike into the preserve.\u00a0 In addition to these hikers, researchers and journalists are occasionally allowed to visit, which is how I manage to spend a long day walking Pu\u2019u Kukui with photographer Ron Dahlquist, field technician Hank Oppenheimer, and intern Kainoa Marchella.<\/p>\n As soon as Ron\u2014 a long time Maui resident\u2014 lays eyes on me he gushes, \u201cYou\u2019re a lucky man.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been trying to get up here for 15 years.\u00a0 And I know the president of the Maui Land and Pineapple Company.\u201d\u00a0 Such is the success with which ML&P has kept the preserve off limits.\u00a0 They have done so at least partly to honor the native Hawaiian land management practice of \u201cahupua\u2019a,\u201d in which the islands are divided into wedges\u2014defined by perennial streams\u2014that reach from mountain summits down past ocean shallows and encompass all topographies and microclimates and natural resources from rain forests to coral reefs.\u00a0 The Hawaiian model calls for caring for each wedge in a sustained and holistic way.<\/p>\n In managing its own holdings in a manner that satisfies this cultural mandate, ML&P has created an engaging mystique around Pu\u2019u Kukui.\u00a0 Even most Maui residents know they\u2019ll never get to see the place.\u00a0 Still, Hawaiian culture has always valued the spiritual power even of land too remote or harsh or downright scary (such as active volcanoes) to visit.\u00a0 ML&P also protects Pu\u2019u Kukui because it is crucial to the island\u2019s water supply.<\/p>\n In the past, reservations on the one annual public hike through Pu\u2019u Kukui were acquired by sheer luck through a lottery system democratic enough to exclude nearly everyone.\u00a0 But in the year before my visit, the first eleven folks to pony up $1100 were helicoptered to the summit of Pu\u2019u Kukui and allowed to descend 1500 vertical feet of boardwalk built to protect the fragile soil and prevent disturbances that might allow weeds and other invader species to thrive. \u00a0These days, your best chance might be to bid on the opportunity at an auction held by the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.<\/p>\n On the day of my July hike, Hank\u2014 a field-trained naturalist whose weathered features and wild blond hair make him look more like an aging rock star\u2014 picks me up in his muddy truck outside a coffee shop near the upscale, ML&P-owned Kapalua Resort.\u00a0 The morning is postcard Hawaii, warm and tropical.<\/p>\n Ten minutes later we are standing on a concrete helicopter pad pulling on yellow rubber rain suits (mine is borrowed) and tall rubber boots (which I\u2019ve bought just for the occasion).\u00a0 Ten minutes after that we ascend via helicopter past fields of ripening pineapples into a fast-moving river of clouds rippling above a wild and foreboding alpine environment.\u00a0 Canyons and waterfalls fly past beneath us.\u00a0 In the distance, aureoles of light occasionally remind me that somewhere nearby perfectly normal folks are slathering on sunscreen and snorkeling in the blue sea.<\/p>\n A ways up the mountain the nose of the helicopter swings from side to side in strong gusts above a tiny platform that we seem unlikely to hit\u2014 but after a few tense moments we manage to land on it with a loud thump.\u00a0 Exiting, I crouch low to the ground and scurry away from the prop wash.\u00a0 Though the annual Pu\u2019u Kukui hikers are usually flown to the summit and then descend several miles\u00a0through cloud forest to this platform at First Bog, 4500 feet above sea level, weather doesn\u2019t permit our group to fly any higher.\u00a0 We\u2019ll get to climb the last 1500 feet of elevation and then come back to First Bog to meet the helicopter\u2014 if weather allows it to retrieve us.\u00a0 Otherwise, we\u2019ll have to hike additional\u00a0miles down to an old cabin accessible by four-wheel drive vehicle far below.<\/p>\n The weather at First Bog is cool and moist, the air like another atmosphere altogether, as if scoured of all impurities by wind and water.\u00a0 Whereas the air on Maui\u2019s beaches is clean in a baked, salty way, breathing here is like inhaling pure, chilled oxygen.\u00a0 Or ether.\u00a0 We hike single-file up the boardwalk (which is covered in a metal grid to prevent slipping) through the tundra-like landscape, gulping air by the euphoric lungful.<\/p>\n The higher reaches of Pu\u2019u Kukui are often battered by trade winds that reach 50 mph, hence most of the diverse flora here lives on the ground rather than in a canopy, as in most rain forests.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the second wettest spot on the Hawaiian islands, receiving as much as 600 inches of rain in one record year, not counting fog, condensation, and the drool of hikers lucky enough to imbibe this breathable cocktail.\u00a0 En route to the summit, Hank informs us that we are passing through a rare series of montane bogs, home to miniaturized plants such as the ohia tree, which normally grows to from 40-70 feet in height; in Pu\u2019u Kukui it barely manages 12 inches.<\/p>\n He also points out a rare native daisy, an endangered plant called snakeroot, and other local treats\u2014the preserve is home to as many as 30 rare and endangered species.\u00a0 As we stand in a suddenly pelting rain that sounds like tiny firecrackers against my rain suit, Hank explains the importance of this natural community for water storage, for the native Hawaiian culture, and for the potential of endemic plants to form the basis of pharmaceutical drugs.\u00a0 In fact, several major drug companies have sent biologists to Pu\u2019u Kukui to prospect for plant compounds that might help cure or treat diseases such as cancer and AIDS.<\/p>\n Hank also explains that the native forest here remains intact because rough terrain, inclement weather, and dense vegetation have usually proven enough to discourage visitors of the human and even animal kind\u2014although wild pigs and loose cattle have wandered into the area in the past.\u00a0 As have a few dedicated (and demented and law-breaking) hikers drawn by said mystique.\u00a0 \u201cThe land is very susceptible,\u201d Hank says.\u00a0 \u201cA seed has the potential to go crazy.\u00a0 That\u2019s one reason the preserve is closed to the public.\u00a0 Every year Hawaii has more weeds, insects, birds, and lizards that come as hitchhikers or are brought in from other countries.\u00a0 Those species are unraveling the integrity of these forests.\u00a0\u00a0 Our job is to mitigate any threats or prevent threats from entering.\u00a0 Because the world is shrinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Which also explains why I had to turn my pack and clothes inside out before even boarding the helicopter this morning: to shake out any seeds or other plant material that may have clung to my gear on previous hiking trips.<\/p>\n As if to prove this point, Hank gestures toward elegant stalks of Japanese mat rush popping up beside the boardwalk.\u00a0 The plant was brought to Maui 100 years ago because it provided a good weaving material.\u00a0 It now grows sporadically in Pu\u2019u Kukui where soil has been disturbed.<\/p>\n Up above us, for a fleeting moment sun shines on the summit like the light in an Irish fairy tail.\u00a0 Plants along the boardwalk weep golden drops.\u00a0 The wind calms and we hear snippets of bird song.\u00a0 And then seconds later the wind and rain ramp up anew\u2014so much so that I\u2019m blown off the boardwalk and into the bog.<\/p>\n As we share a lunch of smoked marlin and chocolate biscuits we talk about the paradox of advertising a hike to a place that so few people will ever be allowed to visit.<\/p>\n \u201cAny publicity if it\u2019s done right is an educational tool,\u201d Hank says, explaining the company\u2019s reason for allowing a limited number of hikers to tour this pristine ecosystem.\u00a0 \u201cBut this is too fragile a place to say \u2018come one, come all.\u2019\u00a0 And it is private property; there\u2019s no mandate to make it a playground for everyone.\u00a0 With some places, if you really love and respect them, the best thing you can do is stay out.\u201d<\/p>\n With rain pounding on the roof of the shelter we eventually ready ourselves to hike back down to First Bog.\u00a0 The weather has closed in and we descend through clouds, our yellow rain slickers the only brightness amid the gray sky and brown-green flora.\u00a0 Upon reaching the helicopter landing pad Hank makes a cell phone call and then reports that the chopper will not be able to pick us up; we\u2019ll have to hike another three hours to the cabin.\u00a0 Ron, who has a bad ankle and is wearing tennis shoes unlikely to remain on his feet in the thick mud, groans.<\/p>\n Not far below First Bog the boardwalk gives way to a swampy trail that often shows glimpses of steep drops into deep bowls of unbroken forest on each side.\u00a0 Near one such precipice Hank warns me to be careful, joking, \u201cThat\u2019s where I lost my first journalist.\u201d If I were to slip over the edge at one of these spots, I think, it is unlikely that anyone would ever find me.\u00a0 Hiking down the seldom-traveled mountain I take an odd sort of comfort in this.<\/p>\n Whereas the upper reaches of Pu\u2019u Kukui were open and windblown, the lower \u201cforest\u201d is tight, insular, almost Hobbitlike.\u00a0 Trees are furred with vegetation.\u00a0 The route reminds me of a backcountry climbers\u2019 trail where the word \u201ctrail\u201d is almost meant sarcastically.\u00a0 While an overgrown path wanders through the thick growth, at times it is really only a whispered suggestion of a path.\u00a0 Once or twice, when Hank has disappeared ahead of me, I stray into unmarked forest and must backtrack to find the route.\u00a0 When I ask if anyone ever maintains this trail he tells me that we are doing it right now.<\/p>\n Setting a brisk pace up front he also warns us each time we approach one of the wire traps (set to catch wild pigs) that we must step over to prevent becoming ensnared in their tightening loops.\u00a0 But avoiding these obstacles is no tougher than high-stepping over roots, slogging through mud, down-climbing slippery rocks, limboing beneath over-hanging limbs, and performing other requisite contortions necessary to negotiate our way down the mountain, all in a cool and relentless drizzle.\u00a0 We soldier on in silence for a while, each at our own pace, lost in thought in the insular, wet, and sweet-smelling jungle.<\/p>\n When we are close to the cabin where we\u2019ll be picked up by Randy Bartlett, the preserve supervisor, Hank gathers our foursome and warns Ron and I that Randy may well be lurking behind a rock by the edge of the trail, waiting to scare us with his dead-on imitation of a wild pig.\u00a0 And sure enough, with the cabin nearly in view we hear the snort of a huge beast.\u00a0 It startles me even though I\u2019ve been warned to expect it.\u00a0 In fact, for the past two hours, I\u2019ve half expected to come upon a triceratops snacking on the dense foliage.\u00a0 Because in this pristine and primitive and nearly unvisited jungle, absolutely anything seems possible\u2014except, of course, getting another chance to hike here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Waterfall\"](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2009\/09\/Waterfall3-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pu'uKukui\/West](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2009\/09\/Pathway-199x300.jpg\")
Ron and I\u2014newcomers to this cross between hiking and tightrope walking\u2014are knocked off the skinny boardwalk by wind or edged off by thick vegetation several times during our ascent.\u00a0 At the summit we all duck into a crude shelter that Hank refers to as the \u201cPu\u2019u Kukui Hilton.\u201d\u00a0 To the sides, 2000-foot drops plunge away into the clouds.<\/p>\n