Journey to the Edge (of the Watershed)

Today was another full day of field work. We got to the valley at about 9 am and set out to continue trying to map the hydrology of the valley. Me and Gordon decided we would try to tackle the top of the watershed as best we could. We walked on the road until we came to a confluence of two major tributaries to the main stream channel. After taking a point, we decided to take the north branch and see how far we could follow it. The vegetation was so dense it was surreal- my first real experience with true rainforest jungle.

Welcome to the Jungle

We slogged our way through for about a half hour until the drainage channel got too small and the vegetation too thick to continue. I took a point on the Trimble, and then walked along the channel all the way back to the confluence. The vegetation was so dense and the valley walls so steep that sometimes the GPS couldn’t get signal, but I did the best I could. There were some really cool examples of Hala tree, which has aerial roots that form a cone at the base, and some other trees with crazy pink flowers.

Checking the GPS, we realized we’d covered less than a half mile of the stream, and concluded ground surveying of the streams would be impossible.

We moved south along the road and found some other tribs that crossed the road. Working towards the back of the watershed, we found a road that went uphill, and we took it up the hill to see if we could get some other points. The road ended in a trail that we took to see how far it went up. As it turned out, the trail went all the way to the top of the ridge, and we walked to the high point at the back of the watershed. It was about 800 ft of elevation change in less than a mile, so it was quite a workout. The view at the top was incredible- from the very top we could see all of the Ka’a’awa and two adjacent valleys.

The Valley to the South 

We ran across some more incredible flora on our way- everything about this valley is incredibly picturesque.

After some lunch up on top of the ridge, we made our way back to the valley floor and tried to get some more work done. An ill-fated attempt to map a swampy area left me muddy and with soaked feet. I wrung out my socks and started to realize just how difficult mapping the hydrology was going to be.

We ran into Briton and got a ride back to the front of the valley to try something else. Below the parking area where we start there was a marshy area with some man-made lakes, and we tried our luck with that. After about an hour, it was time to pack up for the day, and we drove back to Tradewinds Ranch. I felt quite satisfied with the day’s activities but also kind of overwhelmed at how much work is still ahead.