Rainy Desert day

On Wednesday Dec 22 I drove from Twentynine Palms to the Phoenix area, most of the way through a serious rainstorm. In 29 Palms an inch and a quarter of rain fell overnight; Palm Springs was soaked by two inches, almost half their annual average! The rain filled the arroyos and sent water onto the roads in many places. Here, a normally dry arroyo in 29 Palms was roiling robustly in the morning.

There was a flash flood warning up for Joshua Tree National Park that morning. However, when I checked with the rangers they said there were no road problems. So, I drove through the park. Water was flowing over the road in only one place...right here, at high elevation near White Tank campground. It was only a couple inches deep...no problem driving through but ideal for photos. It was cool to see water in many of the arroyos.

The gray rocks of JTNP outlined against a storm sky.

Raindrops on paloverde branches.

Just southeast of the park, I came upon these desert mountains shrouded in scud. I've never seen this before in the desert! The arid lands don't get clouds similar to those on the Olympic peninsula very often.

Cuyama River Kickin' it!

Here's the Pineapple Express in action in California today, Dec 21. Rain has poured down for several days in the central and southern part of the state, and the Cuyama River, east of Santa Maria, is flowing high, fast, and brown. It's usually dry. Santa Maria had 6 3/4 inches of rain in the previous three days, about half their average for an entire year! And it probably rained more in the hills of the Cuyama watershed.

In the Pineapple Express

Here's the Hawaiian end of the Pineapple Express. This video was taken from my Lanai at my rental Hale in Hana on Dec 10. Just a good rain...no flooding. We even had thunder!

Pineapple Express hits Cali

The Pineapple Express has been raging in Southern California. Enroute to Arizona, I have been driving through it for two days. Rarely are the deserts of the south so sodden. This is Rabbit Lake, near Lucerne Valley in the Mojave desert. The vast majority of the time, this is a salt flat. But, several inches of rain have fallen here in the past few days, along with runoff from the surrounding mountains, and voila! Instant lake.

The light was really fine for much of my drive today. Here a bare, gnarly tree rises against a wintry sky on highway 166 west of New Cuyama.

In New Cuyama, the light seemed to highlight this church.

Gray skies, backlit by a few sunrays, glower over the Cuyama Valley.

East of Santa Maria, the normally dry Cuyama River races muddily along.

Last Days in Hana

On the Maui coast near Hana, the scenery resembles the Big Island's in places. Surf, lava, sky.

Red Sand Beach in Hana. It's a partial volcanic crater. The beach is made of fine cinders...coarser than normal sand but easily walkable in bare feet. A nice place to sloat out.

My last sunrise at my Hana hale. (sigh!) As our outgoing governator would say, Ah'll be back!

An 1860 vintage church in Ke'anae, about 15 miles west of Hana, off the highway. Very mellow spot...I've passed it by several times in the past and finally went in to investigate on my way to the airport. Glad I did.

Winter surf at Ke'anae. You can tell it's winter in Hawaii by the nights...when the wind drops the temperature plunges well into the 60s and you turn off the ceiling fan and pull a blanket over you. But of course, when the sun comes up it's toasty warm again in no time. My kind of winter!

Hana Ramblings

I've been hangin' in Hana for several days. It's quiet and very isolated...over a two hour drive to the nearest supermarket! The countryside is lush and peaceful, and has attracted a number of celebrities over the years, including Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh was a national hero after he became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1927. He had ticker tape parades, massive fame...he was a rock star, like Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Charlie Chaplin. But Lindbergh was actually rather shy and reclusive...he didn't like the bright lights, especially after his family lost their baby in a botched kidnapping attempt. Finally, late in his life, he discovered the Hana area, which was then even more isolated than it is today. He lived his final years here, dying in 1974. This is his grave, in a pretty little churchyard by the sea about 10 miles from Hana town.

I hiked the Pipiwai trail today...third time, but the first in about a decade. It's an exotic trek, through jungle, past waterfalls, over a rushing stream flowing through a gorge cut from lava. Much of the upper part of the two mile trail goes through a dense bamboo forest. When the wind blows the bamboo makes a clacking sound...quite bizarre.

At the end of the trail is Waimoku Falls, 400 feet high. There's also a 200 foot waterfall along the route, along with many smaller cascades.

At the bottom of the trail is 'Ohe'o Gulch...fine swimming here! Water is about 72 degrees, cool and refreshing but not uncomfortable on a warm, humid day. The Old Sloat had a dip, as he has done on previous visits in his younger days. This area was given the name Seven Sacred Pools for tourist purposes. In reality, the area has never been sacred, though the ancient Hawaiians enjoyed swimming here as much as anyone. And, counting the pools upstream from the bridge, there are many more than seven.

Midway along the Pipiwai trail, before you come to the bamboo, this huge banyan tree is encountered. Also exotic. There are actually several banyans along the path...this is the biggest.

More Maui Views

Ol' Dave left his oatmeal bowl on our lanai the other morning, and the resident cardinals quickly moved in. They're cheeky blokes...they started salvaging when he was still sitting at the table!

Wailea Beach on the south Maui coast. Apparently, it has been voted the best beach in the world on occasion. It is awfully nice, good swimming and snorkeling, but a little short on waves most days, including this one. Behind the beach is the Grand Wailea resort, an opulent five star property. I didn't work hard enough to be able to stay there.

Polo Beach, just south of Wailea. A pleasant shoreside path connects the two. The Moorish looking hotel in back of the beach is the Fairmont Kea Lani. Didn't work hard enough to stay there, either. Good snorkeling near the rocks just to the right of the picture. I was glad to see that both here and at Napili Point, there was a lot of brightly colored, healthy looking coral. A nice contrast to the dead reefs seen in many places.

Ho'okipa, on the north shore of Maui. This is a world renowned spot for both board surfing and windsurfing. Here a couple surfies are riding medium-large waves...they get a lot bigger than this! Local custom is that the board surfers have the beach til 11 AM, then the windsurfers take over. However, on this day, on the eve of a Kona storm, there was only a light south wind, so the board guys were out in the early afternoon.

Nearing Hana, Waianapanapa State Park is a fine spot to stop. There's a black sand beach, sea caves, a blowhole, and lots of jagged lava rock. The last eruption in the area was about 500 years ago.

I went up to Haleakala Crater yesterday. This was my third visit. The first time, in 1985, knowing the temperature was 30 degrees colder than at sea level, I took a set of warm clothing for hiking. But I also took a ski jacket! A friend dropped me off at the airport in Denver on a snowy morning, and I forgot to give the jacket to him to take back to the weather office, so I had to cram it into my suitcase in the checkin line. Well, I got up here, and the temperature was 50 degrees with a 50 mph wind, and I put on my ski jacket in Hawaii, and I was comfortable while all the tourons were freezing! This time no serious hiking was planned, and I simply wore a sweatshirt; it was again only 50 degrees, but with light winds. By the way, on my second visit to the crater about 10 years ago, it was fogged in; didn't see much of anything. Yesterday was a beautiful day, and the crater was fantastic.

This is one of the few places in the world where you climb almost two miles virtually straight up from sea level. As my friend said, it's like being in an airplane when you're at the top, at Pu'u Ulaula.

Haleakala is a power spot. The landscape is variegated, stark, and otherworldly.

The silversword grows here, and nowhere else. Like the yucca, the plant assumes this aspect for a long time...around 50 years...then blooms spectacularly once, then dies.

Haleakala used to be much larger...a huge shield volcano like Mauna Loa. Over the millenia the summit eroded away, then new eruptions produced the cinder cones in the crater. There have been several eruptions in the past thousand years, the last in the late 1700s.

Wipeout!

Awesome surf at Napili Point, right at my resort, brought some of Hawaii's elite surfers out to battle the big waves. I saw a lot of spectacular rides, but anytime you have big surf, and surfies stylin' to da max, wipeouts happen.

Maui Surf!

High surf advisory is verifying on Maui! The spray on the right side of the picture is perhaps 40 feet above sea level as the waves crash on the cliffs below.

A side view of the surf pounding the coast. Molokai in the background.

When I made a reservation to stay at Napili Point, about 10 miles north of Lahaina, I had no idea that it was a primo surf spot during big wave events. But it is...and with today's huge waves, the elite surfies came out to play. Great athletes in a fabulous natural setting...quite a spectacle!

Sunset at Napili tonight...Dec 2. Big swells still coming in. Pic taken from my Lanai. This is my first visit to Maui in about ten years...I should come more often!

Compare the previous pix to this one, taken two days earlier on Nov 30, again from my lanai. No surf at all! It's always fascinating to be by the ocean, which is constantly changing and never boring. Though you can't see them in this pic, sea turtles hang out in this bay. Usually they swim with snorkelers during the day, as they did later on Nov 30. But today...Dec 2...the high surf kept the snorkelers away and the turtles shared the bay with the surfies. Lanai island is in the background.