Holoholo wale on Hamakua Coast

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By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Travel Editor

From the lookout park above, at the end of Highway 240, you can get a tantalizing glimpse of the mouth of Waipi'o Valley; it's a nice place to picnic, too. Photos by Carl E. Koonce III • Special to The Advertiser

Laupahoehoe boat ramp is a favorite swimming hole for folks from the area.

Charming Honomu town offers several eateries, a great bakery, shops to poke around in and the last stop before 'Akaka Falls Park.

It was in this frame of mind that I approached a day along the Hamakua Coast, from Hilo north on Highway 19, the Hawai'i Belt Road.

I did, in fact, have a goal: to reach the "topside" lookout over Waipi'o Valley before dark. But how long that would take, where I would stop in between, what I might eat or do or buy, who I might meet — all that chance would decide.

"Oh, I envy you," said the nice lady at the Dolphin Bay Hotel, the little slice of old Hawai'i in north Hilo where I'd spent a couple of days. "We Hilo people almost never get up that way when, really, you can drive it in just a little over an hour."

This bit of information delighted me: Once, years ago, I spent four hours driving through the battlefield park at Vicksburg, Miss., covering 14 whole miles tracing the front lines (seven Confederate, seven Union), stopping at every monument and viewpoint, reading aloud from a history of the battle and moving at a pace not unlike that of travel in Civil War times.

All right, I thought, this will be a plantation-paced day, appropriate for a coastline that was once occupied by a string of plantation villages, seven sugar mills, miles of cane haul roads and flumes and 'uku-thousands of acres of grasshopper-green cane.

I asked several Hilo folk where the Hamakua Coast officially begins: Pretty much everyone agreed that you can start counting from the famed "singing bridge" over the Wailuku River (aka the "airplane bridge"), so-called because of the humming sound it makes as your car zooms over. There always seems to be someone on the bridge, fishing or just leaning on the railing and looking. Hilo's like that; it's a place where people actually seem to live, not spend their lives in the house or in the car.

I tuned the radio to 100.3 KAVA, a Hawaiian music station that seemed right for the day, and set off at a sedate pace, keeping an eye on the rear-view mirror for less-relaxed drivers. Concrete structures arching over the highway puzzled me, until I was told by a local fruit grower that they once were flumes that carried water and cane down to the mills on the coast. Just after Wainaku, the Hilo Bay Scenic Lookout is a great place to get your bearings, say aloha to Hilo and ready your eyes for the many scenes of beauty that will unfold along this coastline.

About a song and a half north of Hilo, I came upon Papa'ikou and the pink-fronted convenience store called Pinky's, where the hot dogs are rumored to be good; it's the former T. Hironaka Store. I wasn't quite ready for anything to eat, but I'd been told that this was the place to turn off the highway to enjoy the 4-mile Onomea Scenic Route (aka Old Mamalahoa Highway), which curves in and out through a jungle and offers peek-a-boo views.

Botanical garden

Hilo-side is justly famed for its gardens and flowers, and the Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Gardens (27-717 Old Mamalahoa Highway; (808) 964-5233; $15, $5 for 6-16; free for 5 and younger) is an impressive introduction to the lushness of this coast. A boardwalk takes you along a gully and dry stream; the palm and fern plantings display many varieties, and the sight of Onomea Falls is a fitting reward at the end of the walk. Heliconias are another specialty of the house; they're in bloom now through the end of summer. A nice touch: If it's raining, the volunteers at the gate will lend you an umbrella.

Connect back up with the main highway and you'll soon come to 'Akaka Falls Road (Highway 226, aka Honomu Road). Up the hill, you'll find Honomu town, which boasts Mr. Ed's Cookies (big, inexpensive, cafeteria-kine cookies; excellent omiyage) in the old Ishigo's Bldg. (built in 1910) and several cute shops and cafes. Glass from the Past is a mecca for bottle collectors. My friend Griff Frost says Pizza Hawai'i here has the best pizza on the coast.

After browsing and a snack, turn the car's nose toward the mountain and climb the three miles up the steep road to 'Akaka Falls Park. The short, paved loop path takes you from the parking lot to spots that offer good views of both 'Akaka and Kahuna Falls; even little kids can handle this one, though keep a tight handhold on them. Nonskid shoes are a good idea; the frequent rains can make the path slick. It's a pretty place, but there is no access to the falls themselves, frustrating to hardier sorts.

Kolekole Park

Back down the hill on the highway, look for the Kolekole Park turnoff on the left, which will take you down to a pleasant state park situated where Kolekole Stream meets the ocean. There you can swim, bodyboard, or picnic in a pavilion or at several picnic tables.

Melvin Aholekua, 11, was just emerging from the stream where he and his sisters had been swinging on a knotted rope out over the water. The park is his family's favorite. "We come almost every day, summertime. My Grandma brings us," he said, gesturing to where an older woman was sitting, making ribbon lei in the shade while keeping an eye on her mo'opuna. After work, "my daddy and mom goin' come and we have a picnic."

His grandmother, who had grown up in the area but was shy to give her name, said Kolekole is the Ala Moana of the Hamakua Coast; if you sit there long enough, you'll see all your neighbors.

At Mile 16, you pass over a long bridge into the District of North Hilo, and at Mile 22, you reach Mauloa Gulch, one of three deep declivities that the local folks call "horseshoes." There's an old train tunnel at the back of the gulch, but if you're driving, keep your eyes on the road, which is squirrely and prone to landslides along here.

Venture off the main road and drive the short, often one-lane residential byways, and you encounter one blink-and-you-miss-it plantation town after another here, with lots of old houses and new trucks. And lots of "For Sale" signs and elaborate entryways for new developments. Every local person you talk to will get around eventually to telling you that all of C. Brewer's one-time sugar-cane lands have been sold now, and a time of great change is near. The new landowners are wending their way through the permit process and beginning to tear up ground for infrastructure — mostly for sprawling "second home" and "retired early" kinds of developments. The writing's on the wall for affordable land in the area.

Laupahoehoe Point

Laupahoehoe Point, below the road, has always been one of my favorite places. I've yet to have enough time there, sitting and watching the waves break. On this particular day, a father is bobbing in the water just off the boat ramp and urging his young sons to jump into his arms, but they hesitate, and I think of the irony — so many children their age were killed here, swept way in the 1946 tidal wave that struck Laupahoehoe School. The village is up high on the hill now, and there's a small train-museum there that commemorates the one-time importance of rails in moving cane and people around the area.

Farther down the highway, near Mile 28 at O'okala, many plantation camp homes and decrepit mill buildings still stand, and the winding side roads have have resonant names: Kukui Village, Milo Village, Skill Camp, Pake Camp, Akasaki Camp. You'll lose the radio about here. If you're curious about back roads, old place names and such, I recommend The Ready Mapbook series from Odyssey Publishing, which shows everything beyond a horsetrail and offers intriguing indicators of past uses. (I noted a Lower Cane Haul Road that links O'okala and Honoka'a much closer to the coast than the main road, for example, but is closed now to public traffic.)

Past the grassy fields of Pa'auilo (stop for pasteles or laulau at Pa'auilo Store), look for the sign that directs you mauka to Kalopa State Recreation Area, a highlands park that's nestled right where the meadows stop and the rain forest begins. It's a beautiful, tranquil retreat, somewhat wet and chilly at times, where you'll see pheasant and other game birds. There are camp sites (you need a permit beforehand) and picnic areas. The trails here, unfortunately, are not well-maintained because of a lack of staff; stick to those that are marked if you decide to ramble.

Honoka'a, the big city

Honoka'a, at about Mile 42, is the Hamakua Coast's big city, equipped with a large supermarket (T. Kaneshiro Store), a hardware store, banks, restaurants, real estate offices, shops, a golf course, bed-and-breakfasts and other tourist facilities (the headquarters of Hawaiian Walkways Hiking Tours is right on the main drag, Highway 240 — they specialize in Waipi'o Valley tours). Whatever you do, don't miss the malassadas at Tex's.

There are many signs of the slowdown in tourism here; shops changing hands, shopkeepers sitting listlessly outside their stores. But the friendliness is unimpaired; this is a good place to stop for shopping, a meal, perhaps to stay.

The end of the road is coming right up if you stay on Highway 240; you dead-end at the Waipi'o Lookout, where you experience at a distance the beauty of a valley that was once Hawai'i's bread basket (well, taro basket) and where the famed twin falls of Hi'ilawe flow. There's a pavilion at the lookout park where you can picnic and gaze at the view. Coming back through tiny Kukuihaele town, you encounter Waipi'o Valley Artworks, which is also home to an ice cream shop and the offices of firms that offer tours by van, horse and ATV in the area (no horses or ATVs in the valley itself, however).

At this point, you're just 17 miles from Waimea and you'll have noted a change in the landscape from development to farmlands to ranchlands. You can zip back to Hilo in an hour and a half, or continue on to Waimea (another 40 minutes or so) or even to the Kohala Coast (an hour and a half).

But remember, it's not the destination, it's the holoholo wale.

Helpful resources

Talking book

• "Exploring the Hamakua Coast: An Insider's Guide" audio CD tour, packaged with "Exploring The Hamakua Coast, A Pictorial Guide to the Plantation Era," by Ken Okimoto, a Watermark Publishing Small Town Series book; $14.95. This CD offers a bare-bones tour of the coast, narrated by KWXX radio announcer G-Cruz, with highly simplified driving instructions (remember, keep the mountains on the left and the ocean on your right and you'll know you're heading north) and some charming memories from Ron and Charmaine Kaipo, who grew up in the area. Original compositions by musicians from the coast are interspersed with directions and historical commentary. For those unfamiliar with plantation-era history, the combination of the CD and the book of historic pictures is a more than adequate introduction.

Helpful guides

Two guidebooks I always find helpful, detailed and accurate:

• "The Moon Handbooks Big Island of Hawai'i" by Robert Nilson (Avalon Travel, paper, $17.95, fifth edition)
• "Frommer's Hawai'i 2003" by Jeanette Foster (Frommer's, paper, $19.99).

A bit of perspective

• "The Final Harvest: The Hamakua Sugar Company 1869-1994," by P. Ernest Bouvet (self-published, hardback, $20) documents the final harvest of sugar cane along the Hamakua Coast. It was written by the longtime manager of Hamakua Sugar Co. and, later, Honokaa Sugar Co., and offers a history of sugar in the area, an introduction to the sugar-milling process and the sad story of the last days of sugar production on the Hamakua Coast. Particularly poignant are David Weiss' photos documenting that final harvest from start to finish, as well as the historical photos.

If you go ...

Getting to the Hamakua Coast: Fly-drive packages for a weekend run about $250. Reserve well in advance, as Hilo flights are less frequent than they used to be and tend to fill up.

What to pack: A collapsible umbrella, sturdy shoes for tramping around parks and on trails.

Where to stay: You can find everything on this coast except a full-fledged resort hotel.

Luxury — Shipman House, Hilo. An elegantly restored mansion, aka "The Castle," with guest bedrooms in main house and nearby cottage. Rates begin at $154, including light breakfast, no smoking and no TV; (808) 934-8002; The Palms Cliff House Inn, Honomu. A 3.5-acre, four-star-rated property with large guest suites, some with fireplace or jacuzzi. Rates begin at $175 per night, including breakfast and afternoon snack; (808) 963-6076.

Standard — Hilo Hawaiian Hotel (from $119) and Hawaii Naniloa Resort (from $199) are side by side on Banyan Drive in Hilo and offer all the expected amenities (restaurants, room service, daily maid service, phones, TVs) with view rooms. The Hilo Hawaiian is more upgraded and better kept of the two; both are comfortable and welcoming to kama'aina. Hilo Hawaiian, (808) 935-9361. Hawaii Naniloa Resort, (808) 969-3333.

Budget — Dolphin Bay Hotel in Hilo, where I stayed, is a serene apartment hotel (full kitchens, TV) set in beautifully kept gardens in a north Hilo neighborhood convenient to town. The folks at the desk are exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable. Each morning they serve coffee, muffins and fruit. One- and two-bedroom units are available for larger groups. No phones, but they take messages. Singles from $66. (808) 935-1466.

Bed and breakfasts — Many operate between Hilo and Waipi'o (there's even a Buddhist bed and breakfast in Hakalau, north of Hilo, from $40 a day: Akiko's Buddhist Bed and Breakfast, www.alternative-hawaii.com/akiko).

Where to eat: In Hilo, a must-visit is the new Restaurant Kaikodo (exceptional East-West cuisine in a beautifully renovated early-20th century building; $$$, 961-2558). I always return to Cafe Pesto (well-prepared Italian and Hawai'i Regional Cuisine dishes; $$$, 969-6640) , as well as Nori's Saimin and Snacks ($, 935-9133) for "onoluscious" saimin and plate lunch. I'm told Reuben's Mexican food ($, 961-2552) is good and authentic. The Seaside Restaurant, 10 minutes southeast of town, has great homestyle fish dishes ($$, 935-8825). Pizza Hawai'i in Honomu comes highly recommended. There's also great road food in mom 'n' pop stores and cafes on and off Highway 19.

Correction: The grocery store in Honoka'a is T. Kaneshiro Store. An incorrect name was given in a previous version of this story.