Waianae

 

Kamaile Heiau commanding a striking view of both Waianae and Makaha from Mauna Kuwale.

After learning about this area and visiting it, I have a very deep fondness for it. I have never been to it's peak at Pu'u Kawiwi but have been to the no name peak at the back of the valley and traversed the "Tiki" trail culminating to the best and hardest hiking experiance I have even been on. Island Trails with Kaleo Lancaster

 

A view from the ridge atop the Heiau with Mauna Lahilahi in the distance.

At the level of the Heiau platform.

Here you can see more tiers showing from the lower platform. The first closest to frame and then two more at higher levels.

The first wall you come to as you approach the Heiau from the ocean side after climbing about 400ft. up the foot of the ridge. Remarkably straight for a wall built hundreds of years ago on a ridge. Gotta love the west side for their well preserved heiau!

After exploring the Heiau I decided to go spelunking at this cave on the same ridge below the Heiau.

Blocked by a keawe tree and situated a few feet above a natural spring now used as a water pump to supply the area in a modern way as it did in the ancient times, this area was ideal for living off of the land and being close to the gods of the time.

I found this fire pit inside and some glass bottles all around the entrance. McAllister's notes suggested he found skeletal bone material but no evidence it was used for burials.

I don't think this lovely petroglyph is that ancient but it's pretty cool.

 



Just outside the cave and on an outcropping jutting out off of the ridge, I found this and imagined someone using it for purposes related to cave dwelling.



Inside looking out.

 

The cave mouth from the mauka side looking makai.

 

 



Here I am now at Mauna Lahilahi. There are petroglyphs here and more to be found. This one looks like a man standing under some kind of constellation in the sky??? It wasn't even one that I knew about but the only one I found that day.

A view sitting on the large stone with the earlier petroglyph and looking back at Kamaile Heiau on the ridge. As if they were both connected and the writing on the stones were meant to be directed toward the heiau. As at Pu'u Kapolei and at Kukaniloko, I have heard stories about them being used as solar markers for the solstices and I wonder if the same goes with Mauna Lahilahi.

 

 

An earlier day visiting Mauna Lahilahi trying to find petroglyphs, I came across a story from a nearby local resident. I was lost on the opposite side of the mountain that the petroglyphs were. I did find a cave and the view point used by ancient and modern fishermen to locate schools of fish out at sea. I also took a small round stone from the shore that I was almost positive had no connection to a heiau or any sacred place left as it stood in fear of some tabu. I planned to attempt cooking a chicken in the traditional way of stuffing the stone into it to help it cook better from the inside. Anyhow, when I got back to the car parked on the street. A neighbor across the street was staring at me. I asked him if he knew of the petroglyphs and where they could be found. He couldn't help me but he knew there was once a heiau there in the field below the mountain. He began to tell me a story about another man he met in a similar situation....

A man was spotted unloading a wheelbarrow from his vehicle. That same neighbor asked him what he was doing and the man replied that he found a rock with a face on it and that he planned to take it home for his garden. The neighbor warned him and suggested that it was a bad idea. The man dismissed his advise and even asked if he would help him carry it back to his vehicle. The neighbor refused, the man did so himself and left with the stone. A few weeks later the neighbor spotted the man's vehicle back there again with the man nearby looking a little troubled. The neighbor asked what he was doing and the man replied, "it's gone." It disappeared from the man's home. They found it aside the road later and the neighbor told the man, "hey you better go put it back exactly where you found it!"

 

I believe this is that stone. I sits on the oceanside of Mauna Lahilahi and seems to be well taken care of with some offerings left all about its base.

In conclusion we both figured maybe it would be better for me to leave the stone I had there and he left me with a recipe for beer can chicken...