Today I planted a koa’ia after a long day of adventuring. Koa’ia is a slow growing, low elevation compact koa tree. It produces a dense, highly desirable curly grain throughout the wood. Some wood workers prefer to work with koa’ia over regular koa.
Regular koa tends to flourish above 1000 feet (~300 m) where they are less susceptible to fungal diseases. Most koa trees are usually found at around 3000 to 6000 feet elevation (900 to 1800 m)
So we went to lake Waiau for the first time which is at 13000 feet (3962 m) located right below the summit of Mauna Kea. At this elevation nothing much is growing aside from some random grasses and moss.
Lake Waiau is the highest lake in Hawaii and in the entire Pacific Rim and is the only lake on the Big Island after losing Green Lake in the 2018 eruption.
Thanks Krystle and Barret for guiding us up. This was super special to see one of the most culturally significant spots in Hawaii. It was really hard to hike uphill with the thin air. I was out of breath and my heart was pumping hard every 50 steps I took. We went to the summit too to enjoy the view above the clouds.
Originally posted on 2021-11-20, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.