November 10, 2020 – Today, Hanalei River Heritage Foundation’s interns and Program Director walked and studied the northern section of the Powerline Trail. Being the historic path connecting Princeville and the North Coast to Wailua and the East Shore, the Powerline Trail runs 13 miles and has numerous side trails. Without proper maintenance, the trail has become overgrown and impassable near the two mile marker on the Princeville side. We were forced to turn around because of minor flooding pictured below. HRHF will be examining the trail from the Wailua side next week, and we are looking forward to meeting with DLNR to discuss how we can better maintain the trail and clear it of invasive such as popoki or puakelekino, also known as cat’s claw (Caesalpinia decapetala), which was first found in Maui in 1910. You can find a picture of popoki/cat’s claw below, in addition to some other views from the morning walk.
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- Rainbow over Hanalei River Valley
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- Hanalei River Valley winding up to Mt. Hihimanu
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- Popoki or cat’s claw
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- The thorns on popoki (cat’s claw)
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- Around 2 miles inland from Princeville, where the flooding forced us to turn back!
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- Powerline Trail highlighted in red