Native Hawaiian Petroglyphs, Olowalu Canyon, Maui

If you've happened to glance at my Flickr page in the last couple days then you are already aware that there's a bunch of stuff coming to this blog from Kauai and Maui. Two weeks of island time has resulted in hundreds of great photos, a deep dark tan, and an aversion to anything resembling exercise. So if you care enough to follow this blog, you may find that you are in for a treat... a pretty comprehensive overview of what's important to see on both isles. We lived on Oahu's north shore for a year so Ruth and I know how to see and do Hi Country without getting sucked into the tourist holes.

So let's start this off with some images that look familiar to the blog, petroglyphs! I need to send up a big thanks to a certain friend of the blog for reminding me to check out Olowalu Canyon on Maui. Pecked and scratched into the volcanic basalt cliffs of this long and narrow canyon are dozens of typical anthropomorphic etchings. This is one of those sites that a tourist in a rental car can just drive up to, except that of course nobody does. To get there, find the cruise ship town of Lahaina on a Maui map. A few miles west of Lahaina is an area called Olowalu, notable only for the Olowalu General Store, which is known for it's huli uli chicken and kalua pork plate lunches. Drive past the west side of the store and immediately go left on a narrow dirt road. Follow the road through a sharp right turn and drive about a third of a mile through fields into a red basalt canyon. Ground level petroglyphs should soon be visible on the right hand cliff face. Enjoy!

More from HI is on the way, and though I am on call this coming weekend (the ole workplace ball & chain), I am getting psyched for fall and what I've got planned in the SLP. So yeah, I haven't quit, just stepped out for a bit. 

Mahalo.

This is the one that got me curious, as in, this doesn't resemble any native animal on the Hawaiian Islands, but it does resemble a feral cat, which the europeans brought with them when it was their turn to discover the isles.

Hawaiians used BRMs too!