When rain soaks the Kohalas, Waikoloa Stream runs. Photo by Jan Wizinowich At the Ulu Lā‘au Nature Park in Waimea on Hawai‘i Island, Clemson Lam is getting ready for the sixth graders. He sets out the rakes, pitchforks and gloves as the Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy students emerge from the forest on a trail leading from Waimea’s main street.
The Ke Ala Kahawai o Waimea Streamside Trail skirts the center of Waimea town between Lindsey Road and Kahawai Street. But while today you’ll find schoolkids, bicyclists and families walking their dogs, the trail has been a thoroughfare for centuries. Kamehameha I’s elite Kīpu‘upu‘u warriors traveled this trail along Waikoloa Stream to board war canoes at ‘Ōhai‘ula. In 1943, exhausted US Marines returning from the Battle of Tarawa built a camp here, on land leased to the military by Parker Ranch owner Richard Smart, where they recuperated before heading off to fight in Okinawa. The Marines paved some sections of the trail connecting the hospital (the converted Waimea School building) to Marine headquarters, built in an area that was once a martial arts training ground for the Kīpu‘upu‘u warriors.
The Ke Ala Kahawai o Waimea Streamside Trail skirts the center of Waimea town between Lindsey Road and Kahawai Street. But while today you’ll find schoolkids, bicyclists and families walking their dogs, the trail has been a thoroughfare for centuries. Kamehameha I’s elite Kīpu‘upu‘u warriors traveled this trail along Waikoloa Stream to board war canoes at ‘Ōhai‘ula. In 1943, exhausted US Marines returning from the Battle of Tarawa built a camp here, on land leased to the military by Parker Ranch owner Richard Smart, where they recuperated before heading off to fight in Okinawa. The Marines paved some sections of the trail connecting the hospital (the converted Waimea School building) to Marine headquarters, built in an area that was once a martial arts training ground for the Kīpu‘upu‘u warriors.
Leningrad Elarionoff talks story on the trail with volunteers. Photo compliments of Ala Kahakai O Waimea trail. fter WWII, the trail fell into disuse; there was no access without trespassing on private land, and it had become overgrown with invasive plants. But Lam had a vision: The architect had been a bike commuter on O‘ahu before moving to Hawai‘i Island in 1980. But his new commute to Waimea on a narrow shoulder ran alongside forty-five-mph traffic. Rather than concede to commuting by car, he got inspired to create a scenic, multiuse trail providing access to some of Waimea’s beautiful areas and a safe, off-road route from one end of town to the other. In 1994 the Waimea Trails and Greenways Committee was formed, with Lam as chair. “We met every Monday from 5 to 6 p.m.—for twenty-six years,” Lam says. It took that long to secure the necessary easements and navigate red tape so work could begin on the trail in 2008.
The work is ongoing—the trail is currently about a mile long but will eventually be five and a half—performed mostly by community volunteers like the HPA sixth graders. Today they’re spreading wood chips from invasive plants while a steady stream of bikers and pedestrians passes by the native species —ʻōhiʻa, ʻaʻaliʻi, hau—that have been planted along the trail. For Lam, his pet project has turned into a veritable calling. “After all the years of meetings, volunteer days and sheer physical work, when I’m here in the afternoons and see the ‘walking school bus’ of students heading home from Waimea School, it all feels worthwhile.”
Clem Lam on the trail. He was a spearhead for the trail and his enthusiastic efforts continue. Photo compliments of Ala Kahakai O Waimea.
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