OHE August 15, 1999 (Maunawili Falls)



Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 07:18:32 -1000
From: mooncat (mooncat@aloha.com>
Subject: Maunawili

Took the wife out for a short hike through Maunawili. I love this hike and the trail was not crowded at all. A large tree has broken in half and fallen across the trail. It's near the beginning. You can easily go around it though with no problem.

Anyway, we made it to the junction only to find that someone had pulled the sign out. How nice. Down the hill we went to the waterfall. When we arrived the place was packed. I mean PACKED with people. The water was a muddy brown color, there were empty bottles and trash scattered about. This was disgusting so we decided to leave and head back home. On the way back I spotted a very tall Papaya tree. Jayne and I decided to take a closer look. Well, to my surprise right next to it stood the largest Papaya tree I have ever seen! This bad boy was a good 12" in diameter and stood almost fifty feet high. Scattered about it's trunk were a half dozen fully ripened papayas that had fallen to the ground. They were almost the size of a small coconut.

I looked up and spotted three to four papayas in reach (with a long stick). Jayne kept yelling "Shake the tree! Shake the tree!" Yeah right. So I cut a near by tree down and fashioned a make shift "picking stick." I hoisted it up and knocked four good papayas into my hands. One fully ripened one caught my thumb and exploded all over me. After stuffing them in my pack along with a few bananas from nearby, we left. On the way out I saw the sign about removing fruit. Oh well. Better I eat the fruit instead of it falling to the ground and rotting away.

Diggy


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