Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [126]
Both trails share the same access point and head into the lush foothills of the Ko′olau Range. The tranquil Hau′ula Loop, which clambers through Waipilopilo Gulch and onto a ridge over Kaipapa′u Valley, is better maintained and more rewarding, both for its views and the native flora along the way, including sweet-smelling guava, ohia trees with feathery red blossoms and thick groves of shaggy ironwood trees. This moderate 2.5-mile lollipop loop hike takes about 1½ hours.
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LA′IE
pop 4640
Feeling almost like a big city compared to its rural neighbors, life here in La′ie revolves around Brigham Young University (BYU)–Hawaii, where scholarship programs recruit students from islands throughout the Pacific. Many students help pay for their expenses by working as guides at the Polynesian Cultural Center, a tourist mega complex that draws nearly a million visitors each year.
The first Mormon missionaries to Hawaii arrived in 1850. After an attempt to establish a ‘City of Joseph’ on the island of Lana′i failed amid a land scandal, the missionaries moved to La′ie. In 1919 they constructed a smaller, but still showy version of their Salt Lake City, Utah temple here at the foot of the Ko′olau Range. This dazzlingly white temple at the end of a wide boulevard may be the Windward Coast’s oddest sight. There’s a temple visitor center where volunteers will tell you about their faith, but nonbelievers are not allowed inside the temple itself.
Information
Restaurants, shops and services cluster in the Lai′e Shopping Center, a half-mile north of the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Bank of Hawaii (293-9238; 55-510 Kamehameha Hwy; 8:30am-4pm Mon-Thu, to 6pm Fri) Has a 24-hour ATM.
La′ie Post Office (800-275-8777; 55-510 Kamehameha Hwy; 9am-3:30pm Mon-Fri, 9:30-11:30am Sat)
Sights & Activities
POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER
A nonprofit theme park showcasing the cultures of Polynesia, this center (PCC; 293-3333, 800-367-7060; www.polynesia.com; 55-370 Kamehameha Hwy; park admission & evening show adult/child 3-11 $60/45; 11am-9pm Mon-Sat, villages noon-6pm only) is owned by the Mormon Church and is one of O′ahu’s biggest attractions, second only to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
Continually overrun by tour-bus crowds, the park revolves around seven theme ‘villages’ representing Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, the Marquesas and Hawaii. The villages contain authentic-looking huts and ceremonial houses, many elaborately built with twisted ropes and hand-carved posts. BYU–Hawaii students dressed in native garb gamely demonstrate poi pounding, coconut-frond weaving, handicrafts and games. There’s also a replica of a 19th-century mission house and chapel.
Although steep, the basic admission price also includes a winding boat ride through the park, ocean-themed movies at the IMAX theater and in the evening, a Polynesian song-and-dance revue that’s partly authentic, partly Bollywood-style with creative sets and costumes, and BYU college students animatedly performing on stage.
BEACHES
La′ie’s beaches are more attractive than those to the immediate south, but they’re not as amazing as Malaekahana State Recreation Area (right), just north of town.
A half-mile south of the PCC’s main entrance, Pounders Beach is an excellent bodysurfing beach, but the shorebreak, as the name of the beach implies, can be brutal. Summer swimming is generally good, but watch out for strong winter currents. The area around the old landing is usually the calmest.
Crashing surf, a lava arch and a slice of Hawaiian folk history await at La′ie Point. The tiny offshore islands are said to be the surviving pieces of a mo′o (lizard spirit) slain by a legendary warrior. The islet to the left with the hole in it is Kukuiho′olua (Puka Rock). To get here from the Kamehameha Hwy, head seaward on Anemoku St, opposite La′ie Shopping Center, then turn right on Naupaka