Day 12

This morning when we arrived at the Kuaola Ranch, we stopped at the parking lot rather than heading directly to basecamp and we told to wait upstairs in the check-in area. We then made our way through the gift shop and the rest of the Ranch grounds to a room where we were shown a short video on the history of the Kualoa Ranch. It was interesting to learn how the land was acquired and the family’s attempt at sugarcane processing, cattle ranching, and their reactions to World War II. After the video we made a quick stop at the historical center, which provided additional visual information on the history and prehistory of the Ka’a’awa Valley. We then broke into survey groups and continued with the data collection process.

Exploring the Rock Wall

Kerry and I went back to the same study area that I had looked at yesterday and hiked through the dense vegetation in search of more rock walls and other anthropogenic features. We were successful in finding features from the start, thanks to the tell-tale Kao Hoale trees that tend to grow out of the features. We followed the first feature up towards the base of the cliff and discovered a large agglomeration of rocks which extended south into another large rock wall. The entire feature created an invested u-shape, which was repeated multiple times throughout the hillside. The historical photos of the Kualoa Ranch showed rock walls of the same shape and described them as water maintenance features. This seems to be a reasonable explanation since the rock wall features line up with the slope and drainage areas of the mountain once plotted on the World View 2 image of the Ka’a’awa Valley.

Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to see the Laser Scanner in action, but I covered a lot of ground and logged a few more data points so it was worth it. On the way back to the ranch, we stopped at the Shrimp Shack that we pass everyday on our way to and from the field site and I must say it was delicious. When we returned home, it was time for data processing, laundry, data processing, and more data processing. Shelby and I only have a few more things to do before our presentation on Sunday, so I am feeling confident that I will get to enjoy some free time at the beach tomorrow.