We had one more corner of the “Big Island” of Hawaii left to explore before moving on to Oahu. It was a late addition to the schedule. The younger kid who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in geology wanted to see an unusual formation. However, this request didn’t materialize until we were actually in Hawaii.
We had one rest day available on the island and this would take the entire day. Would the family forego a full day of relaxation for a long drive and a hike? Well, I would, especially when I noticed its fortunate proximity to an attraction I previously discarded. I thought, there’s no way the family would go for this so I’m not even going to suggest it. But now I had one kid on-board because of fortunate placement, and the wife decided to tag along anyway. The older kid took a pass and had that nice quiet day everyone else just gave up.
Papakolea Green Sand Beach
Our budding geologist had suggested the Papakolea Beach near the far southern tip of Hawaii (map). It’s known for the rarity of its green sand. Internet sleuthing implied that there may be only four such beaches in the world: in Guam, the Galapagos, Norway, and here in Hawaii. However, the one in Norway is at a lake and may involve a different mineral. So three, or four, or whatever, but the salient point is the rarity. Good enough for me. Purists can debate amongst themselves.
The Hike
First we had to get there. The drive is pretty long coming either from Kona or Hilo; about an hour and a half each way. It’s paved the entire distance even after leaving the highway, although it gets rougher the last couple of miles. Then it terminates at a sizable parking area.
We heard lots of rumors about the sketchiness of the parking lot. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Just don’t leave any valuables in your car and you should be fine.
From there, visitors have a couple of options. Local residents offer rides in the back of beat-up pickup trucks, some outfitted with makeshift wooden benches, for a price. Technically it’s illegal although the authorities seem to look the other way. The other option is a 2.7 miles / 4.3 km hike (according to my GPS watch) to the beach, which we did. It is hot, it is dusty, it is windy, and there isn’t a speck of shade anywhere, so bring plenty of water, snacks, and sunscreen. Maybe do it in the morning like we did when it’s cooler and before the wind really starts cranking.
There isn’t a single defined trail, rather it’s an entire labyrinth of intertwined paths caused by severe erosion. Trucks and four-wheel drives plow through and leave ruts, sometimes several feet deep. When one path gets too difficult they forge a new one over pristine habitat, and the cycle repeats. That’s why it’s illegal, and why we chose to hike instead. So we followed the shoreline as best we could on foot until we arrived.
The Beach
We reached the overlook above Papakolea beach which sits deep within a small semicircular inlet. This was the partially eroded remnants of a volcanic cinder cone called Pu’u Mahana. Waves battered the cone and wore about half of it away, forming that shoreline dent within the cliffs. It was really easy to visualize the topography from our elevated position. However we still had to get down there, which was an adventure involving a rickety staircases at the rim followed by rock scrambling the rest of the way.
The Sand
The green sand is the mineral olivine which is quite common all over the world. When gem quality it’s called peridot, the August birthstone. However that’s not the case at Papakolea where everything was pulverized into coarse sand by strong ocean waves.
Olivine frequently forms in volcanoes, and well, the beach sits inside what used to be a cinder cone. It’s also heavier than other volcanic material like basalt, so waves carry away the darker, lighter basalt, and leave behind the olivine as the cinder cone erodes. It’s like the old California prospectors with their gold pans back in the 49’er days, only natural. But a lot of conditions have to line up neatly to create that sluicing effect, which explains the rarity of green sand beaches.
So is olivine really green? Look for yourself but I’d say it’s more “greenish” than green. It’s certainly not lime green, or freshly mowed grass green, much less DayGlo green. But let’s also focus on the name of the mineral itself: olivine. It does resemble a nice green olive tapenade.
However, a larger question remains: was the hike worth it? Personally, it wasn’t on my short list but I’m still glad I went. I know it was important for my younger kid and it was a nice hike to an interesting spot. I have no regrets. It also offered an unrelated opportunity to visit something more aligned with my geo-geek sensibilities nearby.
Ka Lae
More to my interests, Papakolea Beach was trivially close to the southernmost point of land in the United States, barely more than a mile away. It’s called Ka Lae which translates to South Point (map). This is the southernmost spot of dry land on the Big Island, which is the southernmost island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost U.S. state.
To be fair, it’s kind-of arbitrary. It’s the southernmost point of any state. However, there are places in U.S territories that absolutely lay further south. Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, much of the Northern Mariana Islands all do that. Heck, American Samoa sits in the southern hemisphere. Any of those will beat Hawaii if they ever become a state. Regardless, in any case, Key West, Florida is NOT the southernmost point of any U.S. state as many believe. It’s right here at good old South Point on the Big Island.
Nonetheless, and caveats aside, this was an easy side quest after conquering the green sands of Papakolea Beach. I would consider it nearly criminal to skip Ka Lae south point after arriving practically next to it. So I shuffled down to the shoreline, took some photos, and ignored the tiny islets in the surf that extended even a few more yards further south.
Bonus Southernmost
We finished the adventure on the latter side of lunchtime but we only brought snacks, not enough for a meal. I’d done some research ahead of time and knew about a small town about a half-hour north, back on the Mamalahoa Highway; the Hawaii Belt Road. There aren’t a lot of settlements this far down the Big Island but Naalehu is there and it covers a surprising number of basic needs: food, gas, lodging, whatever one might want for a day trip or even overnight. Tiny but mighty.
All we needed was the food and what better place than the Southernmost Restaurant in the United States? That honor went to Hana Hou Restaurant, just the tiniest bit further south than second place (Taco Tita Mexican-Hawaiian) in a different part of the same building. Honestly the Mexican-Hawaiian fusion (confusion?) possibility felt tempting but of course I had to go with the geo-oddity. It was right up there with the restaurant in three counties that I visited in North Carolina years ago. So my wife had the southernmost salad, and the kid had the southernmost pizza, and I had the southernmost fish and we declared victory.
They even included a latitude/longitude on their promotional sign, which earned enthusiastic bonus points in my mind. But of course I’m pedantic and I fixated on a typo. The latitude was a negative value which placed the location somewhere between the Cook Islands and French Polynesia in the South Pacific. Also I wasn’t sure why they included 8 digits on the latitude and 11 digits on the longitude, but ignore all of that and remove the typo and, voilà, 19.06001435,-155.58596001435 lands exactly atop the building.
Offer me coordinates and of course I’m going to fact-check them!
Articles in the Hawaii Series
- No Cigar
- Maui: Kihei & Wailea
- Maui: Haleakala
- Big Island: Kona
- Big Island: Lava
- Big Island: Mauna Kea
- Big Island: Windward
- Big Island: South Point
- Oahu: Pearl Harbor
- Oahu: Honolulu Metro
- Oahu: Perimeter
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr.
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