Farther down on the Halapepe Ridge we came to the open spot with great views. Here I'm pasting pictures to make a panorama. Not the best job, but what the heck. Its the southern part of the Wai`anae Mountains.
Below are pictures of the Halapepe tree that the trail is named for. We reached this point at 11:20 a.m. It belongs to the Genus Pleomele and I'm not sure of the species. There are three in the islands according to Samuel Lamb's book "Native Trees and Shrubs of the Hawaiian Islands". The wood is soft and was used to carve into idols. Branches were used to decorate the altars of the goddess Laka.
According to Lamb, the largest tree he saw was on the Big Island and was about 20' tall and 3' 6" in circumference. This must be close to that height. Next time we should bring a tape and climb down to measure the circumference.
