Aloha Trout Unlimited Members –
Well it was a busy and productive time on this past trip to Kokee.
We did some major work on the restoration of the Kokee stream right by the cabin. It was dirty, muddy, but by clearing the massive over growth of invasive plants, we revealed the bank of where the stream originally was and it is bigger than we thought. 8 feet wide with pools over 4 feet deep that are currently filled with over 50 years of accumulated mud, hard basalt stream bottom, and where I thought only baby wild rainbow trout were in this section of the stream, we saw larger 8 inch wild rainbow trout splashing around to feed on all the worms and bugs we has stirred up! Wow..who knew!!
I would like to thank Jeremiah Felsen, Leticia Elzaurdia and Dave Limpert for getting down and dirty in the first phase in the Kokee Stream Restoration Program by the Kokee cabin.
Later, we teamed up with the Kokee Resource Conservation Program (KRCP) to work with Michelle Rose who has CloudWater Tea Farm to harvest tea (the drinking kind), from a patch of about 2 acres near the cabin. We collected over 14 pounds of tea leaves. While that might not sound like much, remember they are picked by hand, then they have to go through a cleaning and drying process before they are packed in bulk in 8 ounces boxes, or made into tea bags. This processed tea can be purchased at the Kokee museum in 4 ounce tins. I never know how labor intensive this was just to have a cup of tea!!
Now we did find time to hike and do some exploring. I went back to hiking on the Kokee Halemanu trail and found over 15 Australian tree ferns I missed 6 weeks ago! I cut them down with my machete so they will not grow back any more.
I also explored part of the Kalalau valley rim where in the morning, it was clear as a bell and you could see the entire valley. About an hour later, the fog had rolled in and it became a mystical place, wild mountain goats were climbing up the valley walls to take advantage of the fog. I did my Ninja routine and got to within 15 yards of them. One minute you could see the goats and the next when the fog rolled in, you could not. It was really cool and kind of spooky all at the same time.
My next trip back to Kokee will be June 24th through July 4th. Trout Unlimited members can stay at the cabin when I am there and so if you were planning a trip to Kauai, you would have a place to stay where you could explore, hike (there are 5 mountain trails you can walk to from the cabin) and enjoy the beauty of Kokee.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please email me [email protected].
Till next time…
Deane Gonzalez – Treasurer Trout Unlimited chapter # 403
