The sign said Manuka State Park.
But I’ve seen it called Manuka State Wayside or Manuka State Wayside Park.
It’s relatively small place. The Hawaii State Parks web page can only muster three sentences about it. They tell you is has trees, that you can picnic there, that there’s a nature trail and that there’s open shelter camping.
When we got out of the Jeep, we saw a sign for the self-guided nature trail. And when we saw that there were brochures in the box, we looked at each other and smiled.
The sign said to plan on 2-3 hours to hike the three mile loop. Two to three hours!? That would put us on the trail after sunset—clearly not an option. There was only enough daylight left to hike up a ways and then come back. So that’s what we did.
The ground was red and brown lava that was sharp and crunched under our boots. The path descended at first and then began climbing up. Soon there were steep steps and large lava boulders, and I was building up a sweat. We were happy we had boots.
On the trail, it got quiet. The only sounds were the crunching of our boots, chirping crickets and a bird somewhere far away in the woods. The air was sweet from the perfume of white flowers that were blossoming all around.
Chirp-beep. … Chirp-beep!
It wasn’t just one bird. Now there was another one calling back from the woods on the other side.
Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep.
And as we walked past markers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the bird calls got busier. There were a few all around us. And then there were many. And then the woods was a riot of chirping and beeping. Chirp-beep. Chirp-beep. Chirp-beep. It was Bob-Whitish in tempo but higher in pitch, almost frog-like.
By marker 6, the nature of the trail had changed. The air was thick with dampness and pressed in around us. Ferns grew out into the path from the forest understory. Moss grew on the lava ground.
Chirp-beep.
Those weren’t birds, at all. They were frogs. All around us there was this cacophony of hundreds, thousands of frogs. This was their place, not ours. It might as well have been miles from the road. We were the only ones on the trail. Chirp-beep. Chirp-beep! Except for all of them.
Sadly, we were out of time. Next time, maybe, we’ll have 2-3 hours, and we’ll be able to hike the whole loop. Next time. In the event, however, a short hike in the woods thru the sweet perfume of flowers and the song of the frogs was entirely sufficient for us.