Three days IN "Cloud Nine."

Unfortunately, my creative juices aren't flowing enough to create a well-versed poem about our *amazing* (insert Leona's voice and finger snaps) adventures at Mt. Ka'ala, so for now I will resort to old-fashioned, but very handy, prose.

Last week was incredible, and probably my most favorite site we have worked at so far. Part of the reason why I liked it so much was because we got to work with others who harbored the same passions. It was very fun to learn about and connect with them, and the atmosphere was just always so lively. Happiness and fun made work a whole lot more endurable; it made it enjoyable. Another part of why I liked it so much was because it was so unlike anything I have ever done before (cliche, but true.) The bog itself seemed like an alien world, a different dimension, a hidden planet on our very own earth. It was just so alien. I've never in my life ever even heard about a forest like that. I have always pictured boggy areas as a lifeless expanse of land that was squishy and covered in fog, where a serial murderer would appear as a hulking shadow across the horizon. Definitely not the beautifully surreal forest hidden in the clouds on top of Mt. Ka'ala.

Though it was wet and cold pretty much 99% of the time, I LOVED it! I am a clean freak, and I hate dirtiness and wetness and basically all that awesome stuff you encounter when being outdoors, so I expected to be miserable. On the contrary, I was having so much fun. I thought to myself, whilst crawling hands and knees over trees on a vertical slope above a gully, "This isn't really the most appropriate time to feel this way but, I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!" I felt like a kid in a jungle gym, literally. The sense of accomplishment at every ginger I cut and sprayed heightened my euphoria to a level that nearly brought me to tears when it came time to depart from wonderful Ka'ala. Despite only knowing those army people for two or three days, I nearly cried when we had to leave. If you guys are reading this by any farfetched chance, ADD ME ON FACEBOOK I miss you guys. ):

-Grace

Mt.Ka'ala hiking

Hiking around Mt.Ka'ala was a great experience due to the high concentration of native species. In the valley of Niu in which I live, the forest is devastated. Only thick groves of Strawberry Guava and Christmasberry stand along with the ever so successful Haole Koa and Irondwood. The only way for me to encounter a native is if i hike up around 500ft elevation and then you only see Ohi'a. Its a loud awakening to me and I am passionate about helping to reforest O'ahu with great programs like HYCC. I am very thankful that I was placed in such a wonderful and Pono group. You are all 'ohana and will never be forgotten:)

Machetes and Mud, Marshy Galore.

From the tips of the clouds
to the worms down below,
Oahu Team B says a great big hello.
Wielding machetes
and grins on our face,
hacking and cutting with newly-found grace.
Unperturbed
by lurking holes in the mud,
raising weed-whackers like it's been in our blood.
Muscles awaken
from their well-deserved slumber,
only to discover they must haul some more lumber.
Some days time passes
like a mongoose escaping
from Kawai's deadly hunter hands, open and gaping.
Other days
it seems to perpetually doze,
so much so that we're sure there's mud in our veins like they are in our toes.
Physically beaten down
but our spirits soaring high,
Oahu Team B says its bitter-sweet goodbye.

(Thanks Doc for our experience at Kawainui Marsh, we won't ever forget either of you!)
By Grace Q.