ALA KAHAKAI NATIONAL
HISTORIC TRAIL
Authorized in 2000, this 175-mile coastal path on
the Island of Hawai‘i (the name translates as
“beach trail”) links four national parks, hundreds of
ancient Hawaiian settlement sites, and more than
200 ahupua`a, or traditional sea-to-mountain land
divisions. Where possible, the trail follows the route
of a prehistoric coastal ala loa, or long trail. Cultural
sites include several important heiau (temples),
royal centers, kahua (house site foundations),
loko i'a (fishponds), ko`a (fishing shrines), ki‘i
−−
pohaku (petroglyphs), holua (a stone slide), and
wahi pana (sacred places). To date, TPL has completed two projects to help create the trail and is
working on two more. In 2002, TPL acquired and
transferred to the National adjacent to Pu‘uhonua o HōPark Service 238 acres naunau National Park
that contained a section of the trail and an
ancient Hawaiian fishing village. And in 2006, T acquired 225 coastal acres at Honu‘apo, in Ka‘ PL ,
for transfer to the County of Hawai‘i; that land
encompasses a section of the trail and an ancient
Hawaiian fishpond. For more information, see the
National Park Service Ala Kahakai web pages at
www.nps.gov/alka/.
circumstances of this peaceful tribe as they were
pursued by the U.S. Army. For the Nez Perce, the
trail is one big graveyard, start to finish. And we have
uncovered stories from the army that will tear your
heart apart—for example, a set of letters written home
by a twenty-one-year-old Pennsylvania bugler. ‘Why are
we chasing these people?’ he wrote, just before he was
killed in a skirmish near present-day Yellowstone
National Park.”
For the past 27 years, even before the trail was officially established in 1986, Evans has helped organize a
commemorative trail ride along the route, each time over
a different portion. All participants travel on horseback,
just as the Nez Perce and their pursuers did, and reenactments take place along the way. On the 2008 trail ride,
descendants of the cavalry soldiers raised an 1877
American flag and saluted the Nez Perce descendants who
PHILIPROSENBERG
were on hand. “It was a very passionate and emotional
experience,” Evans says. “We can’t right the wrongs that
were perpetrated, but we do what we can.”
TRAIL CHALLENGES
Trail advocates agree that the biggest single challenge
facing the National Trail System is the intense pressure
of land development—not only roads, subdivisions, and
cities but (especially in the West) natural resource
development, including natural gas fields, and even
wind farms and solar arrays.
“As a nation, we are putting the footprints of our
development down everywhere, with challenging implications for the trails,” says PNTS Director Gary Werner.
“Aside from the three oldest trails—the Appalachian,
