January 11th: Service Learning and Beach

 




Today we had to stop at the grocery store again to pick up lunches for our venture into the Volcanoes National Park again. After our second 45 min trip to the park, we entered a different section of the park to meet Dr. Roberts’ friend Dr. Phillips. Dr. Phillips took us around multiple trails located in Mauna Loa. We got to see places affected by forest fires and learn about the different plants that grow back and the ones that survive. Kona trees tend to survive and other trees and a type of invasive grass grows back fairly quickly. The grass is invasive and tends to prevent other plants from growing back after a fire because it grows back so quickly. Seeds cannot penetrate through the grass to grow. A sign along the trail pointed out a native plant called ‘Ala’ala wai nui that is a medicinal plant and has tiny sticky fruit that can travel on birds and insects. Again, I loved taking pictures of all the fauna on the trails. This morning me, Corie, and Ellie finally explored the path in front of the hotel that had a bunch of different plants. They were all so happy and there were also a lot of spiders. After we were done exploring more of the national park we drove back to the hotel so that we could change into bathing suits. From there we went to a black sand beach and it was gorgeous. While the rocks were scary, the clear water and views were worth it. 

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