N - Mauka-Makai Trail

This mauka-makai trail connected villagers to upland gardens.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Ala Kahakai NHT / 1871 Trail

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Ua ola no uka ia uka – Life comes from the land

Along the fence line leading up the mountain is what remains of another type of ancient trail that connected the coastal areas with the fertile, rainy uplands. These trails are referred to as mauka-makai trails and highlight the importance of connecting the resources available from mountain to ocean.

In ancient Hawaiʻi, the land was divided into long sections called ahupuaʻa that ran from the mountain to the ocean providing the people living in them almost everything they needed to survive. Larger trees for carving from the forest, fertile lands with ample rainfall in the kula (uplands), and abundant ocean resources from the kahakai (coastal area). Resources from each area were meticulously managed and shared throughout the ahupuaʻa along mauka-makai trails.

While the primary village area for Kiʻilae was concentrated in this coastal area around the 1871 trail, as historian Frances Jackson (1966) states,

“to attempt to show Ki‘ilae Village as existing only at the shore would show barely a third of the life of the villagers.” 

Families also maintained kula gardens with ʻuala (sweet potato), yams, pumpkins, squash, kō (sugar cane), papaya, maiʻa (bananas), pia (arrowroot), ipu (gourds), and ulu (breadfruit). These kula gardens were located far enough upslope to receive regular rain. In addition to kula gardens, many also cared for dryland kalo (taro) fields located even further upslope. A network of trails connected fields to field houses and to a mauka-makai trail that served as the main artery for travel between the mauka gardens and the coastal residences.

This is no longer a maintained trail. Please make sure to stay on the 1871 Trail and practice Leave No Trace Principles to help protect archeological sites.