Pālehua & Volcano Living

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Our Waipahu home is 54 feet above sea level.  Work is at 16 feet, our Credit Union is at 162 feet, and the Okinawan Cultural Center is near the top at 414 feet.  

The land slopes gently downward into Pearl Harbor (Hawaiian terms are Wai Momi or Puʻuloa), ending just above sea level.

The nearest peak to my home is Pālehua.  I see it everyday walking out my back door.  The peak is just over 5 miles as the hawk flies, about 12 miles by road, and approximately 2600 feet above sea level.  

Everyone who lives here lives on a volcano.  For most of the islands, including O`ahu, the volcanoes are inactive. On the Island of Hawai`i, there are still active volcanoes.

Please enjoy a favorite song made in honor of, and blessing for, this peak: Pālehua.

Waipahu can be considered part of the outermost edge of the Waianae Volcano range. Pālehua is the end of that range.  Having erupted 3.9 million years ago, the Waianae range now forms the backdrop of life on the leeward side of the island of O`ahu.  

Geologists would say the Waianae range are "volcanos"; most people would probably use the word "mountains."  

My town, Waipahu, lies on what can be considered the sloping plain at the base of a volcano.

Volcano or Mountain.  Either works for me.  Friends and family will note I grew up on flat earth: Central Illinois.  When I moved to Michigan many moons ago, I thought, "This state is very hilly," and argued with Michiganders who thought their state was flat.  So the volcanic plains on which I live now are still quite an adjustment.

For instance, a view from just outside my hometown:


Locals in Waipahu and on O`ahu walk and drive around like all this is normal.  For them, it is.  

They navigate the ups-and-downs without question.  

They accept the twists and turns of the roads without consideration.  

Me, I am still in a process of adjustment.  

I am adjusting to the regular change in elevation, the switchback streets (including so-called "main roads").

Navigation and verbal directions are based on geology not compass directions, places not street names.

If you close your eyes (literally and metaphorically), life on O`ahu is just like California or other parts of the contiguous USA.  But the reality is quite different.

As with all of Polynesia, the cultural history the Hawaiian people are tied to its volcanic geology and to the water.   Pele is the goddess of volcanoes, and considered the one who created the Hawaiian islands.

For background on our nearest peak: Palehua

For geology nerds, check this out: a very cool 2021 map.



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