Take a hike to absorb Lanai’s beauty, history

On their first trip to Lanai in November 2008, Lisa Grove and her husband, Stephen, knew they had found home. Avid outdoorsmen, they spent five days hiking, biking, snorkeling and swimming in quiet, beautiful spots they often had all to themselves. It was the perfect playground.

"Everywhere we went, people waved at us and were really nice and friendly," Grove said. "We felt a strong sense of community."

A week after the couple returned to Portland, Ore., they put in an offer on a cozy 80-year-old plantation house in Lanai City. "It was one of the most impulsive things we’d ever done," Grove said. "Over the next two years, we visited Lanai every chance we got, including summers. When our wonderful elderly neighbor, Auntie Harriett Catiel, saw us, she would come out on her porch and shout, ‘Welcome home!’ In 2010 we decided to live here full time, and we’ve never looked back."

Grove launched Hike Lanai in December with her good friend Mary Charles — a fellow outdoors lover, seasoned event planner and respected community leader and businesswoman. A part-time resident of Lanai, Charles owns Hotel Lanai, Lanai City Grille and Lanai Hospitality Partners, which plans trips to Lanai for groups.

"Mary and I love Lanai, and we felt we could help boost the island’s economy with a new activity," Grove said. "With her incredible network and experience in tourism and my marketing and communications background as a national political pollster, becoming partners in Hike Lanai was a great fit."

The women had often heard visitors ask, "What is there to see on Lanai?"

"Hike Lanai is the best way to say, ‘Let us show you,’" said Grove, who leads hikes at least twice a week.

Few people know Lanai City is the last largely intact plantation town in Hawaii. Lanai also claims the 309-acre Manele-Hulopoe Marine Life Conservation District and Kaunolu village, which was the political and religious center of ancient Lanai. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Historians and cultural practitioners at the Lanai Culture and Heritage Center helped Grove and Jon Montgomery, Hike Lanai’s lead guide, develop routes and narratives. The pair spent countless hours "talking story" with the experts and reviewing books, maps, videos and old photos to ensure the information that was shared during the hikes would be accurate.

On the Kaunolu Ancient Shoreline Hike, participants walk carefully through Kaunolu, the largest remaining ruins of a prehistoric Hawaiian village. There they see vestiges of animal pens, house platforms, imu (underground ovens), garden patches and Halulu Heiau, the second-largest temple extant on Lanai.

King Kamehameha found rest and recreation on Lanai, reputedly enjoying the fishing grounds at Kaunolu in particular. Kawakawa (bonito), ahi (yellowfin tuna), ono (mackerel), striped marlin and mahimahi are still abundant in the deep waters offshore.

On the Kaiholena Ridge/Munro Trail Hike, groups climb Hookio Ridge, where in 1778 Lanai’s army battled the forces of Kamehameha’s uncle, Kalaniopuu, king of Hawaii island. The brave Lanai warriors made their last stand atop Hookio, but without access to food and water, they couldn’t maintain their strength to fight. All of them were eventually killed.

"We impress upon our guests the sacredness of these sites and the importance of ‘leaving no trace,’" Grove said. "We carry out all of our trash. We don’t touch or take anything along the way. We don’t feed wildlife, we keep our distance from them and we protect their habitats. We’re thrilled to be able to teach visitors about our beautiful island in the best possible place: outdoors!"

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.