Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
loop is a smoother ride. Granted, you could always ride it both ways and decide for your-
self. Aside from Polipoli, this is going to be the epicenter of the island's mountain biking
community.
PANIOLO
COUNTRY
Anyone headed Upcountry is sure to hear the term
paniolo
at least a couple of
times, particularly when wandering around Makawao. While most locals will tell
you that
paniolo
is simply the Hawaiian word for cowboy, the term also encapsu-
lates a unique portion of Hawai'i's heritage which continues to thrive Upcountry.
In 1793 the British explorer George Vancouver gave a few cattle to Kamehameha
I on the Big Island of Hawai'i, and after a few of the cattle were killed, Kame-
hameha placed a
kapu
-taboo-on the slaying of all cattle so that the population
would have time to thrive. By 1830, when the
kapu
was lifted, tens of thousands
of wild cattle ran amok over the Hawaiian Islands to the point of being a nuisance.
With wild steers destroying crops and endangering lives, in 1832 King Kame-
hameha III sent an adviser to California to find someone-anyone-who could find
a way to deal with the cattle explosion. When the king's adviser returned with
three Mexican
vaqueros,
they immediately set to work teaching the Hawaiians how
to train horses and rope cattle. The strange-sounding foreign language these men
spoke,
español
would be the basis for today's word for Hawaiian cowboys-
paniolo.
With this newfound ability to domesticate wild herds, the Hawaiian
paniolos
set
up ranches in areas such as Waimea on the Big Island and on the slopes of Haleak-
ala, Maui. These Hawaiian cowboys predated those of the American West, and by
the time the first U.S. ranchers were staking their claims in California, the Hawaii-
an cowboys were already mastering their roping and riding. Ikua Purdy, a
paniolo
from the Big Island, not only won the World Championships of steer roping at the
Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1908, but he was the first Hawaiian to be elected to the
National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame.
This rich ranching heritage continues in Upcountry today, where
paniolos
work-
ing on Haleakala Ranch (30,000 acres), Ulupalakua Ranch (20,000 acres),
Ka'ono'ulu Ranch (10,000 acres), Thompson Ranch (1,400 acres), and Pi'iholo
Ranch (800 acres), are still “the real deal.” One of the largest annual Upcountry
events is the Makawao Rodeo held over the Fourth of July weekend, and while Up-
country is quick to celebrate its
paniolo
past, ranching and agriculture continue to
be a way of life here in the pastures of Haleakala.
