1915 photo of a Maui trail, taken by R.J. Baker - Pic of the photo by Chris Walker
The Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and one thing they have done to commemorate it is mount a photography exhibit at the University of Hawaii. I checked it out recently and this is my review.
The exhibit features more photos than I was expecting, in a large, well-lit area of Hamilton Library. Don't forget to check out the photos along one wall in a separate area from the main exhibit. In addition to the many large, gorgeous contemporary photographs, there is a generous selection of fascinating black and white photographs from the past. The photos are not only of hiking trails but also of people and things relating to the history of this hiking club. For example, there is a series of photos of the HTMC clubhouse being built. Although the HTMC is based on Oahu and most club hikes are on Oahu, each year they also schedule some hikes on the neighbor islands, and many of the photos seen here were taken on these other islands. (Please watch for my articles on neighbor island trails, coming soon.)
Contempoary photo of Kauai taken by Nathan Yuen - Pic of the photo by Chris Walker
The amount of other material besides photos at this exhibit surprised me. There are several display cases filled with hiking equipment from the past. You can see that backpacking a hundred years ago involved carrying considerably more weight than today! There is also a large flat screen TV displaying hiking videos, and I was glad to see that they were in high definition. So much of the visual beauty of hiking involves detail that regular standard definition video doesn't pick up, and the wide panoramas look tiny on a regular TV set. With the large, high definition display at the exhibit, watching these videos is the next best thing to actually being there on a hike!
One of several displays of hiking gear - Photo by Chris Walker
The only drawback to this free exhibit is the cost of parking on the University of Hawaii campus. Try to come on a Sunday, when free parking is available. The exhibit can be seen seven days a week, through August 30, every day from 6 AM to 5 PM.
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