Slow and steady –rain… and you’re going to be as wet and the rain forest itself.. Escorted by friend Pat Bily we were treated to a wonderful hike through The Nature Conservancy’s Waikamoi Preserve today.   —The 5,230 acre Waikamoi Preserve provides an important sanctuary for hundreds of native Hawaiian plants and animals. It’s high-elevation rain forest and alpine shrubland are home to 12 different native bird species, seven of them endangered, as well as spectacular plants like the blue ??pelu, a native lobelia.
![A man and HIS lichen.. Pat Bily proudly holds up some of the recently identified lichen named in honor of him...!](https://i0.wp.com/gillbrooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/A-man-and-his-lichen.jpg?resize=436%2C776)
A man and HIS lichen.. Pat Bily proudly holds up some of the recently identified lichen named in honor of him…!
![We're thoroughly soaked at this point... but it's a tropical rain forest -it's like this a lot!](https://i0.wp.com/gillbrooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/waikamoi7-14_2-1024x575.jpg?resize=687%2C386)
We’re thoroughly soaked at this point… but it’s a tropical rain forest -it’s like this a lot! {click to enlarge}
Jane’s phone [Nokia Lumia] takes better pictures than my camera!
These -below, are all from her phone!!{Click to enlarge}
What looks like spits of sunshine below is simply new vibrant growth!