June 3, 2016.

For our grand finale in Hawaii, we went the tourist route and signed up for a kayak/hike trip to (not-a-secret) Secret Falls. The tour included a casual kayak up the Wailua river to a take-out point, which served as the trailhead for the hike. Hike to the waterfall, hang out and swim, then hike back and kayak out. Seemed like a lovely way to end our trip.

We signed up for the earliest departure we could and met our guides at the shop. Aaron and I were outfitted for a double kayak. We put our stuff in the dry bags, got on the sit-atop boat and prepared to paddle off. There were a few other boats in our group, as well.

Kayaking on the calm river was fun and relaxing. I don’t get on the water nearly as much as I’d like to and since I own no watercraft, it’s not convenient. I appreciated the chance to have someone else deal with the gear and the logistics so I could just enjoy the ride. Aaron and I got into a routine, paddling together, taking plenty of rest breaks to soak up the scenery. It was gorgeous. Tropical plants lined the river bank. Although the sky was gray and the air cool, it still felt like floating through paradise.

As we got closer to our take-out, the river narrowed. Trees and shrubs draped over the edge of the water, crowding us into a thin stream of water. We ducked and weaved as we made our way to the shoreline. It almost felt like we were having a real adventure!

Then we saw all the other boats pull up next to ours. Oh yeah, guided tour. Super popular place. Check.

On shore we prepared for the walk to the falls. The trail was atrociously muddy, as expected. I was prepared with my Tevas today. I figured the guides would give me a hard time about being barefoot.

We hiked in through a tropical jungle to a tall cascade of water falling into a perfect swimming hole. And we were the first ones there!

I knew the solitude wouldn’t last, so we quickly got into our swimsuits and hopped in the water. We swam, we frolicked, we went behind the splashing waterfall, we took it all in. Yes, this is what people dream of doing in Hawaii.

Back on shore we toweled off and partook in the snacks that were brought for us. I got distracted by watching several roosters hopping around on the rocks downstream. It was still funny to see roosters in the jungle.

When our time was up, we packed up to return to the kayaks. Several other groups had hiked out by now and we passed even more people on the way in. At the river, there were a ton of boats parked on the shore. What a mad house! We loaded up and headed back to the dock.

The paddle back was easy and mellow. We had almost returned without incident…

Merely feet away from the dock, a family with two little kids on our tour flipped their boat and all of them went crashing into the water. The kids were crying, the dad dropped his phone to the bottom of the river and the peace was broken. I don’t know how exactly one flips a sit-atop kayak but I suppose having two little ones on board could be challenging.

After all the drama died down we got in the van to head back to the shop and to be on our merry way. I’m glad we went the tourist route at least once to be able to experience the island in a different way. It’s been an incredible trip for a number of reasons and I’m glad we went. I’m also glad to be headed back to Oregon to move into our new home and experience life on the dry side of the mountains!

June 3, 2016.

6.6 mi | 1600′ ele. gain | 4:15 hr.

Today we headed back to Koke’e State Park to check out another viewpoint hike. The weather was crap and the trail was muddy right at the trailhead. I was so done with this wet weather. We could have stayed home for rain.

We packed up our rain gear and set off on the hike. When I wasn’t busy whining about the damp and mud, I paused to appreciate the diversity of native plant life here. The forest was alive with a wide spectrum of colors, textures, shapes and sizes.

There was the ever-present and always delightful ‘Ohi’a lehua, which reminded me of rambutan. Beyond that I couldn’t tell, there was so much to learn about the plants growing here. I came across some familiar-looking plant life that greatly resembled paintbrush and thimbleberry, both common in Oregon. Were they related? I couldn’t be sure. It would be interesting to take a walk with a botanist today. My favorite plant was the one that had little lantern-shaped pods drooping from thin stalks.

As we approached the end of the trail, the trees gave way to meadows and suddenly we found ourselves at a railing. “Warning: Hazardous cliff!” it exclaimed. And I’m glad it did, since we couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of us. We were enveloped in a cloud of fog.

Ugh, so this is how it was going to be. A soggy mud hike to a viewpoint with no view. I was a little grumpy. We sat down and ate some food, hoping the cloud would lift momentarily. It never did, but we were entertained by a forest rooster and a red-crested cardinal (which is actually a tanager, not a cardinal). They were jovial enough and provided us something to look at instead of the dramatic ocean views we were hoping for.

We walked back in the rain, debating whether it was better to wear rain jackets or not: keep the outside rain off and drip from the inside? Or let our sweat evaporate and get replaced by rain? It was a fierce debate.

By the time we got back I was pretty ready to be done. Just one more day until our Hawaii vacation would come to a close…

June 2, 2016.

8 mi. | 1800′ ele. gain | 5:30 hr. | Photos

We met up with our friend Milt for this classic hike on Kauai’s northern coast. The Kalalau Trail is the one trail on Kauai that everyone talks about. Quite possibly the only trail in Hawaii that everyone knows. So, we left early in order to get a parking spot and avoid the worst of the mobs.

Much of the Kalalau Trail is reserved for permitted backpackers only. Day hikers are allowed to go a couple miles up the trail and turn inland for another 2 miles to access Hanakapi’ai Falls. That was our plan.

My knee was feeling a little rusty so I packed my knee brace for this hike. I wasn’t sure how treacherous it would actually be. Based on my research I knew it would be muddy with some steep sections. We were nearing the end of my trip and I wanted to leave with intact body parts!

We began hiking around 7:30 am. There were already people in the parking area but it was mostly empty. It was nice to have Milt along, another person to talk to. Aaron and I had been together every second for the last couple weeks and while that was awesome, it was also great to shake things up.

Right from the get-go, the trail was rocky and wet. Rain clouds loomed across the sky. We got a few sneak peeks at the ocean from viewpoints along the trail. Mostly though we walked through thick vegetation.

After an hour of walking we arrived at the trail junction to the waterfall. Here, the Hanakapi’ai River flowed into the ocean. An interpretive sign warned of flash flood possibilities. Although it was a bit rainy there wasn’t much danger of flooding today.

We turned onto the falls trail and started rock-hopping again. Then, the trail criss-crossed the creeks leading into the river and the river itself, many times. The trail just kept getting muddier and muddier. I’d decided to take my shoes off long ago and finish the hike barefoot.

When we finally arrived at the waterfall we enjoyed the mostly crowd-free sight. But, coming from the land of waterfalls (Oregon) I must say I was only mildly impressed. The hike through the jungle was way more interesting than the point of interest in front of me.

But, no matter, we enjoyed the view, had a snack and headed back.

Now the masses were coming in. We had to stop many times to let people through as we tried to negotiate the narrow, slippery trail. By the time we returned to the parking lot it was a full-on circus. I couldn’t believe how many cars there were! Holy cow! What I learned about Kauai is that this is a place that people come in order to go hiking. So, the trails are packed. People don’t go to Maui to hike, so the trails are much less crowded. This “hiker’s paradise” was starting to feel much less like paradise and much more like a tourist trap.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our walk and I’m grateful for two hiking partners who didn’t mind the early wake-up call!

June 1, 2016.

I got the grand idea of watching the sunrise from the Sleeping Giant, a popular mountain close to town. We, of course, got up silly early in order to do this. Quite the opposite of how most people choose to do vacation.

We strapped on our headlamps and prepared to hike up the pitch dark trail. It was only 2 miles long but it gained a thousand vertical feet in that distance. It was going to be a little bit of a lung-buster.

We started walking, single file, up the slick and muddy trail. I flashed my headlamp down for a second and caught…eyes. EYES. Unmoving eyes. And again! The trail was packed with bullfrogs. It was completely insane. They sat staunchly in their position, completely unimpressed with us being there. I thought for sure I’d either step on one or impale one on my pole. Yikes. We carefully chose our steps all the way up the mountain.

In sections the trail was very difficult to follow. The tread had all but washed away from the incessant rains. We made our way through the worst of it, made even more sporting in low light, and eventually came to the top of the trail. It was at an arbitrary point, seemingly, with several options for exploring ridges and highpoints beyond. We heard voices of other people looking to capture some sunrise photos too, and all I wanted was our own little spot.

We found it, and just in time for a quick rainstorm to pass over us. Glad I had my rain jacket ready to go!

Despite the frogs, mud, rain and other people it was an absolutely spectacular sunrise. Watching the colors change as the sun came up over the water was breathtaking. We took lots of pictures and tried to soak in the scene. Yes, we were in paradise.

The hike down was far more interesting than the hike up because we could actually see! There were beautiful trees and flowers all around us. There were even a few remaining daytime bullfrogs. Every leaf dripped with water, keeping the ground moist. The colors seemed over-saturated, except this was real life.

It was interesting to see the eroded trail in full daylight. Eek! Surprising that so many people make the trek up here despite the awful trail conditions. I guess since there are two alternate routes up that most people go a different way.

We stopped and stopped and stopped to take photos all the way down. What a glorious place. Paradise, indeed. In no time at all we returned to the parking area, ready for breakfast!

May 30, 2016.

Before taking off for our Hawaii vacation, I did a little research. Well, I did a lot of research. And that included a trip to the local library.

There, I found an old Hawaii hiking guidebook (randomly), so I eagerly leafed through the pages. One of the hikes mentioned an exploration of the shoreline near Shipwreck Beach. I poked around in other books and websites looking to corroborate this information. I also checked out the satellite view in Google maps to get a better sense of the lay of the land. It looked like there was a lot of potential here, so we drove into Po’ipu to check it out.

After driving down some gravel roads and finding a place to park, we headed coast-ward and surveyed the land. There was a lot of rock immediately in front of us, but a pretty inviting beach to our left. We made a beeline for the beach and took our shoes off.

The beach was also popular with the locals. Of the monk seal variety. We gave them plenty of space as we sauntered by. Otherwise it was mostly quiet along our walk. There were fishermen and other beach-goers in certain areas, but we also enjoyed long stretches in solitude. The teal-green ocean crashed into the rocky points along the shore, demonstrating the incredible power of the sea.

After crossing the beach we reached a green meadow with a lightly trampled path heading towards the headland in front of us. We followed the path and found another, smaller beach, with waves pounding the surrounding rocks. We scrambled around on the rocks, called it our turnaround point, and had a snack.

On our return walk I couldn’t believe the colors, as they looked like they’d come right out of a brand new crayon box. So bright and crisp!

We made it all the way back to where we started and just kept walking. The trail crossed between the sea cliffs and a golf course, so we watched the air for flying golf balls and watched our feet so we wouldn’t slip into the ocean. Beyond the golf course we crossed a lichen-encrusted rock field and then found a packed trail leading through the trees. At the end of the trail, a beach! Shipwreck Beach!

There’s no ship wreck here today but there’s a resort and a boat load of people. Kind of a disappointing place to end up. After another snack break we retreated along the coast, back to where the car was parked. It was a fun adventure, mostly far from the busy trails, and we got fairly good weather to boot. It took us a little over 5 hours to complete our journey, a solid way to spend a good chunk of a vacation day.

May 29, 2016.

Photos

We arrived in Kauai yesterday, with enough time to get settled in to our new place. We visited a couple of over-run tourist viewpoints, did some grocery shopping, and took the stand-up paddleboards for a test spin. All in all, a pretty mellow first day.

Now it was time to hit the trails. Our first destination was clear across the island, up the Waimea Canyon. This is one of the places everyone talks about visiting when you mention you’re traveling to Kauai. This island is for hikers, everyone had told me before our trip, so we were going to love it here.

Iliau Nature Loop

On the long, winding drive up the canyon, we pulled off at a sign for the Iliau Nature Loop. This quarter-mile loop was a treasure trove of beautiful, native Hawaiian plants. We found interpretive signs near many of the unusual plants that described their human uses and unique characteristics. Some of the native plants included: ??hi?a lehua, koa, p?kiawe and of course, iliau. The iliau, found only on Kauai, is a relative of the silversword we saw at Haleakala Crater. Ihe shapes, colors and textures of the flowers and leaves captivated my imagination. It felt like walking through a Dr. Seuss book. Quite possibly one of the biggest bang-for-your-buck 0.25 mile hike there was.

Alaka’i Swamp

We continued up the road and stopped at the park store, which was just opening up. There we bought a trail map and talked about hiking options with the store clerk. Quickly we got back on the road to drive all the way to its end.

The trailhead, and a popular viewpoint overlook, was at the end of the road. There were many people standing around taking pictures of the gorgeous Kalalau Valley. We took it all in, then walked down the trail.

Today was pretty dry. The trail, which was heavily traveled and rutted, appeared to be made mostly of dried mud. I couldn’t imagine how hellish it would be when wet. The trail descended steeply along the edge of a cliff, with periodic views of the coastline.

We turned on a trail to Pihea Peak, which was pretty heavily treed. There was a summit marker there, but not much of a summit.

Back on the main trail, we hiked on a dilapidated boardwalk all the way to the end of the line. The boardwalk was a bit treacherous in sections because the metal grate overlying the boards was broken and sticking up. It would have been easy to get stuck with the sharp wire in your foot or lower leg. We proceeded with caution.

The swamp and the surrounding forest was incredibly lush, diverse and colorful. Once we broke out in to the swamp proper, most of the trees disappeared and we were left in a broad, open expanse. Bacterial mats made colorful shapes underwater. And in places, some brand new boardwalk appeared (yay!) The clouds grew thicker and grayer and soon we found ourselves at the “viewpoint.”

On a clear day, this may well be an excellent viewpoint. But today we stared at the inside of a cloud. It was still a nice place to sit and take a snack break before following the boardwalk back to civilization.

As we walked back I enjoyed the various vegetative curiosities along the way. The ferns, trees, lichens, wildflowers and items of undetermined genera. This was really a special place.

We knew we were getting close when the throngs of people thickened. Out in the swamp we didn’t come across too many other hikers. But now, oh yes, the people have sprawled beyond the roadside viewing area.

I took my shoes off to slosh up the final, muddy trail segment. The mud squished between my toes. It felt like a long day on the trail, and our Kauai adventures had only just begun.