A short little hike

So today was the last full day on Kauai, and the last hike of the trip. It was a short, 3 mile loop up to Makaleha Falls, a large waterfall pretty close to where we were staying east of Kapaa. We had heard the hike was very tough terrain, but we had been told that the Kalalau Trail and the Nu'alolo Ridge were also tough, and we knocked them off pretty easily, so we figured this one would be similar.

Not so much.

Makaleha was probably the toughest terrain I have ever hiked across. The "trail" was marked by a series of disconnected pink ribbons, rock cairns and macheted out gouges in tree branches. It took us across the waist-deep river on a large, slick boulders, up through a thick grove of bamboo on a slick mud-covered hillside, through thick vines, thorn bushes and other scrub and through and onto the sloppy, moss-covered limbs of a large number of hau trees. In particular, the jungle gym of hau tree limbs was a truly difficult and gnarly trail experience. 

And it was totally awesome!!!!

It did take us about 4 hours to hike 3 miles, and we got fairly beaten up and eaten alive by mosquitos. And we didn't exactly get to the waterfall ... we may have passed by it by taking the far right stream when we should have taken the left one, but we did see them from a little distance and they were spectacular. 

After we got back and showered up, we ended our time on Kauai with a trip to the South Coast, exploring the Spouting Horn and having dinner at the Beachhouse, an excellent restaurant right on the beach. The calamari and my ebbe in a fish broth with miso and shitakes were superb, as were Aviva's aioli covered scallops. 

All in all, Kauai treated us very well and I felt like we returned the favor. A fantastic trip all around. 

Aviva crossing Makeleha stream early in the hike .

Up the muddy, slippery hillside through the bamboo grove.

The trail continues straight ahead. 

The "wall" where the trail got ... difficult.

Through the jungle. 

Follow the pink ribbons. 

At the stream junction, you can see Makelaha falls in the distance.

A close up of the falls.

Sunset on the south shore.

South Shore tidepools.

Spouting horn blowhole. 

A Grand Canyon on Kauai

So today was West Kauai - after spending our time over the last two days on the north and east coasts, we headed across the island and up into Waimea Canyon. The "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" is a massive gouge in the earth 10 miles long, 1 mile wide and around 3500 feet deep ... it is a truly remarkable site. The colors in the canyon, the reds of the earth and the greens of the vegetation, are unlike anything I have ever seen.

But I am getting ahead of myself. While we drove up into the canyon early in the day, we spent the morning and early afternoon hiking down Nu'alolo ridge, across the Nu'alolo cliffs trail and back up the Awa'awapuhi trail back to the road, before hitching a ride with some of the hikers we met back to our car.  This hike was tremendous, about 10 miles and as we hiked down and up the ridges from 4000 feet to 2400 feet and back, we passed through a variety of vegetation zones, felt the temperature shift by 5 - 10 degrees and saw some of the most unimaginable terrain I have ever witnessed.

We were actually looking at the mountains and ridges which form the backbone of the Na'pali Coast, which we hiked on Monday. The sheer peaks, covered in a green cloak of vegetation, were like nothing I have ever seen before. We saw giant ferns and a gorgeous ocean blues, heard more kinds of bird songs than I knew existed and were often cooled off by periodic rain showers.

After the hike, we spent some time checking out the canyon, then stopped by a taco stand for fish tacos and burritos, and finished off dinner with ice cream shakes at Lapperts. A perfect day ...

Beginning of the exposed open trail along the bottom of the Nu'alolo ridge trail. 

Enjoying the view into Nu'alolo valley. 

Plants clinging to the edge of the world.

Top view of the Nu'alolo valley. 

A sketchy section of the Nu'alolo cliffs trail - there is about a 1000 foot drop here, and the path is about 2 feet wide. Definitely the scariest part of today. 

Stopping for lunch at the Nu'alolo flats above the valley.

 Looking down on the Kalalau valley. 

At the Awa'awapuhi overlook. 

One of the many feral roosters tracking us during the day. 

Waimea Canyon.

Day of the Waterfall

So after hiking the Na Pali Coast yesterday, we took it pretty easy today, sleeping in, doing laundry and hitting up a farmers market in the morning before getting lunch at a local Saimin shop in Lihue. Saimin is a kind of noodle soup dish which is a specialty of Hawaii, our guidebook tells us that all the Hawaiian Chinese think its from Japan, and all the Hawaiian Japanese think it is from China.

I think its delicious.

After lunch we spent the afternoon checking out a few of waterfalls scattered around the east side of Kauai. The first was Wailua falls, which was also the most fun, as it required a steep scramble and a semi-treacherous traverse along the edge of the Wailua river using ropes before reaching the off-limits falls. After a bunch of pictures, the route back to the top involved scaling a muddy, scree covered spring using a rope and a lot of vines.

After Wailua, we drove by Opekaa Falls and gawked at the falls and the Wailua river for a few minutes. We also chased some of the feral chickens - have I mentioned - Kauai might be the Garden Island, but it should be the chicken Island, given the number of feral chickens here. They definitely outnumber the people ... anyway, after Opekaa, we took a 2 - 3 mile hike, right in the neighborhood in which we were staying, to Ho'op'i Falls on the Kapa'a stream. There are actually two waterfalls on the river, not sure which is Ho'op'i, but we saw them both.

Wailua Falls. 

After a riverside scramble, here I am thoroughly enjoying a bottom-to-top view of Wailua Falls.

Wailua River from the top of the falls. 

Wailua River just before the edge of the falls. 

Opekaa Falls.

Wailua River from the Opekaa Falls overlook in the Wailua State Park. 

Ho'op'i Falls (the second falls). 

Aviva loves elephant ears - and how often do you see elephant ears this big just growing in the wild.

Ho'op'i Falls (the first falls). 

Loving the jungle and river - it was particularly peaceful here. 

Along Kapa'a stream.

Na Pali and the North Coast of Kauai

So today Aviva and I woke up early and headed up to hike the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali coast on the northwestern side of Kauai. The trail starts from Ke'e beach and heads up over and along the magnificent, lush mountains and wends its way along a narrow trail hanging over the pacific until it descends onto Hanakapi'ai beach. We stopped there briefly for lunch and some photography, and then headed upstream another 2 miles to Hanakapi'ai falls, a 300 foot waterfall. After we got to the falls, I went  swimming - there is nothing quite like a shower in a huge fresh water falls - and then we enjoyed the sun for a few minutes. Then we headed back out, down to the beach and back up and around to Ke'e beach. The whole trail took about 5.5 hours and was glorious, lush and beautiful the whole way.

After we finished we rented some fins and snorkeled at Tunnels on the North Coast - saw parrotfish, needlefish, angelfish, puffer fish and a few trigger fish. The fish were impressive but the corals not so much, so we only snorkeled for about an hour before heading back to our place, stopping to get a teriyaki pineapple burger at Bubbas and to gawk at the lush beauty of Kauai's interior and to stare at a gorgeous sunset.

Kalalau Trail just after rounding the first peak on the trail. 

Aviva and I enjoying the trail.

Napali Coast.

Small waterfall along the Kalalau trail. 

Cairns on Hanakapi'ai Beach. 

Moss covered stones on Hanakapi'ai beach.

Trail along the Hanakapi'ai river in the eponymously named valley.

The bottom of Hanakapi'ai Falls.

 

Thats me swimming in a 300 foot waterfall!!!

More falls along the Hanakapi'ai trail - there were probably 12 falls on the way up the valley.

The interior of Kauai - incredible. 

Sunset off the West Coast of Kauai. 

Pools of Molokea

So we just got to Kauai last night. The flight from Oahu was more like a really long jump, we were only in the air for about 15 minutes it seemed.

The airport was tiny, and the surrounding village even more so, but tiny in a quaint, attractive way. The person we were renting from picked us up at the airport ... actually just drove up and gave us her truck ... and off we drove, to get groceries, lunch and then settle in. The rental is awesome, really beautiful and close to some fabulous hikes, and the proprietors are fantastic, giving us all kinds of info about the island.

After getting set up and prepping some food, we headed over to the Pools of Molokea for a short afternoon hike along the coast. The pools were gorgeous, and much more extensive than we thought, stretching about a mile along the shore after fording small stream on the beach.