Alakai Swamp

Today we were heading up the hill to hike the Alakai Swamp trail. This trail was near Waimea Canyon which was this beautiful canyon with reds and greens seen from viewpoints along the road. It was just three of us today, Dad, Paul and I. We drove up this steep road that gained elevation quickly in a series of steep switchbacks. We didn't stop too long to take in the view as we had a goal for the day. When we got to the trailhead, there was still parking left and we got going. The first part of the trail offered amazing views down into the gorge below that led right to the ocean.

This picture was the classic one of Kauai and was truly stunning. The trail itself was in awful shape. There was no effort in this section to improve the trail and it just looked like one giant swath of exposed, slimy dirt. That is one thing that I found unappealing about the Hawaiian islands is that it is this lush paradise, but they don't seem to take any time to improve their trails. We hiked this one for a time, trying to all keep our balance as it went up and down, mostly down until we ran into a trail junction.. The first junction we did alright at, but the second one was a three way junction.

We took the one that said Alakai Swamp because that was the hike that we were doing. It turned out that we were supposed to take the one that went out to the lookout with its own name, Kilohana. I had not read the guidebook close enough to remember that and neither did anyone else, so we ended up coming out at a separate trailhead. Oh well, we sat down to have lunch and then headed back. Luckily the extra portion of trail was the best we had seen on the day and everyone was still in good spirits. We added about 2 miles to our 8 mile hike with this side trip.

The weird thing was trying to explain this to the people we saw hiking back from the lookout. The trail to the lookout was mostly boardwalk and steps. This led through a swamp that was really not a swamp, just some muddy ground. Getting to the lookout was sort of anti-climatic as there was no view. It was socked in by clouds. We also shared it with a couple from Sweden who took the best bench and didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry. We left them after trying to call Jacqueline to tell her we would be a little later than we thought. They were possibly going to meet us, but now with our added time, we were going to miss them for sure. Still, I made sure to make it back to the trailhead by the time that we had told them on the phone. By the end of the hike, we had received a bit of weather and it was rather socked in. We missed Jacqueline and they had missed some of the views as they had clouds near the top. Oh well, it was still nice to put a few miles in and enjoy the lush forests of Kauai. 

Shipwreck Beach

Paul showed up in the evening of our first full day. The next day started out with a morning hike along Shipwreck Beach. We didn't really have an itinerary for how far we would go, just that we had to be back in time to go swimming at a kid friendly beach in the afternoon. We first walked with the entire crew to the Grand Hyatt resort where Jacqueline, Laura, and Zyla left us to go enjoy feeding the fish. The rest of us headed over to Shipwreck Beach. We walked the beach for a short time and then hiked up some rocky cliffs to a viewpoint.

We stayed on these rocky cliffs as we hiked along the coastline for a few miles. It was nice to be able to have this somewhat secluded coast line for hiking. Our hike took us past a couple of small beaches with pinnacles of rock right next to them. We ended up hiking over a golf course that seemed like an amazing spot to play some golf. We left the golf course and ran into a strange cave. It was the Makauwahi Cave that is of course sacred to the Hawaiians. We were able to find a way to get into the cave where there was some guy there who was telling the visitors about the cave.

It was kind of a funky place because it looked half manicured, half destroyed with piles of equipment and roped off section of cave. There was a archaeological dig going on where they were finding all sorts of artifacts and old plants. We listened to the guy talk for a while and then went out of the cave across the bridge to where there were a bunch of tortoises eating plants. We then went down to the Gillin Beach to sit down and enjoy the water before heading back.

We made it back a little later than we were expecting but in plenty of time to enjoy the afternoon at the beach. We went to Lydgate Beach where there was a barrier built up to block the waves. This was perfect and Zyla loved playing there while we all took turns snorkeling.

Waterfalls on Kauai

Well we had done the worst of it. The long flight to Kauai was over. Dad and Tom got rental cars. We checked into our condo. We visited the beach and then the next day we had to figure out what to do with ourselves. Dad and Laura had a plan to go to the Botanical Gardens, so Zyla, Jacqueline, Tom and I went on a waterfall adventure. If you go to the Garden Island, you might as well appreciate the lushness of the whole thing. The first one we went to was Wailua Falls less than a half an hour from where we were staying. This one was impressive, but also right by the road.

The guide book said that there was a trail down to the base of it. When we looked at it, there were so many signs saying not to go, that we had to not go. We met another couple with their kids from Wisconsin there. We left that spot and went to our next waterfall spot. We were visiting Ho'opi'i Falls. This one was going to take some hiking. Without the GPS, we never would have found the trailhead. It was just a small parking spot in a culdesac. We parked the car and immediately met some out of shape guys who looked like they never hiked. They told us it was going to be hard.

 I also saw a tarantula wasp of some kind dragging a large spider. I was the only one to see it, but it was pretty neat. The trail then descended slightly downhill. We saw a gecko on a plant, but for some reason Zyla was not too impressed. She was more impressed by the horses right nearby and immediately called this her animal farm. She also named the horses. We kept going downhill until we got to the creek. As soon as we got there, Zyla of course had to go potty. We tried to manage it the best we could but it did turn into a big mess.

 Luckily we were prepared parents, but still it was not an ideal situation. We continued on downstream after that. We ran into another couple with kids and talked with them. We ended up high above what looked like some falls. I went down to investigate. Sure enough, this was the right spot. We slowly maneuvered ourselves down to the lookout point where we took in the falls. Then it was back up the trail to go to the lower falls. The trail was very slippery and muddy from here on out. Jacqueline and Zyla had enough when I slipped and took Zyla down with me. I was worried that I had hurt her hand, but she was okay. The three of them stopped for lunch while I ran ahead to see the lower falls. I literally ran, saw it, snapped a picture, and then turned to run back to where they were. Once I was back, it was back up the trail. Everyone had a much easier time going back up the trail. Zyla was a great hiker on this day and we made it back to the trailhead in good time. We figured this should be the end of our waterfall exploring, though, as Zyla and I were muddy enough as is. 

Pack Forest Trails

Well we were off for the winter furlough. This started with a trip to Arizona to see Aunt Kris and my friend Steve. Then we flew to Washington to see my mom and Carl. Our plan was to leave Conrad with Mom and then fly to Hawaii to meet my Dad and Laura, Uncle Paul, and Grandpa Tom. Before we did that, we had a few days in Washington, so we spent some time visiting with people like my Grandma who had not met Conrad yet. While we had some down time, Jacqueline and I went for a hike out in Pack Forest. Carl had a good map, so we ventured to some trails that we had not hiked previously. When we got to the trailhead we were a little worried about some people in a big van. The weather was extremely cold and they were obviously stealing firewood from the facilities around Pack Forest.

 We made sure to lock our car and Jacqueline even went back to make sure her purse and phone was with us so that they didn't feel the need to break into our car. After that it was down a flat road until we hit another road. This took us to what was called the Wildlife Trail. This took us through some nice forest with decent trails. The weather was so cold that the trails were in pretty good shape because the mud that could obviously be there was completely frozen. Our feet were a little cold but sooner than later the trail put us moving uphill.

 Jacqueline was a little bit worried about our direction of travel. I had a map, though, so I assured her this was the correct direction. The trail went all the way around the sides of Hugo Peak. At some point the trail switched names to the Reservoir Trail. We could tell we were getting close to one of the many roads when we started seeing signs about being a managed forest and telling about the trees. We did hit a road and then took the Advanced Horse Trail back to the car. It was fun being on a hike with just the two of us as it had been a long time since we could do that. It only took a few hours, but in the afternoon in Washington during December, that is all the daylight that we had. The people at the trailhead were gone and the car was left alone. Time to leave the cold for the warm weather of Kauai.