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.