A hiking we will go!

In Kauai there is a famous hike that is 11 miles long and 11 miles back. It's called the Kalalau trail. You have to plan to pitch a tent and camp there for a few days. We wanted to do a cool hike but didn't want the camping part necessarily. You can however, hike part of this trail to a cool waterfall called Hanakapia'a Falls. It's only 8 miles total. That I could do! Originally our plan was to leave early in the morning so we could do the hike and be back in time to go sight seeing on the north side of the island. But for some reason we weren't able to get out as early as we liked. This was a huge blessing in disquise. I'll explain more about why after a few fun pictures!

Getting set to hike:

Corinne, Tim &Justin

A pretty gecko

Love the lushness behind me!

Our view from the east

View from the west:

Overlooking Ke'e beach

Zooming in at the beach down below:

Another quick stop for a pic!

My poor sis Kristin had an unfortunate accident during the hike. She actually lost both soles from her shoes. There was thick mud that we'd have to hike through and the mud ate her shoes! The mountain wants what it wants! So she had to hike the rest of the way in what we called "socks with laces!" Unfortunately where there is slick mud, there will be lots of falling down. You still look good sis!

More natural waterfalls

A subtle warning before we proceed. 

Great.

Well, this was supposed to be where we cross to get to the falls.

Man, this island is dangerous!

In the picture below, the woman with gray hair was 20 minutes behind her husband. He crossed the river before she got here. Within that 20 minutes the water started getting higher and faster. Kristin has done this hike a couple of times and she said this river is usually a light stream. With all the rain that week no wonder it turned into a raging river.

We ended up talking with the woman for a while and she pointed out her husband on the other side. Poor guy. We decided to eat lunch to see if the river would slow down or gradually get lower. No luck. As we sat there we gradually saw more people coming back and planning to cross back over the river.

We felt sorry for the people that were trapped on the other side so we started throwing apples over the river. We also left our extra sandwiches with the our new friend. We dont know what happened after we left but some of the locals that we talked to told us that it can take a few days for the currents to slow down.

This is where our HUGE blessing in disguise comes in. If we had started out earlier in the day liked we planned we would have been across the river with those other people. Stuck. For who knows how long. We felt terrible leaving but there really wasn't anything we could do. The tide had to slow down then the people would be able to cross back over. I think we all said a silent prayer of gratitude as well as a prayer for those people to find a safe way back across.

Matthew was bummed that we couldn't cross. Me too. I was hungry for another adventure. But, I also wanted to live. :)

Cool spider on our way out off the trail:

Since our hike ended early, we saw a couple of sight-seeing places on the north side of the island. This is the Hanalei Lookout. There are tons of Poi farms. What a pretty place!

Shaka!

Another stop at the old lighthouse. Can you spot it way off in the distance?

To prove I was there...still sporting my wind-blown hair look...

On our drive home we saw the most gorgeous rainbow. Since it was raining so hard we couldn't get out to take a picture so we took one through the window.

This was a perfect ending to another great day in paradise!

Next up...kayaking the Wailua river, hike to secret falls and more!

More Kauai

On Tuesday we went on a helicopter tour around the island. This was no ordinary tour. It was a helicopter without any doors! I was a little scared at first since I could fall out at any moment, but it ended up being a great thrill. It was so much fun and so happy to say we survived! Most of all, it gave me a great hair style for the rest of the day. Wind-blown is back in ladies!

This was a perfect way to see the island. It really is such a beautiful place. So serene. The day before was rainstorm after rainstorm so there were tons of waterfalls running off every angle of the mountains. Breathtaking! This picture was inside the crater where it gets over 400 inches of rain every year. It's known as the "wettest place on earth."

Waterfalls featured in Jurassic Park

This is the Na Pali Coast. It's known for so many movies and scenic pictures. So glad we got to see it! 

After our helicopter ride we were able to go on a super fun zipline in the Kauaiian jungle. There were 12 zips up above the trees. This was one of my favorite things to do. Here we are, ready to go zip it!

Coming in:

Getting ready to cross this death bridge. We were hooked onto a line but it was seriously scary crossing it because below us was a huge drop off the mountain! Yea, we did it!

Here comes Justin:

Getting pysched for "King Kong" the longest zip of the day. It was over 1200 feet long!

After the ziplines we headed to Ke'e Beach to watch the sunset:

Never seen so many warnings to go to a beach in all my life!

Stuff like this just fascinates me. This tree was uprooted. But does that stop it from growing? Never. You can't tell by the picture but it was huge!

Here I am standing under it!

Finally the sun started to set. How romantic!

My favorite sunset pics:

On our way home we stopped at these caves. The pictures don't do the colors justice. It was so neat to see how the light bounced off the different patterns of this cave.

Another stop on our way home was at Tunnels beach. There were 15 foot waves that were breaking and it was so pretty to watch. Oh how I love the beach!

We finished our fabulous day with dinner at Olympic Cafe. It was a great day! Next up is our hike of the Kalalau trail!

Kauai - Part 2

For this trip we were bound and determined to do as much as we could on this little island so when Monday morning hit, we headed out the door as soon as the sun came up. We headed to a beautiful little place called Kipu Falls. This is a place where the locals go to play. It's a 5 minute hike through a small sugar cane field which leads down to a waterfall and a rope swing. Another perk was that it was free!

Hiking through the brush. I felt so adventurous!

Monday's forecast said "rainy with a chance of sun" but knowing that the weather changes quickly, we weren't letting anything stop us from living it up!

Once we cleared the bushes, this is what we saw:

We had to cross over the water and made it into the canopy of trees. Inside the canopy looked like this. Check out the roots along the floor. Aren't they so cool?!

This is the huge tree that the rope is attached to:

The party people:

Some action shots of Justin. Unfortunately when it was my turn to go, it started to rain. Downpour. So, I had to put the camera away. Oh, darn!

Deep thoughts:

You can't tell but we are pretty high up. This was one of our favorite things to do on the island. We liked it so much we went back on our last day of the trip.

Overlooking the river that leads to Kipu Falls. Gorgeous.

After this we headed for lunch and then stopped off at Shipwreck beach. You can jump off that rock in the distance. We didn't get the chance because we weren't there very long. Plus, I think my cliff jumping days are over. Sad but true.

That night we went to a Luau as a family. We enjoyed a tour around the grounds and we were going to watch the massive Kalua pig be dug up from the ground but just as they started to do it the rains came again and we were soaked in a matter of seconds. Hence, no pig pictures. Here's some fun poses and nature shots instead:

The scenery is so pretty!

Look at the size of this tree! My kids would love one of these back in Az. It'd make the best tree house!

You can tell by Justin's face in this picture he wasn't very amused with how I wanted us to pose. He was a good sport. I was taking 5 million pictures!

Next was a great traditional Hawaiian dinner complete with Kalua pig! During dinner, they allowed several people in the crowd to come up on stage and learn the Hukilau dance. My sis Kristin took her daughter Corinne to learn the moves. They were super cute up there!

The next day has too many pictures so I will try to narrow it down in my next post. Aloha for now!