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!