We got up early (shocking) and were on the road by 7 after grabbing our coffee. With traffic we knew it would be close to a 2 hr drive to the other side of the island. We had planned to go over to the Waimea Canyon and do some hiking. Many people refer to it as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It does look like a GC but with a lot more green and waterfalls all around. We had flown over it yesterday and wanted to do some hiking. We had read and heard that the best forests and trails were up there.
Nothing was open at 7 so we had to wait until we got close to the canyon to grab stuff to take with us for lunch. Not a great idea. We stopped by the convenience store at the base and since it was still early the pickings were slim. We ended up with a hot dog, a corn dog, a Chinese sausage (don't ask) a bag of chips and some water. Yum. It would have to do.
We slowly made our way up the first 15 miles of the canyon road. We stopped at the main lookout for a quick look and some photos. Nothing too different than the flight. We jumped back in our car and left all the other tourists.
From here we followed our guidebook for directions to get to the Mohihi-Wai-'alae Trail. The directions said you had to have 4wd drive, it was 6 miles to the trailhead on a dirt road and to follow the map. Between the map in the book and the signs on the road we were in good shape. You definitely need 4wd and high clearance. We again crossed some water and went through mud. I can't imagine this being passable during rainy season. It was a long and very bumpy 6 miles. Took about half an hour to drive.
When we got to the end of the road ER saw no other cars other than a ranger truck or two. We knew the hike was going to be long but weren't sure how strenuous so we took my camera. (sorry my camera can't upload to the iPad so no pics til we get back of this day)
Let me try to recap this hike. We were supposed to hike 3 miles out then turn around and come back. 6 total. At 1/2 mile I told Josh I might die. At mile marker 1 I sat down, ate my lunch and said I was done. Despite my whining we pushed through and did 5 miles. Anyone who is in shape and in Kauai would enjoy this. I'm pretty out of shape. I disagreed with the guidebook though. The hike starts and takes you over a stream (cool). Then you go through a brief Sugi tree forest. To me one of the prettiest areas I had seen in the trip. Felt like I should be in a Twilight set or something. Then the rest of the first mile is uphill torture. Seriously. Torture. Mile 1 to 2 was amazing! Gently rolling path through the forest with moss and ferns everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. At mile 2 you descend down into a narrow fern path that lasts about half a mile and rips apart any flesh that is exposed. The guidebook author liked this section. We could have shipped it. We went a little past the 2.5 mile mark but didn't see anything enticing us to continue. I was delirious at this point. The hike took us 2 hours to do the 2.5 hours out and then about 1.5 hours back. We stopped several times to either eat, take photos or not pass out. The smell of the plants and air up the air was amazing and I agree you get to see a lot if different vegetation than the rest of the island. My suggestion is to take Advil (my head throbbed with the car ride) and lots of water. Oh and wear long hiking pants.
After our trek back down the mountain I really felt awful. I wasn't sure if I was dehydrated, hungry, exhausted or what. We were disgusting and our main agenda was to find a shower or beach to rinse off. We wanted to spend the evening on the western side of the island but not like this.
There aren't as many options for beaches in this area. We didn't want to go too far so we headed to Salt Pond Beach in Hanapepe. It provided sand to sleep on, shade for Josh, swimmable water to rinse off, an outside shower and a bathroom to change clothes. It fit the bill. I probably wouldn't rank it high on my list of Kauai beaches. There are just too many other awesome beaches. It's major pros were some cool rock features on the right side where the water rushed over and the campsites. A bunch of locals were there, singing, hanging out, cooking.
Once we were relatively clean and relaxed we headed in to downtown Hanapepe. It's been described as a ghost town but we went on a Friday evening when they have their Art Night. It's like the NoDa (Charlotte reference) of Kauai. A lot of local art galleries mixed with some shops. For art night, musicians perform on the streets and food vendors come out. We got there a bit early and visited the used book store Talk Story. Wow. They had some amazing kids vintage books. I really love old kids books with the good illustrations. I find several and take them up to be priced. I happily add an animal book and two Kauai stories to my vintage collection when I'm told they are $5 or $7. Then we get to the book I found from the 30's about manners. I loved it. I waited to hear that it too was $6. The man tells me, ok so this is a rare find and is selling with collectors for $150... I could sell it for $25. What? As much as I wanted it that's crazy. I'm happy with my three. As we leave two local high school boys were starting to sing. They were really good. Wish we had caught their name.
We looked around the galleries but didn't find anything that fit our art collection. We get something from every trip.
The smells of the vendors were taking over our senses and we gave in. We shared a huge slice of lasagna from Hanalei pasta. As we were eating it we were seated next to the pie lady - the Right Slice. I heard her describe the Tantric Chocolate cake and was a goner. Belgium chocolate with cayenne pepper and candied ginger and almonds. I'm not a pie person. I loved this pie. This may be the best pie I have ever had. I have already pinned a recipe so I can try to replicate. If you are here find the pie lady! She goes to several markets and has a store in Lihue I believe. I can't believe we just stumbled into that.
After Hanapepe we headed back over to downtown Waimea. Since Josh had finished reading the Hunger Games we had googled movie theaters on the island. It turned out that there was an old historic theater in Waimea that shows movies a few weeks after they are released. It just so happened they would start showing HG that night. I did some quick research and found out that if you get there when the box office opens or a bit earlier you can snag one of the few bamboo stuffed rattan chairs. So, for $24 total Josh and I saw the Hunger Games, got two sodas, popcorn and two candies while sitting in our very comfy bamboo chairs with the locals. We were the only tourists. It was quite fun. And we stayed up past 8! It was pretty late by the time we got home but it was a great day on the west side of the island.
Note: these pics aren't ours... Will post when we have ours.
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