Day 3 - The Wild Side

Today, we sampled the "mild wild" side of Kauai. Neither of us are hard-core hikers so we pored over our guidebook for trails to walk that were at least off the beaten track some, but didn't require mad hiking skills or hiking boots. We only brought sport sandals to wear so hard-core, almost trails weren't on our list of "must-do's." We managed to find a couple of cool waterfalls - one with fun swimming hole at the bottom of it.

Before I get into the adventures, though, I'd promised a better picture of Joe, the condo property's "mascot" and I was able to get it today. He came up to our lanai today...left a nice little souvenir too, but the maintenance folks cleaned that up right away. :)












We started our adventures looking for Ho'opi'i Falls. They aren't huge or spectacular, but they are very pretty and require a short hike to find.
You walk down an old dirt road (and I use that term loosely) then cut down to the stream bed, crossing the stream or walking down the stream itself in order to state on publicly owned land.


The reward is a pretty little waterfall that you have all to yourself.

After thouroughly investigating the travel-worthiness of the stream crossings, we walked up a trail on the opposite side of the stream on the way back for as long as we could and found a "picture-perfect" tree root to sit on for our wilderness portraits. :)

After that little hike, we decided to check out another waterfall, 'Opaeka'a Falls. This one is inaccessible up close because it is surrounded by private land, but there is a scenic lookout (which, in Kauai, is almost silly - the entire ISLAND is a scenic lookout, for crying out loud) that allows a great spot for a photo. Dianna used her "real" camera for that one so I don't have a photo yet for the blog. I'll try to update this post later, when she's had a chance to import those shots. Pretty, but not very wild...so we decided to go further up the road. Which we did until the road ended.

Well, technically, that's not true. We stopped where the pavement stopped because the Jeep we rented was making very loud clanking sounds whenever we hit bumps or potholes and I was nervous about driving across a stream (the road has a concrete causeway to allow you to do so) and up a very primitive dirt road (only somewhat better than the one pictured above).

From there we headed back to airport to exchange our clanky red Jeep for an non-clanky blue Jeep. The red was easier to spot in a parking lot, but I really like have a non-clanky ride so the blue will do nicely, thank you.

The big adventure for the day came after lunch at Kalapaki's Beach Hut (nice view, eh). This is a little sitting spot above the actual counter and kitchen. Note the lack of chickens...I think because it's on the 2nd floor and they aren't good at flying. We did have doves though. They are much more quiet eating companions.






Ah, yes, on to the big adventure...Kipu Falls. This little jewel is hidden away about .5 mile off the road through the remains of a sugar plantation. You do a mild jungle hike on a some fairly slick mud through very thick vegetation to find a beautiful little stream.


That trail leads to a smallish waterfall (about 20 ft. high). This picture doesn't do it justice by the way...this is the smallest part of the falls. The wider portion is off to the right, but Di got a picture of me swimming below.


The real fun about this place though is that below the falls is a very nice swimming hole...and all you have to do to get into the swimming hole is either jump the 20 ft. from the falls, climb down a ladder someone has thoughtfully anchored to the rock with steel bars (Dianna's preferred route), or do what I did - use the rope swing to launch yourself as far and as high as possible before splashing down below.


What a rush! I liked it so much I had to do it 3 times. Then I got tired and a little cold, so I found a warm sunny rock to bask on for a while, before heading down the road again to find a treat.

We ended up back in Old Koloa Town (because it was closest) and got some shaved ice. Tasty and light and WAY better than a sno-cone. Since it was getting close to sunset, we decided to go to Spouting horn to watch the show. We managed to get a bonus show because while we were waiting for the sunset, we also got to witness a double-rainbow.



And with this, I say...goodnight and God bless...from the Creator to you and I...