Kauai Vacation!

Wednesday Morning Curtis Hansen and I flew from Oahu to the island of Kauai. We were as ready to leave Oahu as a Penguin is as ready to experiment with Mexico. We needed to get out and out we did get. We rode in the back of a buddy’s pickup down to the airport at 5 in the morning. After a 30 minute flight, we landed in Kauai. It looked the same as Oahu, only less people, more mountains, and tons of roosters all over the place. It was also a much greener land mass because it rains every morning and evening without fail.

After pickup up our rental car we went straight to Wal-Mart. We already had a tent, but we needed to get a tarp and food for our camping extravaganza. We loaded up there, and then stopped at Costco for some more bare essentials. Our food choice was pretty slim and let’s just say that Mom would have worried if she saw, but what Momma don’t know won’t hurt her…right? Our food choice for the next four days was Costco muffins and a protein shake for breakfast, trail mix and granola bars for lunch and some canned spaghetti O’s for dinner. Our microwave didn’t fit in my carry on, so we heated up the food with my Leatherman. (that’s a joke, you can’t heat up food with only a Leatherman, we tried)

Let me first explain the island. It is shaped like a circle and the road goes 90% all the way around. Thus, you cannot drive all the way around the island.

Our first destination and camp spot was at Waimea Canyon. It is also known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Seeing these photos ought to help you understand why. It is gorgeous. There were a lot of lookout points along the road, and we didn’t see any trails that led down into it, but they could have been there. We just enjoyed driving every twenty feet and taking another photo. It just got better and better. The frequent rain makes it really green.

At the end of this road, is our campsite. Koke’e State Park. It sits at 4,000 feet elevation. It is the highest point in the entire islands of Hawaii. Had I known this, I would have packed appropriately. I’ll explain later. Koke’e State Park is very secluded and quiet. It reminded me of the Uintahs because of the altitude and quiet feel. After getting there, we learned of a hike just up the road and we went to it. It was called Kalalau Lookout. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

We hiked along the ridge that took us near the other side of the lookout. It was a really cool hike. Shear drop offs to the left and nothing but thick jungle on the right. It would rain on and off all throughout the hike. I got used to it. It was a pretty unique experience.

After the hike, we went back to the camping area to set up camp. It got dark at 6:30 so we had to move quickly. Our camping experience was awesome. Our camping supplies consisted of:

A tent

A tarp

Bamboo beach mats to sleep on

A damp towel to place on the bamboo beach mats

Thin blankets

A pillow

Flashlight

We got camp all set up and realized it was only 6:45 pm. We had the whole night ahead of us. Ha ha, and nothing to do. It was raining and too dark to do much. So we sat in our tents, turned on some reading lamps and read books. I had borrowed a book from my English Professor entitled Silence by Shusaku Endo.  As we read we both got pretty tired and fell asleep around 7 pm. We were pretty worn down because of the flight, racing around in the car, and hike we did that day, so it’s understandable.

We awoke and were super charged and ready to go for another day. It was still dark outside, so we checked our watches with an expectation of it being around 4 in the morning. Lo and behold, it was only 11 pm. We only slept for 4 hours and we had the whole night ahead of us. Ha ha. We had a good laugh. We were both pretty cold at this point. We put on the light jackets that we had and curled up into little balls hoping to conserve as much heat as possible. We’d been living the dream in a climate where blankets were frowned upon for the past three months, we didn’t think in the slightest we would be cold in Kauai, but we were. 

Because I was so awake, I decided to read some more in my book. Around 1:30 in the morning, Curtis woke up and looked over at me. I was still reading. We had a good talk and over some Costco trail mix.  After that, I went to bed; we had a long drive and a lot to do the next day.

In the morning we picked up camp, ate some Costco trail mix and a muffin and hit the road. We stopped at a cool lookout point and said goodbye to Waimea Canyon.  As we stood around getting good photos, we heard a gun fire off in the distance. Our first instinct was to duck and get out of sight, but then we realized no one would want to kill us, so we laughed and looked for the culprit. There was a hunter down in the canyon. Bore hunting is famous in this area.

Two and a Half hours later and we were on the opposite side of the island at the Kalalau Trailhead. This is a famous hike because of Hanakapi'ai Falls and Beach. It was the coolest hike I had ever been on. It was pure Jungle. On top of that, it was along the Na’Pali Coast. This coast is famous for being secluded, no roads, and very beautiful. There are really steep cliffs all along it. Most people see it from Helicopter tours, but we dove right into it while hiking. It rained on and off throughout the entire hike, which was kind of funny because there was no cloud in sight. We had to wear these cool hats, obviously, because it made us look more official.

This is just a photo of a lookout we stopped at along the road. Pretty Amazing!

Half way up the hike is Hanakapi’ai Beach. This is a secluded beach surrounded by steep cliffs. No one goes into the water because it has a really dangerous current. There is a tally kept on a wooden sign just off the beach that labels the amount of deaths. We counted about 85 people. It is pretty crazy. It was beautiful though and I got to meet a Monk Seal. They are extremely endangered and native to Hawaii.

Then we left the coast and went inland to find the 300 foot waterfall. The trail got much more intense as we crossed streams, and fallen trees. It was really cool. We found bamboo trees, a cat, and strange fruit, but no wild life.

 The waterfall was the most beautiful one I had ever seen. It was super tall and poured down a tropical cliff. There was a swimming hole underneath and we couldn’t resist. We were sweating like crazy and really needed to be refreshed. Getting in that water was just as bad as jumping into a Uintah lake. It was absolutely ice cold. We got in and swam to the waterfall and back. I thought I was gonna die on the way back because I couldn’t breathe. I swear my lungs shrunk 5 times their original size when I got in.

We headed back to the car to eat our much needed thanksgiving meal. We had bought a special kind of peanut butter that was mixed with Jam. It eliminated the need of a refrigerator. We both thought this was a genius idea, until we took a bite. It was horrid. It tasted terrible. I barely got my sandwich down before I just had to throw in the towel. I don’t know how, but Curtis muscled down another half of a sandwich.

Right next to the trailhead is Ke’e Beach. It is pretty famous for snorkeling. We gave it a shot. We saw some really cool fish and enjoyed being in the water. I couldn’t believe where we were at. The Na’Pali coast has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

That night, we camped at Haena Beach. This campsite was pretty shoddy.  There were homeless people everywhere and it was noisy all night. Before setting up camp, we decided to eat our thanksgiving dinner. Based on what we had for thanksgiving lunch, it couldn’t get much worse. I grabbed my Leatherman and we had a nice cold can of spaghetti O’s. It was like eating heaven from a can. Ha ha. It rained and got windy and just wasn’t like sleeping at the Hilton. My back can only take so long with no pad, so I read most of the night and tried to sleep while listening to music, but it didn’t work out too well.

The next day we spent at Hanalei. It is a small surf town with lots of shops and small restaurants. We also drove to a lighthouse and did some snorkeling at Anini Beach. We didn’t see much sea-life, but we did get to see a sea turtle.  This campsite was much better than the last. It was really quiet and hardly any wind. It did rain, but we stayed dry for the most part. I did get a lot of reading done through the night, but I got at least 5 hours of sleep, which felt amazing.

Our last day on the island was probably one of the funnest. We met up with some friends from our ward who were on the island as well. They were staying at a million dollar house on a golf course. One of them lived here in Kauai and took us to some local sites. Our first destination with them was Kipu Falls. This is a place that only the locals know about.

We drove down some country road and parked by a break in the weeds that revealed a small trail. It was muddy and not well traveled. We walked in about a quarter mile. The weeds were above our heads and folded inward, which made us crouch as we walked. This knocked some of us off balance and a few of us fell onto our kiesters because it was muddy and slippery.

As we came around the last corner, I saw what appeared to be a miniature dream world. My first thought took me back to DisneyLand. It was a waterfall that poured into a good sized swimming hole. The waterfall was about 20 feet high and it folded over massive rocks jetted out over this water hole. It was gorgeous. It reminded me of DisneyLand because everything seemed perfect. The rocks seemed to be handpicked to fit perfectly along the cliff as stepping stones to the other side. On the far end was a tall tree that spread across half of the water hole. There was also a really long rope swing that could be used for the small and tall. It was too good to be true.

We played on the rope swing and jumped off the waterfall for a couple hours. I couldn’t get enough of it.

We met some other people there that were from BYU Hawaii as well. It was cool to meet them and have some fun.  All dreams do come to an end and we left. Our next site was Spouting Horn. This is a unique arrangement of Mother Nature. There are air tunnels in this volcanic rock formation right on the coast. Because it is right on the coast, water flows into one end of the tunnel and shoots water out the other side. It looks just like a Geyser found in Yellowstone National Park. It was cool to watch the water spurt out randomly.

Then we hit up a small beach for a couple hours to finish of the day and wait for our plane ride back to Oahu. I don’t know what else to say, other than it was one of the funnest and most rare experiences in my life to have done this trip. We literally just camped and hung loose all weekend. I figured it wouldn’t happen again anytime soon because of the location and situation of it all. Curtis and I get along really well and just basked in all the glory. It was definitely a trip worth remembering.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did!

If you read this entire blog, then you will win a prize. It was a pretty long one. Ha ha! Enjoy!