We like hiking with our kids. It's free entertainment, great exercise, and a good way to enjoy the beautiful earth. So we thought it would be fun to hike in Kauai. We packed hiking boots, a water bottle and sandwiches for lunch. According to the guidebook, there was a lookout about a mile in, so that sounded like a good distance to us. The beginning of the hike was at the top of Waimea Canyon road, so we stopped and gawked at the canyon on the way up.
At the end of the road was another lookout, but this one showed the Kalalau Valley, the largest valley on Na Pali (the same one we entered in the helicopter).
Setting out on our hike.
We enjoyed views of the coast on one side and mountains on the other.
Luckily it hadn't rained in a few days. This path must get treacherous when it's all muddy. It was still quite slippery and hilly - good thing we had hiking shoes.
At the bottom of that first hill we got into the jungle part of the hike. The great thing about this hike was that it wasn't only beautiful but constantly changing. There was so much to see.
When we hike as a family, we usually do 1-2 miles, since the kids are pretty tired by that point. But with just the two of us, we didn't know when to stop. So we just kept going. And the constantly-changing views kept pulling us in.
Much of the path had wooden boards covered with wires, because of all the mud.
The path was pretty hilly, and there were lots of wooden steps up and down all along the path. We were grateful for a place to stop and rest.
At the top was the Alaka'i Swamp. I half-expected crocodiles to poke their heads up out of the puddles on either side of the boards. Unfortunately we didn't see any interesting wildlife. A Hawaiian queen once attempted to build a road through to the other side, but it was too difficult and the machines got stuck. Apparently they're still there somewhere. At the end of the hike was a lookout where we were supposed to see Hanalei Bay, but it was too foggy.
The steps were much easier on the way there. Coming back, our legs got pretty dang tired. Whose idea was it to hike the whole 8 miles again?
At least they made good resting spots.
I just loved this part of the hike - it was almost like rock climbing, looking for foot and handholds and grabbing onto tree roots for balance.
The last ascent of the hike! I can just imagine a river of water flowing down this thing. Luckily we didn't see that. We had fun, but we were sure sore the next morning!
We enjoyed views of the coast on one side and mountains on the other.
Luckily it hadn't rained in a few days. This path must get treacherous when it's all muddy. It was still quite slippery and hilly - good thing we had hiking shoes.At the bottom of that first hill we got into the jungle part of the hike. The great thing about this hike was that it wasn't only beautiful but constantly changing. There was so much to see.
When we hike as a family, we usually do 1-2 miles, since the kids are pretty tired by that point. But with just the two of us, we didn't know when to stop. So we just kept going. And the constantly-changing views kept pulling us in.Much of the path had wooden boards covered with wires, because of all the mud.
The path was pretty hilly, and there were lots of wooden steps up and down all along the path. We were grateful for a place to stop and rest.
At the top was the Alaka'i Swamp. I half-expected crocodiles to poke their heads up out of the puddles on either side of the boards. Unfortunately we didn't see any interesting wildlife. A Hawaiian queen once attempted to build a road through to the other side, but it was too difficult and the machines got stuck. Apparently they're still there somewhere. At the end of the hike was a lookout where we were supposed to see Hanalei Bay, but it was too foggy.
The steps were much easier on the way there. Coming back, our legs got pretty dang tired. Whose idea was it to hike the whole 8 miles again?
At least they made good resting spots.
I just loved this part of the hike - it was almost like rock climbing, looking for foot and handholds and grabbing onto tree roots for balance.
The last ascent of the hike! I can just imagine a river of water flowing down this thing. Luckily we didn't see that. We had fun, but we were sure sore the next morning!
2 comments:
Did you have a guide or did you just come across others on the hike who took the pictures of the two of you? Looks beautiful, but also parts of it looks dangerous. Did you have to drop bread crumbs to find your way back?
there were other hikers - at the beginning mostly, although the picture of us on the bench was taken with the timer. the path was well marked and all explained in the guidebook, but it was very slick and steep in parts.
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