Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Two Hikers In Search Of A Trail

4/10/2015

4 Comments

 
View from our cottage yard at Barking Sands.  On the horizon is visible the island of Ni’ihau, 17 miles from Kauai. Ni’ihau is called The Forbidden Island because no one may visit there, as the 200 Hawaiians who live there, last descendants of the islands’ original Polynesians, value their privacy.
Picture
   On Tuesday, our last day on Kauai, we decided to drive back up to Waimea Canyon  for one last hike.  I wanted to try the trail through the Alaka'i  Swamp, which is the highest swamp in the world and is supposed to offer breath-taking scenes unlike anywhere else on the planet.
We stopped for breakfast in Waimea  at a very inexpensive little place called J’s,

Picture
…run by a friendly lady whose auntie opened the restaurant many years ago.

    
   
Picture
Tom had an omlette with rice and I had eggs with rice, and we split an order of pancakes.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Then we headed back up the 18-mile road to the very top of the Waimea Canyon to a point almost a mile high called Wai’ale’ale  which is one of the wettest spots on earth.

Picture
    Of course it was raining there.
   
Wai’ale’ale is the entry point for the Alaka'i Swamp trail.
    
So we started walking.

Picture
    About 250 feet into the trail I threw in the towel when faced with the steepest, most slippery and treacherous patch of rock work I’d ever run into.  The guidebook had called this part of the trail “moderately strenuous”, with  a “strenuous”  stretch to follow. 
    Right.
    So we turned around and I accepted that the glorious sights of the Alaka'i  Swamp would never be seen by me.
    We drove around the top of the canyon consulting our hiking map until we found a promising-looking forest trail rated “easy”.
Which it mostly was.   

Picture
Picture
     This trail was a garden of beautiful tropical flora and fauna:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
    There were even a few gingerbread-looking houses in the middle of the forest.

Picture
    After our forest hike we stopped for some lunch at a table  at one of the picnic areas. 

Picture
    Which we of course shared with the usual crowd:
Picture
Picture

  Our usual lunch on the trail.


Picture
    After lunch we drove back up to Wai’ale’ale to see if it had stopped raining, and it had, so we ascended Kalalau Lookout, the highest point of Wai’ale’ale, to look at the vista beyond:
Picture
Picture
     Then we headed back down the Waimea Canyon and on our way down caught sight of the point where the Waimea River meets the sea. 

Picture
    From there we drove west to the beach at Poliholi State Park, which is where the western beach of Kauai ends and the cliffs of the Na’Pali Coast begin.
Picture
Picture
Picture
We had a clear view of Ni’ihau off in the distance.
Picture
Then we returned to the missile range at Barking Sands and swung by Shenanigans for dinner just in time to see the sunset from the terrace ,

Picture
... and another lovely view of Ni’ihau. 

Picture

Picture
   Wednesday morning we said good-bye to our cottage and our beach at the U.S. Naval base at Barking Sands Missile Range Facility.
    We headed east towards the airport at Lihue, stopping along the way at the Kalaheo Café and Coffee Company,
Picture
Picture
    ...where we had breakfast and a  cinnamon roll to share:
Picture
Picture
Picture
    Tom once again opted for the local custom of rice with his eggs instead of hash browns. Everything was as good as it looks.
    And then on to our final stop at Lihue Airport.

Picture
    Aloha, Kauai.
Picture
Picture
4 Comments
Rory
4/10/2015 02:58:12 pm

I love the Cala Lily!

Reply
Patti
4/11/2015 12:05:17 pm

Rory, is that the white lily? I figured it was some kind of a lily but I didn't know what it was called. But yes, it was indeed a very pretty flower.

Reply
Karla balskus
4/11/2015 01:00:11 am

Reply
Patti
4/11/2015 12:08:26 pm

Hi, Karla,
I think Weebly messes things up sometimes & doesn't post people's comments!! But good to "hear" from you anyway! 8)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact