Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself... let's pick up where we left off in the last blog.
The morning of our second day, we had another lovely breakfast and packed a cooler with stuff to make lunch. We loaded up in Michael's truck because the day REQUIRED 4 wheel drive. We headed to Waipi'o Valley in the northeast part of the island.
We stopped at the lookout before heading down into the valley.
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| OUR FABULOUS "TOUR GUIDES" NOT ONLY DID THEY SHOW US AROUND, THEY WERE GRACIOUS HOSTS, AMAZING CHEFS, PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS, AND AWESOME CHAUFFEURS ALL WEEK! THANKS AGAIN YOU GUYS! WE ARE SO GRATEFUL! |
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| NOT A BAD VIEW |
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| YOU CAN FAINTLY SEE THE TRAIL WE HIKED ON THE OTHER SIDE |
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| NOTICE THE WATERFALL? JUST ONE OF MANY WATERFALLS IN THE AREA. |
The road down into Waipi'o valley is steep. It drops 900 vertical feet in less than a mile (that's roughly a 25% grade the whole way). We saw lots of people walking it and I don't know if I've ever been more grateful for 4 wheel drive! So happy we didn't have to walk that road. The pavement is rough, it's a single lane road with small pullouts along the way, it's curvy and did I mention that it's steep???
Anyway, we made it safely to the bottom without any difficulty where we were greeted with a beautiful black sand beach and a river flowing into the ocean.
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We planned to hike the trail on the opposite side of the valley. From this trail you get the best view of the entire valley. The only problem? First you have to cross the river. It looks deceptively shallow and calm. It was flowing quickly, the bottom is rocky and therefore difficult to keep your footing, and one wrong step could result in getting soaked. Mike crossed with his backpack, in his regular clothes, and made it look easy.
Pam and I tried a few different places along the river before giving up...
... on walking. We gave up on WALKING across the river with our backpacks. We did NOT give up on CROSSING the river. We stripped down to our bathing suits, gave our packs to Michael (who wasn't going on the hike) and swam across the river! We lovingly referred to this method of river crossing as "Anne Marie" style since that's the way my mother-in-law crossed the river on their visit too!
Once across the river, we opted to hike along the beach to the start of the trail.
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The trail is short but it was hot and humid. There were occasionally beautiful views of the valley along the way. The hike takes you all the way up and over the ridge, into the next valley, Waimanu. But, that's only if you're planning to camp overnight... not a day hike. But, the view from the "3rd switchback" is totally worth the hike!
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| ONE OF THE TWIN FALLS... THERE IS ANOTHER (LESS VISIBLE) FALLS TO THE LEFT |
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| A VIEW OF THE WHOLE VALLEY FROM THE 3RD SWITCHBACK. ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE VALLEY YOU CAN SEE THE STEEP ROAD CUT INTO THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN. |
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| A BETTER VIEW OF THE ROAD TO GET INTO THE VALLEY |
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| SINCE PAM AND I SWAM ACROSS, WE WEREN'T EXACTLY WEARING OUR BEST HIKING CLOTHES. I FELT I WAS HIKING PRACTICALLY NAKED AND THE TRAIL WAS PRETTY OVERGROWN IN A FEW PLACES. IT MADE FOR A FUN AND ADVENTUROUS MEMORY. |
On the hike back to the truck, we took a rest on the lava rock bench and took a moment to savor the view.
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| IT LOOKED LIKE A LAVA ROCK COUCH |
We made it back to the truck... ate some snacks... drank some beer... fended off wild horses...
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| HE SMELLED OUR FOOD. |
There were several wild horses around and they were pretty greedy. We saw someone feed a horse an apple and when it was gone, the horse bit her on the arm. Don't they know you aren't supposed to bite the hand that feeds you?
The horses have zero boundaries when it comes to humans. ZERO. They get all up in your business:
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When the beers were gone and we were tired of the horses, we loaded up and headed back up the STEEP road out of the valley.
Next stop: Mauna Kea
From warm weather and bikinis to almost 14,000 ft elevation and hats/jackets.
This adventure also required 4 wheel drive (although it's arguable whether it's really NECESSARY at Mauna Kea... there is NO argument that it's necessary in Waipi'o valley).
We got to the top just in time for sunset.
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| MAUNA KEA ACTUALLY LOOKS MORE LIKE MARS THAN EARTH... ...THE TELESCOPES DEFINITELY MAKE IT FEEL EVEN MORE LIKE OUTERSPACE. |
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| PROOF WE WERE THERE! |
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| NOT MUCH LIFE UP HERE BESIDES HUMAN... NO PLANTS. JUST RED ROCK AND TELESCOPES. |
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| LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD MAUNA LOA... A STILL ACTIVE VOLCANO. |
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| THE ACTUAL SUMMIT OF |
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| SUNSET OVER MAUNA LOA... ... THEY ACTUALLY DO "MARS EXPERIMENTS" ON MAUNA LOA BECAUSE IT IS SO SIMILAR TO THE RED PLANET. |
After the sunset, we headed to a mere 9,000 feet above sea level to the observation area. Wondering why Mauna Kea is so known for astronomy? It's because the air is clear and not turbulent which makes stars very visible. At the observation area, several telescopes are set up to allow visitors to view such things as Saturn, Venus, Mars, binary star systems, and the North star.
I saw the RINGS around Saturn. How amazing is that???
Coincidentally we picked a great night to go because there was no moon which allowed us to see the Milky Way.
Dinner was a milky way candy bar and cup of hot chocolate while stargazing. Amazing.
This was truly one of the highlights of the trip in my opinion. There is something very humbling about learning how expansive our universe is.
Day 3 on the island: POLOLU VALLEY
Yep, another valley... in close proximity to Waipi'o. We hiked down into the valley, across the valley floor and up to the ridge on the other side... in the rain.
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| ON THE DRIVE TO POLOLU, WE STOPPED FOR A QUICK VIEW OF AN OLD LAVA TUBE |
The hike into Pololu valley is beautiful. There are lots of lookouts and all offer spectacular views.
It was quite cloudy and overcast at the start of the hike.
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| FIRST GLIMPSE |
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| THIS IS RIGHT BEFORE IT STARTED RAINING! |
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| I DON'T KNOW WHAT WAS PRETTIER: THE BEACH OR THE TRAIL THROUGH THE WOODS! |
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| IT RAINED ON OUR HIKE TO THE NEXT RIDGE. WE WERE ALL PRETTY SOAKED AND THE TRAIL WAS SLICK AND MUDDY. |
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| BUT BY THE TIME WE GOT TO THE TOP, THE SUN STARTED COMING OUT AND QUICKLY DRIED OUT ALL OUR CLOTHES (WELL, THE SUN COMBINED WITH THE WIND UP THERE). |
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| THERE'S A BENCH AT THE TOP SO YOU CAN SIT AND SAVOR THE MOMENT... OVERLOOKING HONOKANE NUI VALLEY |
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| HONOKANE NUI VALLEY. POLOLU VALLEY IS BEHIND US AND WE ARE STANDING ON THE RIDGE BETWEEN THE TWO VALLEYS. |
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| THE RAIN KEPT EVERYONE ELSE AWAY... THE SUN CAME OUT RIGHT AS WE GOT TO THE TOP AND WE HAD THE PLACE TO OURSELVES. |
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| BACK IN POLOLU VALLEY |
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| PLAYING ON A ROPE SWING |
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| A SUNNIER LOOK AT POLOLU VALLEY DURING OUR HIKE OUT. |
The hike was beautiful but afterward, we were hungry. We had passed a cute little taco shop on our way to the hike and opted to have lunch there... the place was called Gill's Lanai. It's a quaint little BYOB establishment so we brought our own beers to go along with our fish tacos and kalua pork quesadillas.... yum.
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| THE BUSINESS HOURS AT GILL'S LANAI |
We did a quick drive through Waikoloa village on our way to 'Anaeho'omalu Bay (A Bay) for sunset.
Waikoloa is a touristy/shopping area where we spent about 10 minutes (long enough to use the restroom and grab a cup of coffee).
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| BEAUTIFUL HIBISCUS FLOWER IN WAIKOLOA. |
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| PLUMERIA. HOW PERFECT ARE THOSE PETALS? |
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| DEEP IN THOUGHT... REFLECTING ON HOW AWESOME OUR TRIP HAD BEEN SO FAR! |
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| PAM PERFECTED THE ART OF WRITING IN THE SAND |
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| THE PERFECT SUNSET??? |
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| A HALO OVER THE SUN TO END THE DAY. |
After another long and adventure filled day, we headed home for marinated pork chops on the grill. Followed by hot showers and bed. We had to rest up for the next day which....
will come in the next blog!
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