Kauai, Hawaii!
It's both of our first time in Hawaii and we chose Kaua'i because it's filled with beautiful landscape and adventurous outdoor activities to keep us busy. Remember THIS SCENE from Jurassic Park? That intro was filmed here and depicts it perfectly. This is one of our new favorite places in the WORLD.
Dave and I met in San Francisco the night before our morning flight to Lihue (LIH). The SFO layover was just long enough for some sushi and sleep. We usually try to make it to our destination same day, but flying on standby to Hawaii can be tough. Flights are usually very full and there are lots of other standby travelers hoping to make it on their vacation. Not only did we get seats next to each other, but we happened to sit next to a guy who used to live on the island. He gave us a ton of awesome advice for our week long trip!
Dave and I met in San Francisco the night before our morning flight to Lihue (LIH). The SFO layover was just long enough for some sushi and sleep. We usually try to make it to our destination same day, but flying on standby to Hawaii can be tough. Flights are usually very full and there are lots of other standby travelers hoping to make it on their vacation. Not only did we get seats next to each other, but we happened to sit next to a guy who used to live on the island. He gave us a ton of awesome advice for our week long trip!
THE CAMPSITE //
Ha'ena Beach Park
THE HIKE //
Hanakapi'ai Falls, Na Pali Coast
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| // at the 2 mile mark, half way to the falls and before the difficult section begins, there is this amazing beach with the craziest waves and these little zen rock piles everywhere! |
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| // Starting to really hurt! At this point, I was smiling because I thought I was WAY closer to the end than we really were! |
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| // Almost to the end. We hiked until the sun started to set! |
As soon as we got our rental car, we went and bought the essentials in camping gear - including enough to make 'pudgy pies'. Our new friend from the plane recommended a free campsite, which we have camped at the last two nights. Our tent has a private entrance to a crazy beach that has world class surf, a waterfall, and an enormous cliff.
Yesterday, we hiked for 8 miles total thru the most INSANE terrain to a waterfall that is about half a mile high. A few times on this hike I actually thought I was going to die. Dave hikes often and even he said it was a difficult hike. We climbed thru deep mud and sticky wet clay, made our way over streams with a strong current by balancing on slippery rocks, climbed up and down rocks and balanced on the edge of thin, slippery ledges. It was one of the most intense things I have ever done both physically and mentally! The last mile my feet hurt so bad since my shoes had been wet basically the whole day. I felt like I finished a marathon!
I was thrilled to get back to the campsite, take a cold shower, eat a cliff bar, and lay down in the tent after the intense hike. We had planned on going out to dinner for the first time (our little propane grill had been holding us over). However our 20 minute 'nap' turned into sleeping for 12 hours in a torrential downpour as our $40 K-MART tent kept us mostly dry. What a surprise it was to wake up. We felt refreshed and had our lovely dinner at 5:15 AM in the car which consisted of fruit and more cliff bars. :) Now we are at the public library, charging our electronics, listening to music and searching for a dry place to stay for tonight.
MAHALO! :-)
LINKS TO MORE INFO ABOUT PLACES FOUND IN THIS POST:
The free campsite next to the ocean ... more info found HERE.
