Wednesday, June 19, 2024
On Wednesday morning, we arose early (still on Central time) and headed off for a roadtrip around the island to Waimea Canyon.
In my research, I had read that you’d be least likely to encounter clouds and fog earlier in the day, as it tended to roll in during the afternoon, so we decided to start at the top and then work our way down. We drove up to the Pu’u O Kila lookout, which is supposed to have a great view of the Na Pali coast. The road to the lookout was closed about a mile away from the end, so we parked and walked the rest of the way. We didn’t see many people along the road, since it was still pretty early.
We finally arrived at the lookout point, and… it was covered in clouds and fog. We walked a bit around the area, waiting to see if they would pass, but to no avail. We decided to continue on.
We walked back to the car, then drove a very short distance to the nearby Kalalau lookout, which supposedly looks over the Kalalau trail. However, same thing. Clouds. Fog.
Continuing on, our next stop was supposed to be a hike of the Canyon and Cliff trails, which I had written down as being between mile markers 14 and 15. There were some cars parked in one part around this, but I wasn’t sure if that was the stop or not, so we kept going. When we got to our next stop, Pu’u Hinahina, I knew we had gone too far, and the place with cars must have been the trailhead.
However, at the Pu’u Hinahina stop, it said it was also a trailhead for those trails, so we went ahead and parked there. We checked out the lookout and ate our packed lunch. Then we started the hike.
If you plan to do this hike with kids, DO NOT start this hike from Pu’u Hinahina. Please drive back to between mile markers 14 and 15. It was nearly all uphill from Pu’u Hinahina to the other trailhead and quite technical for LS. She was exhausted and whiny by the time we got to the split between the Canyon and Cliff trails. We went a little farther to try to make it to the top of the waterfall, but ultimately turned around and just checked out the lookout point instead before heading back. The lookout did have a lively chicken, who followed us around for quite a bit.
Once we made it back to the car, we drove down to the Waimea Canyon lookout for some great views. We made one final stop to see the red dirt waterfall, as well.
It was still early, so we decided to check out some other waterfalls on our way back to Princeville. I had initially planned these for Friday, but since we had time, we went ahead and made two quick stops.
We went to Wailua Falls first and then Opaeka’a Falls. However, the path to get close to Opaeka’a Falls was closed, so we had to see it from a distance. It seemed like the more impressive waterfall, however.
We then stopped for dinner at Mamahune’s (another mai tai) and then checked out Lydgate Beach, since it was right there. It was overcast and we didn’t have our swimsuits, so we didn’t really go in the water, but LS had fun dipping her feet in.
Finally, we stopped by Wailua Shave Ice for a delicious treat!
