Kaua'i North

     This was the worst winter in living memory.  Snow, cold, incessant winter.  Where to go to get out of Minnesota?  How about a tropical island.  Let's see . . . Kaua'i!

     We left in early April, all day on the plane but by evening we had collected our rental car, our baggage, and we're on the road in the dark up north to our condo in Princeville.  We could hardly see a thing, but so what - it was warm!  The next morning we awoke and here's what we could see:

Sunrise from our condo - also see top photo!

     The north side of Kaua'i gets rain in quantity, hence the lush plant life and the flowers all over.  Kaua'i is called The Garden Isle for a reason, and that is it.  Here are some more photos:

Beach downhill from the condo.

Flowers along a trail.

Stream along a trail.

     Near Princeville is the small town of Honelei, at a circular bay with a beach all around it.  Here is a photo:

     You might think that Honelei sounds familiar.  Well, sing quietly to yourself the song, "Puff the Magic Dragon" and now you know where Puff and Jackie Paper frolicked.

     The north shore has beaches up and down.  We spent several days trying to find, or follow, the sun from one to another.  We have some photos; camera trouble kept us from getting them all.  Some snorkeling can be done, but the waves are often too rough up here so we couldn't do much.  Here's a sample:

View from a trail mid-island.

Anini Beach, one of many.

Beach on east shore - effect of trade winds!

     Also here is one of the top hikes on the planet, the Kalalau Trail.  This runs from the end of the road (literally, it is) about 11 miles into the Napali Coast region - a stretch of mountains and valleys so wild and rugged that there are no roads or other ways to get in there.  This is also the area with more rainfall than virtually anywhere else on earth.  It is breathtaking in its awesome beauty.  We went in 2 miles to a river crossing, then a bit further up the valley before hiking back out.  Any further you must camp overnight and have a permit.  Those 5 miles almost killed me (Rick - Cyndi was just bouncing along).  Up and then up, rocks, slippery mud, then down switchbacks to the sea, then back up and down some more.  Very rugged.  But, oh those views:

Trail start point. No skimping on the warning signs.

The Napali Coast.

Lots of hikers on the trail.

Looking up to the ridges.

Have to show the coast again.

Straight down from the trail to the sea.

Looking back to Ke'e Beach.

Napali Coast from atop a ridge on the way.

Rick on the trail.

Cyndi contemplating the surf at our stop, Hanakapi'ai Valley.

A ridge line.

     If you think you may have seen this before, you likely have.  All sorts of movies have been filmed here, such as South Pacific, Jurassic Park, and umpteen more.

     We hiked on a beautiful sunny day.  The next day it rained several inches at Napali.  About 180 hikers were stranded across the little stream which we had forded when it rose to flash flood levels and they couldn't get back across.  They were taken out by rescue helicopter, some having to stay overnight before they could be flown back out.  Actually, to save me the hike back out I might have volunteered to stay had we been there that day!

The stream that flash flooded to strand people where Cyndi was sitting.

     There's a lighthouse at a point on the northern tip called Kilauea.  All kinds of birds nest and fly around here.  We saw an albatross, some boobies, shearwaters, tropicbirds, and more.  This is the northernmost point in Hawaii:

Kilaluea Lighthouse.

Seabird nesting area (white dots) nearby.

Nene - Hawaiian goose.

Blue footed booby.

      We hiked to a waterfall on the Wailua River, very nice and also famous, if you can recall the TV series Fantasy Island.  It was shown in the credits:

Wailua Falls

 
     Well, there's some highlights of our first week.  We then drove to the south shore of Kaua'i, to an area called Poipu.  We have a condo there, and many other things to see and do.  This side of the island is supposed to be sunnier and drier.  But that's the subject of our next post