Kaua'i: Everywhere Else

This is the second post about our trip to Kaua'i, if you want to view the first (Kalalau Trail) go HERE.

After emerging from the Kalalau Valley, as mentioned, we didn't have a plan, so we kind of just went with whatever came and it turned out really great! We don't have smart phones or any sort of navigation, but on a small island, what's the big deal, right? Hah. We just went to McDonald's for there wifi, found what we wanted to do, and went. We missed turns sometimes and found other beautiful places and things to see. We camped on beaches and drove around in a heavily dented Mazda. For most of our time, we stayed on the North Shore because there was so much beauty to be found there. We went to the other parts, and had a great time for sure, but we always found ourselves wanting to go back, so we did.

Ha'ena Beach. We camped here the first night out of Na Pali and it was not a bad choice. We had a campfire here at night, made s'mores with some new friends and talked about things people talk about when circling a fire pit.

 Wai'oli Stream and one of the five pictures we have of both of us (thanks Ben and Erin!!).

 Random stream on the way to Koke'e (Waimea Valley -- "Grand Canyon of the Pacific")

 It was hazy up at Koke'e; one of the wettest places on Earth is not too far off in the distance, so it was forgivable.

 Kalalau Lookout.

 We went on a hike atop one of the ridges that we had been at the bottom of in the Kalalau Valley two days before. This hike is Kalepa Ridge trail and is unmarked, but we had read some stuff about it online before. Thankfully, we had hitched a ride from some people while getting to the Kalalau trail who told us how to get to this trail; they had just been there the other day :) I am really proud of this picture, by the way. I'm still trying to get used to the whole manual focus deal and this photo is encouraging.

 This cliff had even larger of a drop with crumbly paths, but less crazy than Kalalau trail in our opinion. And there's a sweet waterfall that you can maybe, kind of see in the middle of the photo. Maybe you can't see it, but it was a beautiful hike.

Glen wouldn't let me go to the edge because his heart probably would have died from worrying so much, but the lookout was amazing from the not-so-close-to-the-edge too.

It ended up being (probably) less than two miles to the lookout. The trail is very steep on the descent to the lookout, makes for quite the trek back up.

 These huge patches of fog and mist would come and go throughout the hike, which ended up being a God send because it would have been unbelievably hot on top of that ridge if it weren't so. Those ferns were gorgeous and deadly. The green stuff was soft to touch and pleasing to look at, but the gray, dead ferns underneath were sharper than our kitchen knives (that doesn't say much, but the point remains). The hike was awesome and recommended for sure.

 Spouting horn and that face.

 Nene (Hawaiian geese)! Sweet action shot, I know.

 Lava Pools/Secret was an awesome beach, we looooved it because no one was really ever there for very long so it was our (huge) beach for the day. It may have had something to do with it raining on and off for a while, but you're at the beach... you're going to get wet. Duh.

 Lo'i make for gorgeous farmlands and delicious poi.

 Opaeka'a Falls.

 Wailua Falls and me.

Gorgeous island, great week off of school. And the funny thing is, while I was bummed to go back to normal life, I didn't have to feel like I was leaving paradise because we were just returning to the island 20 miles off shore. That was a cool feeling. One I will probably fall short of when we leave here for new adventures elsewhere.