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Wai Koa & Anainu Hou
Aug. 3rd, 2024 07:13 pmI had some extra time this Saturday due to a lack of evening gaming plans, so I decided to head up to the north shore to check out a trail that I recently discovered. It's funny, the north shore theoretically isn't a lot further from our house than when I go to Koke'e. Koke'e and the Wai Koa Loop Trail that I went to today both time at about an hour according to Google Maps, but Google Maps never seems to account for how traffic gets backed up when you go around the island because one car inevitably decides to go 40 mph on the highway's single lane. So that hour to Koke'e is really about an hour (because there's less traffic in that direction) and up to Wai Koa it was definitely longer (because I went through Lihue and Kapa'a, the islands two major towns).
Any way, Wai Koa Loop Trail is a trail that used to be available from the Anainu Hou community park on north shore (more on that shortly) and I'd long thought it was just closed, but it turns out that there's another entrance at a dog park a couple of miles on from the community park, and I stumbled across that last month, so I was happy to check it out today.
Parking at the dog park was all parallel parking. It's actually the first time I've parallel parked since I took a quick driving lesson in Berkeley in 2019 before moving out here. I remembered what my instructor had told me, but I also had about a car and a half of space, so it was no problem.
The funny thing is that there's six or ten regular parking spaces there, but they're all marked DOG PARK ONLY. And the really funny thing is: _everyone was actually respecting that signage!_ Which is pretty amazing on Kauai but I'd come to learn that the Wai Koa Loop Trail is likely used by 50-75% residents and ony 25-50% visitors, and that ratio probably helped.
The Wai Koa Loop Trail is one of the widest and best maintained trails I've seen on Kauai, which generally has trails that are, well, not wide or well maintained. Much of it is through forests, including an actual Mahogany Plantation (this is all on private land, so kudos to them for keeping it open and so accessible, something that was apparently much more the case on old Kauai than modern Kauai). But there are also some nice open views of the mountains on the north of the island.
But the real prize of the trip was the Stone Dam at the end, about 2 miles from the dog park. It's an old stone dam built in the late 1800s that's absolutely gorgeous. It was used to ensure consistent waterflow for the sugar plantation that was up here at the time. Now the pool above it is a watering hole that locals swim in. Below that is a drainage area (with a stream flowing through it) that is a bit of a garden and awfully beautifully. There are also few overlooks, one of which has a terrific view of that whole drainage area and dam.
Definitely worth the trip. Next time I'll either bring my swim suit (as most people do) or my computer (so I can sit at one of the overlooks and enjoy the view while writing).
Oh, I should note that this is labeled as a loop trail, but half the loop is now marked closed. There also seems to be threat of the whole trail being closed off because of brats bringing their dogs on the tail unleashed and them killing endangered wild life. Hopefully it won't get closed, as this is the sort of local community spot out in nature that there isn't a whole lot of left on the island!
--
On the way back I stopped at Anainu Hou community park that was previously an entrance to the trail. There are maps of it and all its food trucks and gardens and mini-golf course that are very exciting. But the actual place was desolate. As far I can tell it's just advertising to get people out there to mini-golf and watch a sunset show.
There's actually a really nice playground too, for what that's worth.
I sat at one of the few shaded picnic tables in the area and did a tiny bit of writing, but then headed home.
(Would still mini-golf there! Maybe if Kimberly is doing better some time!)
By the by, the previous access to the Loop Trail has big fences around it as if they were doing construction. It's all in an area that's supposed to be a "market" based on their map, so maybe they're planning on putting in a market and then it'll be possible to get to the trail again. Dunno. Not much is happening if so.
It obviously would have been easy to slip around the fence, and then probably walk out to the trail. (I saw the other side of the "mini golf" arm of the trail when I was walking.)
--
Great to have a new experience on the island. I should do that more often. (And when I found this trail I also found a loop trail above the Wailua River that I've never walked. Maybe next month!)
Any way, Wai Koa Loop Trail is a trail that used to be available from the Anainu Hou community park on north shore (more on that shortly) and I'd long thought it was just closed, but it turns out that there's another entrance at a dog park a couple of miles on from the community park, and I stumbled across that last month, so I was happy to check it out today.
Parking at the dog park was all parallel parking. It's actually the first time I've parallel parked since I took a quick driving lesson in Berkeley in 2019 before moving out here. I remembered what my instructor had told me, but I also had about a car and a half of space, so it was no problem.
The funny thing is that there's six or ten regular parking spaces there, but they're all marked DOG PARK ONLY. And the really funny thing is: _everyone was actually respecting that signage!_ Which is pretty amazing on Kauai but I'd come to learn that the Wai Koa Loop Trail is likely used by 50-75% residents and ony 25-50% visitors, and that ratio probably helped.
The Wai Koa Loop Trail is one of the widest and best maintained trails I've seen on Kauai, which generally has trails that are, well, not wide or well maintained. Much of it is through forests, including an actual Mahogany Plantation (this is all on private land, so kudos to them for keeping it open and so accessible, something that was apparently much more the case on old Kauai than modern Kauai). But there are also some nice open views of the mountains on the north of the island.
But the real prize of the trip was the Stone Dam at the end, about 2 miles from the dog park. It's an old stone dam built in the late 1800s that's absolutely gorgeous. It was used to ensure consistent waterflow for the sugar plantation that was up here at the time. Now the pool above it is a watering hole that locals swim in. Below that is a drainage area (with a stream flowing through it) that is a bit of a garden and awfully beautifully. There are also few overlooks, one of which has a terrific view of that whole drainage area and dam.
Definitely worth the trip. Next time I'll either bring my swim suit (as most people do) or my computer (so I can sit at one of the overlooks and enjoy the view while writing).
Oh, I should note that this is labeled as a loop trail, but half the loop is now marked closed. There also seems to be threat of the whole trail being closed off because of brats bringing their dogs on the tail unleashed and them killing endangered wild life. Hopefully it won't get closed, as this is the sort of local community spot out in nature that there isn't a whole lot of left on the island!
--
On the way back I stopped at Anainu Hou community park that was previously an entrance to the trail. There are maps of it and all its food trucks and gardens and mini-golf course that are very exciting. But the actual place was desolate. As far I can tell it's just advertising to get people out there to mini-golf and watch a sunset show.
There's actually a really nice playground too, for what that's worth.
I sat at one of the few shaded picnic tables in the area and did a tiny bit of writing, but then headed home.
(Would still mini-golf there! Maybe if Kimberly is doing better some time!)
By the by, the previous access to the Loop Trail has big fences around it as if they were doing construction. It's all in an area that's supposed to be a "market" based on their map, so maybe they're planning on putting in a market and then it'll be possible to get to the trail again. Dunno. Not much is happening if so.
It obviously would have been easy to slip around the fence, and then probably walk out to the trail. (I saw the other side of the "mini golf" arm of the trail when I was walking.)
--
Great to have a new experience on the island. I should do that more often. (And when I found this trail I also found a loop trail above the Wailua River that I've never walked. Maybe next month!)