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Return to Kōkeʻe
On Saturday, I took Julie back up to Kōkeʻe State Park, above Waimea Canyon.
Oh, that's a long and windy road up there (and back). Out to Waimea is no big deal: a similar distance as to Lihue. But then you head up Waimea Canyon Road, and it's 30 minutes or more of back and forth and up and down, like a roller coaster, but in your car (Julie). I'm getting more comfortable on the road, and so I pretty consistently drove it at 25-30mph, with occasionally dips to 20mph for tight curves. But cars sometimes got backed up behind me. I was a good carizen, and pulled into the first look-out on the way in, to let someone pass, then I pulled off onto dirt twice on the way back, for the same. Two of the cars were very polite and gave me lots of room, but it was obvious they wanted to go faster. The third came roaring up behind me at 50mph or so. One minute he wasn't there, the next he was. (The speed limit for the whole road, I should note, is 25mph, which is slow, but about right.)
My immediate destination was the huge glade in front of the Kōkeʻe Lodge and the Kōkeʻe Natural History Museum, which I'd spotted as a great place to eat and write and hang out when my dad, Mary and I were up there last month. And, it was. It was really wonderfully chilly, which is pretty nice after nine months in the warm Hawaiian sun, and there was picnic tables around the south side of the glade, which kept them out of the direct sunlight. I was there around 10am, so it was early enough to get a seat which I did. I had a great lunch (other than the soda I'd picked up in Waimea, which turned out NOT to have a twist-off cap, and is as a result came home with me), and I worked my way through an article for the TSR Codex over the course of an hour.
After that it was out to the Nualolo Trail. This is a 3.8 mile trail that drops down from 3,800 feet to 2,400 feet and goes to an outlook over the Nā Pali Coast. I figured it was well within my capacity based on hiking in California ... but I just don't understanding hiking in Hawaii yet.
It initially popped over a rise and then started dropping down through forested areas, mixing evergreens and Hawaiian foliage. It leveled out before too long, and there was at least a mile through various sorts of forest and scrub. But somewhere past the 2 mile mark it started dropping more and more, mostly in little slotted water ways that were treacherous because of the loose dirt. I managed to slip three times (or maybe two and a half: one was only a half fall before I caught myself on the side of the slot) before hitting the 2.75 mile mark. By that time I decided that my new Costco shoes (which are light slip-ons) just weren't sufficient for the terrain, and that I'd turn back the next time I hit a treacherous slot: which was before the 3 mile mark. Alas, no overlook for me.
There were, fortunately, some nice views here and there in that last half mile or so, both of the ocean to the west and of Niʻihau, the Forbidden Island, which looked like it was floating in the sky.
And then I began the climb back up through all of those slots. In the increasing sun (because we were mostly out of the foliage at that point), it was exhausting. I actually had to sit down for 5 minutes or so at one point because I was sufficiently out-of-breath and overheated. Not what I'm used to! But Hawaii has not just direct, hot sun but also high enough humidity that sweating doesn't really cool you down. After that rest, I managed to make it up through the slots before I rested again, and then I was able to walk the rest of the way.
Way more tiring than that 6 or 7 miles would have been in California! (I might also not be used to hiking at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet: I dunno how much a difference that makes.)
Still, a nice hike, with nice Hawaiian scenery, and just a bit of a view.
There's a loop of trails in that area, with both Nualolo and Awaawapuhi trails going out to the Nualolo Cliffs Trail, which runs along a ridge. I didn't make it out to the Cliffs Trail on Nualolo, so next time I'll try Awaawapuhi, which is a teeny bit shorter, and maybe start a bit earlier (as opposed to Saturday where I put away my work and started hiking at 11am, I think).
Oh, that's a long and windy road up there (and back). Out to Waimea is no big deal: a similar distance as to Lihue. But then you head up Waimea Canyon Road, and it's 30 minutes or more of back and forth and up and down, like a roller coaster, but in your car (Julie). I'm getting more comfortable on the road, and so I pretty consistently drove it at 25-30mph, with occasionally dips to 20mph for tight curves. But cars sometimes got backed up behind me. I was a good carizen, and pulled into the first look-out on the way in, to let someone pass, then I pulled off onto dirt twice on the way back, for the same. Two of the cars were very polite and gave me lots of room, but it was obvious they wanted to go faster. The third came roaring up behind me at 50mph or so. One minute he wasn't there, the next he was. (The speed limit for the whole road, I should note, is 25mph, which is slow, but about right.)
My immediate destination was the huge glade in front of the Kōkeʻe Lodge and the Kōkeʻe Natural History Museum, which I'd spotted as a great place to eat and write and hang out when my dad, Mary and I were up there last month. And, it was. It was really wonderfully chilly, which is pretty nice after nine months in the warm Hawaiian sun, and there was picnic tables around the south side of the glade, which kept them out of the direct sunlight. I was there around 10am, so it was early enough to get a seat which I did. I had a great lunch (other than the soda I'd picked up in Waimea, which turned out NOT to have a twist-off cap, and is as a result came home with me), and I worked my way through an article for the TSR Codex over the course of an hour.
After that it was out to the Nualolo Trail. This is a 3.8 mile trail that drops down from 3,800 feet to 2,400 feet and goes to an outlook over the Nā Pali Coast. I figured it was well within my capacity based on hiking in California ... but I just don't understanding hiking in Hawaii yet.
It initially popped over a rise and then started dropping down through forested areas, mixing evergreens and Hawaiian foliage. It leveled out before too long, and there was at least a mile through various sorts of forest and scrub. But somewhere past the 2 mile mark it started dropping more and more, mostly in little slotted water ways that were treacherous because of the loose dirt. I managed to slip three times (or maybe two and a half: one was only a half fall before I caught myself on the side of the slot) before hitting the 2.75 mile mark. By that time I decided that my new Costco shoes (which are light slip-ons) just weren't sufficient for the terrain, and that I'd turn back the next time I hit a treacherous slot: which was before the 3 mile mark. Alas, no overlook for me.
There were, fortunately, some nice views here and there in that last half mile or so, both of the ocean to the west and of Niʻihau, the Forbidden Island, which looked like it was floating in the sky.
And then I began the climb back up through all of those slots. In the increasing sun (because we were mostly out of the foliage at that point), it was exhausting. I actually had to sit down for 5 minutes or so at one point because I was sufficiently out-of-breath and overheated. Not what I'm used to! But Hawaii has not just direct, hot sun but also high enough humidity that sweating doesn't really cool you down. After that rest, I managed to make it up through the slots before I rested again, and then I was able to walk the rest of the way.
Way more tiring than that 6 or 7 miles would have been in California! (I might also not be used to hiking at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet: I dunno how much a difference that makes.)
Still, a nice hike, with nice Hawaiian scenery, and just a bit of a view.
There's a loop of trails in that area, with both Nualolo and Awaawapuhi trails going out to the Nualolo Cliffs Trail, which runs along a ridge. I didn't make it out to the Cliffs Trail on Nualolo, so next time I'll try Awaawapuhi, which is a teeny bit shorter, and maybe start a bit earlier (as opposed to Saturday where I put away my work and started hiking at 11am, I think).