Journeys in Koke'e
Apr. 25th, 2021 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aBy my count, I've now been up in the Waimea and Koke'e parks, above Waimea Canyon, half a dozen times plus one. The hikes continue to be very strenuous, due to some combination of heat, humidity, and altitude, but oh, there are gorgeous views. And in the summer, it's the only place on the island that's cool (other than a Big Save grocery store).
By my reckoning:
#1: Kukui Trail (in Waimea). My intended destination was the Wiliwili Camp, but I stopped just short of the canyon bottom because I didn't want to get stuck down there. That was a week before the pandemic lockdown, so it was my other experience with what Hawaiian trails looked like when peopled with tourists, and it wasn't too bad, though I saw people less fit than me walking down further than me, which didn't seem too smart. I was EXHAUSTED after my climb.
#2. No Name Trail. My dad, Mary, and I went up, which was nice because it got me comfortable with Koke'e. We just took a short jaunt up Faye Road and down the No Name Trail. We got lost a few times because the signs for both the Road and Trail were mysteriously missing. That (both getting lost and having signs missing) would be sign of things to come in Koke'e.
#3. Nualolo Trail. This is one of two trails in Koke'e that goes west toward the ocean instead of east into the park. I figured I could do a loop of them. Nope! The heat/humidity/altitude got to me again. I walked up over the ridge, and then headed down to the sea, but I was getting increasingly tired as I went, and eventually I turned back just around where the Nualolo Trail splits off to the Nualolo Cliff Trail, which means I didn't make it to the viewpoint out at the end. (Apparently, tourists occasionally get stuck at the view points and have to be rescued, mostly because they've climbed out too far.) I made another long, hard trip uphill to get back, got EXHAUSTED, and decided maybe I needed to try some other things.
#4. Berry Flat Trail. So my fourth trip I tried something pretty innocuous, the Berry Flat Trail just east of the Meadow. Except the road going there (Mohihi) is now covered with brush. I eventually circled around and found another entrance up by the Discovery Center (to be investigated someday when I'm vaccinated), and had a nice walk in the forest, eventually coming out considerably east of the Meadow. Here, I ran into a problem where there are two disconnected "Kumuwela Roads" in Koke'e, one that leading back to the meadow, and one which doesn't. So I hiked down the wrong road for days and learned about all the hunting that goes on in the park. (There were dogs and hunters and cages and trucks and people dressed in orange everywhere.) Eventually, I turned around, walked the whole road back, and took the correct turn back to the meadow, where I arrived, late and EXHAUSTED.
#5. Kumuwela Trail. Eastern Kumuwela Road is supposed to have two trails connecting it to Western Kumuwela Road, the southernmost of which, Kumuwela Trail, is a big short cut. I'd also learned that there was a Canyon Trail down at the south side of Eastern Kumuwela Road, so I tried to get there by starting at the meadow, going down the western Kumuwela Road, cutting across on Kumuwela Trail, and then following that down to the canyon. Except Kumuwela Trail seemed to just deadend under a big bush. I searched for a considerable time for an exit, and when I backtracked watched for paths not taken, but as far as I could tell, the Trail was just dead.
#6. Cliff & Black Pipe Trails. So I'd gotten near the various cliffside trails twice now, once when I went down the infinitely long Eastern Kumuwela Road and once when I'd failed to find the end of Kumuwela Trail. The next time I decided to just cut out the middle man and drive down due a trailhead closer to the cliffs. I did, and descended Halemanu Road to Cliff Trail, which took me down to some lovely views of Waimea Canyon. I then took Black Pipe Trail back up to Halemanu Road, and climbed back up to Julie the Benz (and drove back to Kimberly who awaited me in the meadow). Whew. Success!
#7. No Name Trail, Black Pipe Trail, Canyon Trail & Kumuwela Trail. And that finally brings me to my great traversal yesterday. Kimberly went with me again, and after lunch I left her (and Julie) parked at the meadow. I then had a theory that I could stitch together many of my past trips to form a loop that took me down to the canyon and back. So I walked Faye Road to No Name Trail and came out at the end of Halemanu Road. But rather than turning back (like my dad, Mary, and I did) I walked it until I found Black Pipe Trail and took that up.
(First almost misstep of the day: I began to doubt that I was on the road leading to Black Pipe, after I'd walked it quite a ways, because of course there'd been no sign at the beginning of the road. So when I saw more climbing I turned back and walked about 100 feet, but then I decided, no it was the right road, and I turned again, walked less than a quarter mile, and hit the end of the road and Black Pipe Trail.)
(Second almost misstep of the day: Climbing down Black Pipe I lost my way in a big hillside meadow, and after investigating three or four different potential paths, finally found my way at a turn just before the meadow.)
Where Black Pipe met Cliff Trail, which is what I'd taken the previous trip, I instead turned down the legendary Canyon Trail, the path not taken last time. This led me to Waipo'o Falls, which I suspect is the gem of Kuke'e hiking (and definitely the biggest tourist destination that I've seen so far, since, alas, the tourists were now back, this being my first hike since we foolishly opened the island to COVID again). Waipo'o Falls is a huge waterfall that drops into Waimea Canyon. The Canyon Trail runs by two fairly high cataracts: one that drops into a pool, and one that runs along the trail, but where you can actually climb under the falls pretty close to the path.
There were maybe a half-dozen groups of tourists flirting with the various falls while I was there. More than I'd like, but few enough that I was able to maintain six feet distance. Their tour books clearly told them all to bring swimsuits and to get into the water, because they did. Well, mostly they stood around in the water knee-deep, looked cold, and looked confused.
I of course enjoyed the beauty of the Falls, and of the Canyon, right there too. But I had a destination in mind: the rest of Canyon Trail to complete my loop! My guide book told me I could walk across the river on boulders, and then continue my journey on the other side. Not so much.
In truth, you had to get across about ten feet of river to get to those rocks, and from there could continue on. I'm not sure I would have, but as with everywhere there were tourists standing around in the water at the crossing, looking cold and confused. So I determined it was fairly safe. (Not because the tourists were in the water. "Tourists do the stupidest things" could have been an '80s TV show. But because it was clear they weren't being buffeted about or anything.) So I took off my shoes and socks, lowered myself into the water, and ended up on a submerged boulder, about calf-deep. The boulder was a little slippery, so it was a pretty literal leap of faith when I stepped across a bit of a chasm to another boulder on the other side, which I was relieved to discovered wasn't slippery. From there I was able to get up on the boulder on the other side, and actually sit down to wait for my feet to dry. While I sat, a tourist poked his head out from teht rail, and asked "Is THAT the only way across the trail?" "I think so", I said, and pointing to the back of a sign behind me, which I later learned read "Flash Flood Warning", said, "See, it looks like the trail continues there."
"oh" he said, as if he'd bitten into a sour lemon. I later saw his wife stick her head out and another couple their same age, but none of them waded the river.
I, meanwhile, thought wading the river between the two cataracts was one of the coolest things I'd ever done on a hike!!
From there, it was up a hill and another two miles or so along the Canyon Trail. As promised, there were awesome views of Waimea Canyon, for hundreds of yards at a time. Totally amazing.
My one concern was if I'd hit a dead-end like I had in the park before. And certainly, the path seemed to disappear every once in a while, and at least once I gave a cheer when I continued on and it re-established itself. A mile or so past the Falls, I saw a picnic table, and two women sunbathing, one of them scrambling to put on her top. It felt like I was closer to civilization, but still clearly not in civilization. And eventually I hit the end of Canyon Trail, which was also the end of Eastern Kumuwela Road.
(Just before I got there, someone shouted something, and I shouted, "NOT A BOAR!" to supplement the red shirt I'd worn. When I encountered him a short time later, he said, "I thought you were my friend" and I thought that was pretty weird because I hadn't seen anyone except the two sunbathers for miles.)
I knew I could get back to the meadow from here even if I had to walk the whole length of Kumuwela Road, like I had previously, but I was really hoping to find the eastern side of Kumuwela Trail, which had evaded me last time.
Just a third of a mile on, as the guide book promised, success! And then the question was whether I'd hit another deadend when I traversed the trail. So I walked on for a while, and the Trail didn't look familiar at all, and then it suddenly started looking familiar. Which means that when you're coming in from the west, it's easy somehow to end up on a false trail, but I still have no idea where that was!
From there it was up western Kumuwela Road, and then back to the meadow, where I found Kimberly close to where I'd left here. I'd told her 4-5 hours, and it was about 4.75. I was super happy that I hadn't hit another dead end.
Looping together three of my past trips also made me very happy, because it made me feel like I was getting to know the park. And I was VERY EXHAUSTED again, even though it was only 12 miles.
But there are still places to explore, including those western cliff faces, the Alakai Swamp (I need better boots first), and various descents into Waimea Canyon (most of them in Waimea Park instead of Koke'e Park.)
By my reckoning:
#1: Kukui Trail (in Waimea). My intended destination was the Wiliwili Camp, but I stopped just short of the canyon bottom because I didn't want to get stuck down there. That was a week before the pandemic lockdown, so it was my other experience with what Hawaiian trails looked like when peopled with tourists, and it wasn't too bad, though I saw people less fit than me walking down further than me, which didn't seem too smart. I was EXHAUSTED after my climb.
#2. No Name Trail. My dad, Mary, and I went up, which was nice because it got me comfortable with Koke'e. We just took a short jaunt up Faye Road and down the No Name Trail. We got lost a few times because the signs for both the Road and Trail were mysteriously missing. That (both getting lost and having signs missing) would be sign of things to come in Koke'e.
#3. Nualolo Trail. This is one of two trails in Koke'e that goes west toward the ocean instead of east into the park. I figured I could do a loop of them. Nope! The heat/humidity/altitude got to me again. I walked up over the ridge, and then headed down to the sea, but I was getting increasingly tired as I went, and eventually I turned back just around where the Nualolo Trail splits off to the Nualolo Cliff Trail, which means I didn't make it to the viewpoint out at the end. (Apparently, tourists occasionally get stuck at the view points and have to be rescued, mostly because they've climbed out too far.) I made another long, hard trip uphill to get back, got EXHAUSTED, and decided maybe I needed to try some other things.
#4. Berry Flat Trail. So my fourth trip I tried something pretty innocuous, the Berry Flat Trail just east of the Meadow. Except the road going there (Mohihi) is now covered with brush. I eventually circled around and found another entrance up by the Discovery Center (to be investigated someday when I'm vaccinated), and had a nice walk in the forest, eventually coming out considerably east of the Meadow. Here, I ran into a problem where there are two disconnected "Kumuwela Roads" in Koke'e, one that leading back to the meadow, and one which doesn't. So I hiked down the wrong road for days and learned about all the hunting that goes on in the park. (There were dogs and hunters and cages and trucks and people dressed in orange everywhere.) Eventually, I turned around, walked the whole road back, and took the correct turn back to the meadow, where I arrived, late and EXHAUSTED.
#5. Kumuwela Trail. Eastern Kumuwela Road is supposed to have two trails connecting it to Western Kumuwela Road, the southernmost of which, Kumuwela Trail, is a big short cut. I'd also learned that there was a Canyon Trail down at the south side of Eastern Kumuwela Road, so I tried to get there by starting at the meadow, going down the western Kumuwela Road, cutting across on Kumuwela Trail, and then following that down to the canyon. Except Kumuwela Trail seemed to just deadend under a big bush. I searched for a considerable time for an exit, and when I backtracked watched for paths not taken, but as far as I could tell, the Trail was just dead.
#6. Cliff & Black Pipe Trails. So I'd gotten near the various cliffside trails twice now, once when I went down the infinitely long Eastern Kumuwela Road and once when I'd failed to find the end of Kumuwela Trail. The next time I decided to just cut out the middle man and drive down due a trailhead closer to the cliffs. I did, and descended Halemanu Road to Cliff Trail, which took me down to some lovely views of Waimea Canyon. I then took Black Pipe Trail back up to Halemanu Road, and climbed back up to Julie the Benz (and drove back to Kimberly who awaited me in the meadow). Whew. Success!
#7. No Name Trail, Black Pipe Trail, Canyon Trail & Kumuwela Trail. And that finally brings me to my great traversal yesterday. Kimberly went with me again, and after lunch I left her (and Julie) parked at the meadow. I then had a theory that I could stitch together many of my past trips to form a loop that took me down to the canyon and back. So I walked Faye Road to No Name Trail and came out at the end of Halemanu Road. But rather than turning back (like my dad, Mary, and I did) I walked it until I found Black Pipe Trail and took that up.
(First almost misstep of the day: I began to doubt that I was on the road leading to Black Pipe, after I'd walked it quite a ways, because of course there'd been no sign at the beginning of the road. So when I saw more climbing I turned back and walked about 100 feet, but then I decided, no it was the right road, and I turned again, walked less than a quarter mile, and hit the end of the road and Black Pipe Trail.)
(Second almost misstep of the day: Climbing down Black Pipe I lost my way in a big hillside meadow, and after investigating three or four different potential paths, finally found my way at a turn just before the meadow.)
Where Black Pipe met Cliff Trail, which is what I'd taken the previous trip, I instead turned down the legendary Canyon Trail, the path not taken last time. This led me to Waipo'o Falls, which I suspect is the gem of Kuke'e hiking (and definitely the biggest tourist destination that I've seen so far, since, alas, the tourists were now back, this being my first hike since we foolishly opened the island to COVID again). Waipo'o Falls is a huge waterfall that drops into Waimea Canyon. The Canyon Trail runs by two fairly high cataracts: one that drops into a pool, and one that runs along the trail, but where you can actually climb under the falls pretty close to the path.
There were maybe a half-dozen groups of tourists flirting with the various falls while I was there. More than I'd like, but few enough that I was able to maintain six feet distance. Their tour books clearly told them all to bring swimsuits and to get into the water, because they did. Well, mostly they stood around in the water knee-deep, looked cold, and looked confused.
I of course enjoyed the beauty of the Falls, and of the Canyon, right there too. But I had a destination in mind: the rest of Canyon Trail to complete my loop! My guide book told me I could walk across the river on boulders, and then continue my journey on the other side. Not so much.
In truth, you had to get across about ten feet of river to get to those rocks, and from there could continue on. I'm not sure I would have, but as with everywhere there were tourists standing around in the water at the crossing, looking cold and confused. So I determined it was fairly safe. (Not because the tourists were in the water. "Tourists do the stupidest things" could have been an '80s TV show. But because it was clear they weren't being buffeted about or anything.) So I took off my shoes and socks, lowered myself into the water, and ended up on a submerged boulder, about calf-deep. The boulder was a little slippery, so it was a pretty literal leap of faith when I stepped across a bit of a chasm to another boulder on the other side, which I was relieved to discovered wasn't slippery. From there I was able to get up on the boulder on the other side, and actually sit down to wait for my feet to dry. While I sat, a tourist poked his head out from teht rail, and asked "Is THAT the only way across the trail?" "I think so", I said, and pointing to the back of a sign behind me, which I later learned read "Flash Flood Warning", said, "See, it looks like the trail continues there."
"oh" he said, as if he'd bitten into a sour lemon. I later saw his wife stick her head out and another couple their same age, but none of them waded the river.
I, meanwhile, thought wading the river between the two cataracts was one of the coolest things I'd ever done on a hike!!
From there, it was up a hill and another two miles or so along the Canyon Trail. As promised, there were awesome views of Waimea Canyon, for hundreds of yards at a time. Totally amazing.
My one concern was if I'd hit a dead-end like I had in the park before. And certainly, the path seemed to disappear every once in a while, and at least once I gave a cheer when I continued on and it re-established itself. A mile or so past the Falls, I saw a picnic table, and two women sunbathing, one of them scrambling to put on her top. It felt like I was closer to civilization, but still clearly not in civilization. And eventually I hit the end of Canyon Trail, which was also the end of Eastern Kumuwela Road.
(Just before I got there, someone shouted something, and I shouted, "NOT A BOAR!" to supplement the red shirt I'd worn. When I encountered him a short time later, he said, "I thought you were my friend" and I thought that was pretty weird because I hadn't seen anyone except the two sunbathers for miles.)
I knew I could get back to the meadow from here even if I had to walk the whole length of Kumuwela Road, like I had previously, but I was really hoping to find the eastern side of Kumuwela Trail, which had evaded me last time.
Just a third of a mile on, as the guide book promised, success! And then the question was whether I'd hit another deadend when I traversed the trail. So I walked on for a while, and the Trail didn't look familiar at all, and then it suddenly started looking familiar. Which means that when you're coming in from the west, it's easy somehow to end up on a false trail, but I still have no idea where that was!
From there it was up western Kumuwela Road, and then back to the meadow, where I found Kimberly close to where I'd left here. I'd told her 4-5 hours, and it was about 4.75. I was super happy that I hadn't hit another dead end.
Looping together three of my past trips also made me very happy, because it made me feel like I was getting to know the park. And I was VERY EXHAUSTED again, even though it was only 12 miles.
But there are still places to explore, including those western cliff faces, the Alakai Swamp (I need better boots first), and various descents into Waimea Canyon (most of them in Waimea Park instead of Koke'e Park.)