Kauai - Day 9

Wednesday November 21, 2018

Wednesday was our last day on the island, and we had to check out of the condo by 11 am, so the morning was mostly spent packing up and doing a bit of housekeeping. Once we had the car all loaded we said goodbye to Princeville and the north shore and struck out for the south and Waimea Canyon.

We left Princeville around 10 am and entered the canyon around 11:30. Our first stop on the drive was the Red Dirt Waterfall and honestly it was kind of underwhelming. We probably spent 2 minutes there before continuing up the road. We didn't even take a picture haha. The dirt is really red... I'll give it that.

Next up was the Waimea Canyon Lookout. This was a nice parking area with a small paved loop giving some goooooood views of the canyon.

There were quite a few people around, but not so many that we couldn't find a parking spot or get a good look.

After getting our fill we took off once more up the road bound for the Waimea Canyon Trail. However, a sign at the trailhead indicated the hike was a bit longer than expected, so we decided to veto it so we'd have the time and energy for the Kelepa Ridge Trail. There was a short walk to another lookout by the trailhead though, which we had to check out of course.

The Kelepa Ridge Trailhead is located at the Kalalau Lookout Point and kind of tricky to find. It's basically just a hole in the fence and took us a bit to determine that, yes, that was the start of the trail.

The trail was muddy, steep, and slippery! John may or may not have eaten it pretty good at one point. It also takes you along a few ridges with sheer drop-offs on either side. I'm always surprised trails like that are "allowed" in state parks... I mean one false step and you're done-zo.

On the other hand I'm really happy they exist, they do a good job of weeding out the crowds, and its usually the harder/more precarious paths that lead to the greatest rewards.

This trail was DEFINITELY one of those cases. We got some awesome views of the canyon, and the end point was a small pinnacle looking out on the ocean, down into the valley, and back along the ridge-line we had just hiked. It was AWESOME!

When we first arrived there was a couple of loud obnoxious boys taking up all of the (limited) space on the pinnacle, once they left we had a nice, quiet, and relaxing view and were able really enjoy the scenery around us.

We met a nice couple from Switzerland and had a good chat with them while we waited for the clouds to lift. Once they cleared out we traded off taking pictures for each other.

The way back was MUCH quicker than the way down. Going uphill in slippery mud is way easier than going down haha.

It's only a ~3 mile hike round trip and worth every step. This was one of the trip highlights for both of us and I'm glad we decided to do it.

After the hike we drove a bit further to one last lookout, but the cloud cover was so dense we couldn't see a thing haha! So we ate our picnic lunch in the car and then started on the drive back down. We made one more pitstop at an overlook with a good view of the "Jurassic Park Waterfall."

Then it was out and over to our favorite beach, Kekaha Beach Park.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent hanging out on the beach. We stayed there for quite a while, probably 'til 5pm or so. It was hard to peel ourselves away, but the temperatures started dropping a bit and we still had to drive 40 minutes back to Lihue to check into the hotel John got for his last night on the island (my flight out was at 11pm that night).

Once checked in and cleaned up we walked over to a place called Kenji Burger (asian influenced burgers) for some yummy dinner.

It turned out to be a great last day on the island and lovely trip overall. In fact, I don't think I would have changed a thing about it even if I could.