Day: March 7, 2022

We enjoyed the winding drive down Waimea Canyon Drive and stopped at a lookout to take some pictures. Here, you can see Ni’ihau in the distance.

Us being bad at self portraits.

Same picture, but with camera phone.

My Aunt Carol had clued us in that we could get fresh papayas on the way to/from Waimea Canyon and we did! They were delicious.

Back in town we got our meal: surf and turf taco for Matt and quesadilla for me. We ate in a park nearby.

Then we stopped at JoJo’s Shave Ice and had our minds blown. I grew up with snow cones and enjoy them on a hot day, but this shave ice is macadamia nut ice cream topped with ice that has been shaved and then is layered with delicious flavors and then cream is poured over the top.

It was incredible! I had a coconut flavored one and Matt got something with tropical fruit.

Rust on the bumper, a bar for surfboards, a graphic of a paddle, and a bumper sticker that says “I’d rather be at Polihale.”

Polihale would be Polihale State Park, the most Western publicly accessible beach in Hawai’i.

We took advice from one of our guidebooks that said to drive to the end of Waimea Canyon Road and work your way back down. In doing that, we drove to Pu-u O Kila Lookout and did a hike to Pihea Overlook.

Here’s the view from the lookout. We were very lucky in that it was sunny through most of our hike. This area is known for constant clouds rainfall.

From the start of the trail. The beginning part has views on both sides. You can tumble either way.

Matt explores the view from the edge.

It was fun walking along the ridge.

I also enjoyed this very unique (to me at least) moss.

The part of the trail to Pihea Overlook involved a lot of moving ourselves upward. Another plus of it being dry and sunny is that there was much less sliding in the mud.

This was the hike where we observed people in the parking lot and thought they had probably slipped and fallen, but discovered that just getting ourselves through the trail muddied our legs as if we had fallen. I did fall once, but the mud on my legs came from hauling myself up that narrow trail. And I was very glad I brought my hiking poles.

Here are a few wisps of clouds.

And here we are at the vista.

Matt takes steps to make sure he won’t fall.

Clouds moving in.

Some of the trademark Kauai mud on my hands. Plus, my hiking poles.

While writing this post, I enjoyed reading this post about the same hike. Thanks, The Hiking HI

A sunrise view from our kitchen window.

And from our back porch. That’s the ocean in the distance.