Day 28 – A Hike with a View

While sipping our Kauai coffee, we debated what to do on a Sunday.  We opted for a simple hike, The Kuilau Ridge Trail, we extended it a bit and hiked on the Moalepe Shuttle. We drive the hour to Keahua Arboretum in Wailua.  The lot at the trailhead was full with hunter’s vehicles, so we parked right before the spillway.

For us, this was more of a walk, than a hike but the views were stunning.  The great thing about this hike, you can go as little or as long as you like and the views are rewarding, whatever you decided to do. At least make the 2 mile round trip.

The trail is on an old fire road. Easy to follow, but a bit muddy with all this rain.

As we ambled along, we found thimbleberries and picked guavas along the way.

The clouds settled in over Mt. Waialeale, but the surrounding areas were so green.

At one mile you enter a large open grassy knoll, with a picnic shelter.  Great spot for facebook photos or the family Christmas card photo.

We then continued on the trail.  The trail descends via gentle switchbacks.

The trail did become a little muddier here or I rather I just started stomping through it.

We came to the end of the trail, but decided to continue on, crossing a bridge.

We entered a paperbark eucalyptus forest.

Around 2.4 miles we turned around and retraced our path.  The hike was full of amazing plants growing all over.  We found the giant ferns unreal.

This was a very busy trail, full of hunters(very nice guys), tourists and people living in the area out walking their dogs.

If you desire to see some great interior views of Kauai with little effort, this is the trail to do.

After the hike, we cleaned off in the stream and stopped at Opaeka’a Falls.  Last year the falls seemed bigger, but always nice to catch a glimpse of them.

We then stopped at Mermaid’s Cafe in Kapa’a for lunch. We love this little hole in the wall place, never have had a disappointing meal there.  I had the Chicken Satay and Mike had the curry chicken plate.  Both so yummmy.

Afterwards we decided to stop at some beaches we hadn’t been to before.  First stop was Aliomanu Bay.

We then stopped at Moloa’a Bay. I had to see where some few scenes were shot for Gilligan’s Island.

Parking here was limited.  Please don’t do what we saw a foursome do, they parked next to a house, with an open garage to the beach. They got out of their cars and walked in the garage to look out at the ocean.  You could clearly tell this wasn’t their house, they just assumed it was ok to do it. No wonder so many homeowners here put up Kapu signs and block their driveways with rope.

It was time to head home. We were tired.  After dinner of lunch leftovers and snacks, it was sunset time.  The beginning of the sunset looked promising, but it faltered at the end, hidden by clouds.