Today our only plan to was see our friend, Eric and the family around 1. So what to do? Well, I hadn’t been to the Kalalau lookout on a clear day yet and needed to see the Waimea Canyon one last time on this trip.
Off we headed to the canyon. First we did make a stop in Lihue at Hanalima Bakery, we were a little hungry. Picked up one nutella popover and an apple pastry. Very yummy, very disappointed though they were all out of lilikoi scones.
We hit the end of the road at Koke’e State Park and stopped at Pu’uokila lookout. If you remember from last week, we started off here to hike Pihea and the swamp trail, but couldn’t outlast the rain clouds. Today the clouds floated in and out. This outlook has you viewing the Kalalau Valley.
Ok you get the kind of weather you can expect on this trip.
We like to work our way down the canyon stopping at lookouts. The next one we hit was the Kalalau Lookout.
We then detoured on a dead-end road, Makaha Ridge Road. Not sure what we would find at the end. Well it ends with a Navy Guard house. Time to turn around. But then a little crest of a red dirt hill tempted us, so we stopped and climbed the hill.
And our view was astonishing. No clouds to tease us either.
Our next stop was to see parts of the Waimea Canyon. We stopped at Pu’u Hinahina Lookout. No cloud cover on the canyon side.
After this one more stop to see the Waimea Canyon. This stop was at Pu’u Ka Pele, Pele’s Hill. This is the spot Pele left the island of Kauai.
I didn’t make it to the lookout, but Mike did. It is a hidden trail, not maintained and vertical, no I mean vertical. I knew I could go up, but coming down would be trouble, as the wooden stairs (the ones that still existed) would start to blend together in my vision. Also you had to work yourself around telephone cables and not sure what was public and private land.
We then continued our descent. Once we hit Waimea town, we saw our hitchhiker we picked up yesterday, hitching a ride to the top of the canyon. Yesterday we picked up this lovely girl from the Netherlands on holiday and gave her a ride to Haena Beach. Funny to see her today, we crossed lanes and apologized that we couldn’t bring her up, as we had a commitment waiting for us. Wonder if we will see her hitching tomorrow?
We landed at Eric’s house and spent some time together. Hard to say goodbye to our friends and we will miss seeing Eric and his family on a regular basis. Good thing for facebook. Eric help to make the island feel like home for us.
On our way back to the North Shore, we made our last stop at Kauai Coffee Company. Sending ourselves a box of the bean goodness to be waiting for us when we return mainland.
After that is was lunch at Kalahelo Cafe. Quick lunch and as usual very tasty.
One more stop in Kilauea, Island Soap and Candle Works. Needed more surfer salve and some soap to send home.
By the time we landed at home, it was almost time for sunset. The air was still and the waves calm for our nightly show.
What a great day, full of beautiful views and friendship.
CTHikergal Travels 
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