What’s that adage, “best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”? Yup that was our motto today. We made plans but it all changed. Did we get upset, irritate or place blame? Nope we went with the flow, anger is only wasted energy.
Over breakfast we made a plan.
Our plan was to hike Alakai Swamp Trail, lunch at Salt Pond, so we could have a swim, hit the farmers market at Hanapepe, grab dinner and watch sunset. Only two of those things happened.
Every time we try to hike the swamp the rain moves in. It looked clear from our lower spot in Waimea so we thought it would be clear at top, nope! The closer we got to the top the more rain moved in. We stopped at Kokee Lodge and reassessed. Swamp was out, plan b was called for. We would instead hike Cliff and Canyon Trail. Back down we drove to the trail head. We encountered a little spits of rain, but we knew the helicopters (or as we call them large mosquitoes) were flying, so views were to be had. Out we went and got our hike on. In New England you have to go up first to get a view and the return hike is downhill. In Hawaii, it is the opposite, you go down first and then up. I will let the pictures tell the story.
The views were stunning, well worth the hiking and the huffing. My advice get up there early, bring water, shoes with sturdy soles and if you aren’t sure footed bring a hiking pole. Here is the profile from our gps:
The plan was after the hike to head to Salt Pond Beach park to enjoy our lunch. What really happened was we noticed our rear tail light was busted. Oops, not cool. So we knew we had to return to the house and call the rental company. We learned that some credit cards won’t insure a car rental if the car is rented past 30 days, crap we fell into that category. Oh well no use getting upset, things happen. We weren’t fans of this car, to big, pulled to the right, seats weren’t comfortable. I’ll turn the negative into a positive we can get a better rental. We did!
Hertz was great about it and to welcome our new car, we decided to stop at Hilo Hatties to get free shell leis and a dashboard hula rooster to bling out our new ride.
By the time this was over, we had missed the farmers market. We opted for an early dinner or rather happy hour at Kauai Island Brewery. I do enjoy their lilikoi beer. Their fish taco and ahi bites were ono and just enough to fill us up. While there we talked with one of the waiters, who was a local boy. He overheard us talking about the hike and we had a great conversation about conservation, protecting the endangered species, pig hunters and stupid “hikers” who don’t come prepared for the trails or do dangerous things that end up closing down the hiking trails.
After the early dinner, we returned home, packed up and went down early to Salt Pond to catch the sunset and have a swim. Surf was high and the flags were out, but we were in the protected area, so we knew we were ok to get in the water.
I think the universe decided to make up for the mishaps today and gave us a green flash at the tail end of the sunset. Unfortunately our camera couldn’t quite capture it, but trust us it was there.
So today wasn’t what we planned at 6:30 a.m. this morning, It had a few twists and turns along the way, but we are ok with that, we’ve learned to accept what happens and find the best in it.
CTHikergal Travels 
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