Kauai, Hawaii - continued, Days 7 - 9

Link to Days 1 & 2
Link to Days 3 & 4
Link to Days 5 & 6

Day 7 - Canyon Hike and Rental Car trouble. "Spoon or die" became the token phrase that day referring to the cold night in the tent. After some pancakes for breakfast, we agreed to go to the top of Kalalau lookout again then hike some of the canyon and swamp trails. Unfortunately, the rental cars started showing their age again. After packing up during the morning, it appeared that leaving the trunk open too long drained the battery in the Corolla. Joel was more than 30 miles away and probably wouldn't be in a hurry to rush to our rescue. Thankfully, Jason and Art are quite handy. Naturally, there are no jumper cables nor tools in the car or in our backpacks. So, the boys set out to impress the girls--much like MacGyver. The process went something like this:

1. Find Dave's Leatherman tool (which has pliers).
2. Take dead battery out of Corolla.
3. Start the Hyundai.
4. Take live battery out of Hyundai and put in Corolla.
5. Start Corolla.
6. Take live battery out of Corolla and put in Hyundai.
7. Put dead battery back in Corolla.

It works! And these steps were repeated the next day when it happened again. Someone finally unscrewed the trunk light.

We were now on our way to view Kalalau Valley again, this time with better results as we arrived before the clouds did:

We also hiked the trails from this vista and around the wettest place on Earth, Alakai Swamp. This region receives, on average, more than 460 inches of rain every year compared to the southwestern part of the island that receives around 20. The views were gorgeous!

We receded to Salt Ponds for camping on the beach. What another great day! And let it be known that we saw ZERO chickens on the swamp trail. However, at this point we were taking bets on who could guess the closest time in the a.m. that we would hear cock-a-doodle-doo.

Day 8 - More snorkeling! We headed to the calm waters of Poipu beach and rented some snorkel gear. The shop informed us of a tsunami advisory for the area, but we learned through our cool, new iphones that it had since been cancelled. I poured on the sunscreen and explored the ocean floor!

We also saw our first monk seal, an endangered species. They like to catch some zzz's on the beach then return to sea. With it being so common, the beaches have stakes and caution tape to envelop the creature and protect it from curious tourists.

No camping this night--or the next 3. We headed to the Mango Shack for some "comfort." Alas! A real bed. Our group rented this place to take a break from therma-rests and perhaps some more pleasant amenities. Oddly, I didn't notice chickens right away; rather, my attention was on mosquitoes. For the next 3 days, I would be covered in DEET to minimize the number of bites on my legs. They were thick! With the mild weather, the shack didn't have windows but screens. Screens with holes that allowed mosquitoes in. Among the amenities was a shower. While it was outside and fairly open to the world, it did have hot water. ahhhhh. Since no one was renting the shack next door, we took the liberty of using that shower as well.

Day 9 - More snorkeling! Today was Dave's birthday and we let him dictate the events. More snorkeling awaited us. We rented some more gear and headed to a nearby place called Larsen's beach. Much to our surprise, we stumbled upon some nudists. Much to the guys' dismay, they were all dudes. We didn't strike up any conversations, but Jason had a close encounter when someone decided to swim right by him when his face was in the water. We're wondering if it was a coincidence that everyone else had retreated to shore to rest for a while. Being a mature group, we chided him when he returned to see if he was able to spot a Unicorn Fish. I spent most of the time under a tree to minimize exposure to the sun. I was lucky so far in not getting burned to a crisp.

After grilling dinner, Art decided to surprise Dave with a cake. We scoffed at his idea to cook it dutch oven style in the grill as the shack didn't have a stove. However, after supper, he presented Dave with a fully cooked, perfect chocolate cake. We were in awe. What a terrific end to a terrific day.

Link to Days 10 - end

Kauai, Hawaii - continued, Days 5 & 6

Link to Days 1 & 2
Link to Days 3 & 4

Day 5 - Tourists/Waimea Canyon. While the others continued the hike on the sketchy Na Pali coast trail, Jason and wished them beautiful weather and decided to do some touristy activities. We ventured to the opposite side of the island to the Waimea Canyon dubbed the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." The canyon is more than 3,000 feet deep and is home to more waterfalls!





Further up the road was Kokee State Park which offered a view, or so we thought, of Kalalau Valley and the beach where our friends were camping. When we reached the top, this is what we saw:

In this pic, there is a tiny portion of a white cap wave visible where it meets the beach. The fog made the vista seem mystical. Yet we couldn't help feeling a little cheated at the beauty escaping our vision.

So, we returned to the bottom and made plans for a snorkel adventure. During that time, we also viewed another attraction: Spouting Horn. As "water rushes under a lava shelf," it explodes upward through a hole at the surface spraying water. Since the surf wasn't very active that day, we didn't take any pictures. The link gives some good ones, though.

Finally, we had supper at the "World's Westernmost Brewpub" and headed to the Salt Ponds Beach Park to pitch the tent.

One of the interesting parts of traveling is meeting new people. While setting up the tent at Salt Ponds, we met 2 18-year old kids from Whales that were touring North America. Delaying college for a year, they had just hitchhiked through Mexico (with some harrowing tales of bad drivers) and were visiting Hawaii and the western parts of the U.S. How exciting!

Day 5 was also my first night getting pizza. mmmmmmmm. I also had pupu, which means appetizer.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the loud locals on the beach at 2 a.m. determining just how high they could get the tach while in neutral while competing with the sounds of roosters crowing. Ahhhh camping. At least I still had my fluffy camp pillow.

Day 6 - Snorkeling, NTBG, & Clown School Supreme. What a tremendous day! We booked a couple of spots on an inflatable raft once used by the Navy Seals to take us to some great dive sites. Well, we didn't dive, but the snorkeling was AWESOME. Having been my first time, I was ecstatic every time I put my face in the water to open up a new world of coral and fish below. We ventured to another site where we were within arm's reach of giant sea turtles. So amazing! Sadly, our camera was not as fancy as Art's underwater super cool camera, so we didn't get pics.

Next, we took refuge at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens on the Allerton tour. Check out more pics at their website. This 2-hour tour offered us glimpses of amazing plants and natural waterfalls. With several water features, it was noted that not one used a pump of any kind. Rather, the water flow was natural.

Clown School Supreme:

The others had called saying they were off the trail and ready to meet. Making decisions among 6 tired and hungry campers proved to be a lengthy process. Hunger won out with our recommendation to eat at the brewery again. Next came an even more lengthy process--where to pitch our tents. The Corolla car group had a trailblazer book with some "maps" of where to camp.

We decided Polihale State Park would be ideal; with its 17 miles of beach everyone could wake up to a beautiful view and relax in the morning. After some grub, darkness was upon us and we set out to find the park. Through some luck we found the entrance to the park; it looked much like a gate to a field. The sign said "Closed." Huh. Closed. Was it opening tomorrow? Were there hours of operation? Can we slip past the gate?

Kokee State Park was now on the agenda. We would drive 20 miles or so back to Waimea and up the Canyon road to get to the park. In another hour, the tent would be set up and we would be fast asleep. Jason and I had just been discussing how nice it was to drive the country roads without having to worry about deer jumping in to the path of the cars when suddenly we see a bull in our headlights. Holy Cow! (pun intended) We narrowly escaped smashing our fancy rental car into the side of the beast as it moseyed to the side of the road.

At some point, our buddies in the Corolla became the leaders. We entered the park and drove past the lodge and campgrounds. How far was it? Jason remembered a campground farther up the road on the left; however, the trailblazer book indicated camping spots down a gravel road to the right. They turned. We stopped. The gravel road was more like a river road with ruts, holes and mud bogs. They kept going. We stayed stopped. They stopped. We stared at each others' cars in the darkness--neither budging on the right way to go. Finally Jason relented; we turned down the river road. I protested. There were no signs of humans, no lights--just trees. It was slow going due to the rough terrain. After what seemed like hours (which was probably 20 minutes) we found a turn-around spot with some narrow, gravel offshoots that resembled roads. I protested again, "This isn't it." Jason voiced his recollection (again) of campsites on the main, PAVED road. But the other car had THE book that stated the campsites were only 2.5 miles ahead.

However, the "way ahead" was a steep downhill requiring further discussion as to whether or not our rental cars would make it back up the hill should we explore further. Note that this discussion was between Jason and Art. Megan was laughing, I was rolling my eyes, Dave had his head in his hands, and I couldn't see Jenna. Both agreed the cars would make it back up the hill with a justification that the cars had probably already been down this road or had seen worse.

The road we were just on seemed as smooth as the Indy 500 track compared to this new road. We could feel our ears popping from the elevation change as we continued down the "path." In fact, I could see earthen cutouts on either side of us; I just knew we were making our way to the bottom of the canyon. I expressed out loud how thankful I was that I couldn't actually see what was on either side of the corners and sides of the road. Jason also expressed his thanks that I couldn't see. After another elongated period of time, the Corolla stopped in front of us. Art stepped out of the car to investigate an obstacle. When we rolled our windows down we could hear running water; like a river! Indeed he gave the sign to turn around exclaiming that the bridge over this water may or may not be wide enough to fit a car, let alone withstand the weight.

We turned around. (I'm glad I can't see. I'm glad I can't see.) We came to the steepest part of the uphill and waited to see the headlights of our partners. When they came in to view the car hesitated and started to spin. Uh oh. Is this really happening? No, we got some traction and continued up the hill without incident. Through the deafening silence in our car, Jason started laughing. It was funny....and I might even go so far to say, typical.

At last everyone agreed to go back to the paved road to look for campsites. As Jason predicted, they were less than 2,000 feet from where we had turned off. We rolled in to the parking lot almost 2 hours after supper. As all but one of us laughed, Dave took his head from his hands and stated, "That was Clown School Supreme."

The tents went up quickly; it was a cold night.

Link to Days 7 - 9

Link to Days 10 - end

Kauai, Hawaii - continued, Days 3 & 4

Link to Days 1 & 2

Day 3 - The hike. This day was our scheduled day to hike 11 miles to the end of the trail along the Na Pali coast. Again, our group got a late start. After eating breakfast at the Java Kai, we realized the Corolla had a low tire. Art drove the car to the next town to get air, fix-a-flat, and a tarp that would serve as a ceiling for our "kitchen" when the impending rains came.

The view from this trail was breathtaking! Throughout the trail, we came upon vistas providing spectacular views of the ocean. On several occasions we saw whales. The weather was perfect. Unfortunately, the trail was more difficult than we thought. We were averaging about 1 mph with our big packs, coffee stops, food stops, etc. At this rate, we would be hiking in the dark.











Also in this time frame, I started questioning whether or not I was going to die. Yes, the pack was heavy. No, my legs weren't sore. Parts of the trail were dangerous! They seemed to narrow and disappear at the exact spot that offered a 1500 foot drop to the ocean. I exaggerate, I know. Nevertheless, in some places, the trail was off camber providing a nice cliff slide. Walking these parts stressed me out. I started questioning what I would do in the fabled "sketchy" section at mile 9. Hikers on their way back laughed at our goal to make it to the end with such a late start. They also told their stories of having almost died while negotiating the "sketchy" part after a rain storm; their hiking poles were life savers. I didn't have hiking poles. I was going to surely die.

At the second river crossing, which was mile 6, the group decided people were right to have scoffed. We scoped out places to camp. Fortunately, we found a structure of some sort with a metal roof and picnic table just as the rain started. We proceeded to pump water from the river and started supper. After eating, it was still raining! Giving up on the idea of digging out tents and setting them up in the rain, the grand plan was to lay our therma-rests together in the shack. We would sleep out in the open! The tarp now became a ground mat for our therma-rests. It was a cold night, yet cozy, and the winds dried out the trail rather nicely. Art has a great picture of this set up. If I get his pics, I'll post later.

I have to mention Ted. He was a fellow camper and aspiring law student who spent the evening with us eating dinner and playing Cosmic Wimpout. Ted had gathered coffee beans just before meeting with us and took them through each step of the brewing process during supper(shucking, drying, toasting, roasting, etc.). The next morning, he shared his home brew with all the coffee drinkers who gave it two thumbs up. Great job to Ted!

Day 4 - The meltdown. The guys had talked me in to continuing the trip and volunteered to carry my pack through any sketch parts. However, the trail opened up even more after camp, and I had so much reservation after a mile or so in that I told Jason I simply didn't want to be on the trail. Through tears I explained my predicament and apologized. (Seriously, who cries on vacation in tropical paradise? Sheesh.) He understood and adamantly supported my decision to turn around. Being a dutiful husband, he returned with me. This was the second night we stayed in a hotel. A hot shower felt great after the mud-soaked trails.

Link to Days 5 & 6
Link to Days 7 - 9
Link to Days 10 - end

Kauai, Hawaii - Days 1 & 2

What an amazing vacation! First of all, if you ever get the chance to go to Kauai, take it! Jason and I had an awesome time on this island of Hawaii. Here is a link to the Google map of this island. While we flew in to Honolulu, we didn't tour any other location. If you Google Kauai, you'll see beautiful waterfalls, rainbows, ocean, mountains, etc. It looks even more beautiful than all the pics! It's an extraordinary place.

This trip served as a substitute to our annual pilgrimage to Flagstaff, Arizona. Our buddies, Art & Megan from Flag met us on the island for Art's 40th birthday. In addition, they invited some more friends from school, Dave & Jenna. Dave also had a birthday on the trip. The six of us set out to explore all parts of Kauai.

Note: Dave, Jenna, Art, & Megan are PhD students. A 2-week trip to a tropical island is expensive; our group made the most of it by tent camping in various locations. Jason and I took a couple of opportunities to splurge on a hotel which I'll document below.

Day 1 - The plane ride & car rental. Somehow we miscalculated our wake up time and got a late start. Coming up on crunch time, we parked in the garage at the new aiport with minutes to spare. Doh! Our vacation expenditures just increased with this luxury parking. Nevertheless, we made our plane to Chicago then proceeded on a 9-hour flight to Honolulu followed by a short jaunt to Kauai. I couldn't help but remember this You Tube video I had seen about the magic of flight. Too funny.

In the constant effort to save $$, our group decided to rent 2 vehicles @ $20/day with Island Car Rentals. Knowing before hand that these were "not nice vehicles," we were imagining what POS cars we would get. After our arrival, we called Island Cars and Joel picked us up from the airport in a Chrysler Sebring convertible. Some hubcaps were missing, the top was frayed, and the inside of the car was wet. Knowing the chance of rain was high, I kept thinking, "please don't let this be our car. Please don't let this be our car." We drove back to an industrial area where Island Car Rentals resides; it was an urban junk yard. Joel sees his dog in a parking lot and starts cussing at a guy standing in the lot, "Don't let my $@%*ing dog out." With a cash only transaction, we paid for our Hyundai Elantra. It was dingy but dry. It also had transmission troubles; overdrive wouldn't work and when it warmed up, we had to manually shift from first to third. Unbeknownst to us, we got the "good" car.

Our first night on the island rewarded us with our first of 3 nights in a hotel. Ahhhh sleep. Sort of. Around 2 a.m., we heard a rooster crow. The cock-a-doodle-doo continued through the morning hours. Were we near a farm? I was confused.

Day 2 - The others arrive. Jason and I walked to breakfast at a little hut that overlooked a bay. We noticed some chickens milling around the parking lot scrounging for a scrap. Those must be the perpetrators. While waiting on the rest of our party, we checked out one of the many waterfalls that grace the island--Waimea falls.

We met the others at the airport; Megan & Jenna left to get their rental car--a Corolla that was also dry. However, of the 4 doors, only 1 had a handle on the inside--the driver. Upon parking, they all had to sit in the car until someone opened their door from the exterior. The sedan also had a weak battery which proved troublesome a little later in the trip.

We camped at a county park--Hanalei; all county parks had running water and flush toilets. Additionally, cold, outside showers were available to the beachgoers to rinse off. These showers were quite useful to the campers like us and presumably the homeless people that liked to spend their days at the park. Apparently, the county parks provide much fun to the locals who like to come to the beach in the middle of the night. One game they play is "let's see how much noise we can make on the beach in our car or truck." Also in abundance at the county park is chickens & roosters who serenaded us starting around 2 a.m. in the morning as they did every morning throughout the rest of the trip. You would have thought the feral cats could have put up a fight to get some dinner. We were starting to see a pattern with the chickens. They were EVERYWHERE--in the parks, on the beaches, on all the roads and highway, etc. It was quite clear; the island has a LOT of chickens. In fact, we learned it's open season all the time for chickens. It's legal to kill them via any means.

Link to Days 3 & 4

Link to Days 5 & 6

Link to Days 7 - 9

Link to Days 10 - end

Exceeding the Comfort Zone

Having adventurous friends and a fabulous husband, I periodically get opportunities to escape my comfort zone and physical limitations. My most recent vacation took me to the island of Kauai.

The atmosphere is spectacular, the weather is ideal in most spots, and the hiking is amazing. We started with a hike on the Na Pali coast that was difficult. With a 50+ pound backpack it was arduous. The cliff views were breathtaking but scary. At times the trail narrowed with slides down the several thousand feet to the coast below.

While the hike was hard, I succumbed to the present danger and turned around at mile 7 of 11 miles. We did have a night under a tin shelter in the rain in lieu of setting up the tent.

As a consolation, Jason and I toured Waimea Canyon, went snorkeling over a phenomenal reef, and walked through the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. Seeing giant sea turtles made my day.

Pictures will be posted later. So far sooooo gooood.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Online Shopping is the BEST!

I have a couple of new favorite stores: REI & Backcountry.com (which is also home to steepandcheap--"one deal at a time" & the sister site, chainlove). This evening I found another package on my doorstep when I arrived home. I LOVE ordering things online; it's like Christmas any day of the week any time of the year. The contents of this package will complete our backpacking adventure to Kauai. Who could possibly go to an island without an over-priced, double-wall, titanium coffee (tea) mug with a folding handle? Another luxury item for the trip is a real pillow! Previous excursions yielded uncomfortable nights with clothing stuffed in the head of a Therm-a-Rest for comfort. No more. The Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow is "comprised of leftover bits and pieces of the high-quality foam..." and packs to 1/5 its normal size!

More on this adventure soon....

Another good ride

With 22 mph wind gusting to 32 mph from the SSW, I left with a group of riders to embark on our 60K journey around Lake Monroe. Part of the group would do the 100K, and the rest of us could decide if we wanted to tack on some miles at different junctions. The pack was 11 strong as we rolled through town towards the south. I said out loud, “this is what rolling out of town should feel like.” We were in a nice group strolling through neighborhoods; sometimes riders like to race right from the gate. I like to warm up a little before any attempts to reach Zone 5.

Naturally, the group separated on the long hill after the causeway with me at the back. (Yes, I still know that hills are my biggest weakness and their only mission in life is to crush me. It’s not going to happen this year, hills. Get used to me.) Our pack was now composed of 5 riders. Of course the smaller group had to work a little harder now but we soon turned onto a country road that gave us a strong side wind instead of a head wind. During a particularly strong gust, we were all leaning so much into the wind it looked goofy.

Along this stretch I learned that we had been riding with 1 Pro rider and 2 Junior National Champions (1 of which is a teammate and was still in our group taunting us to race him up the hills). What more motivation do I need? I am constantly surrounded by winners: pro riders (on the mountain bike this is more common), national champions, collegiate victors, xterra title holders, DINO series winners, etc. And among these riders are fantastic coaches, friends, and interesting people.

One of the reasons I like cycling is the free advice everyone gives. This bonus was true in sailboat racing as well. Despite being your competitors or because they are friends and training partners, other riders suggest tips and strategies to make me (and others) better riders/racers. I doubt they do this to stiffen the competition; rather, it’s a genuine love for biking and growing. Last year the girls held an informal “guest rider program” where we invited locals to teach us some new skills and hone our current ones. While we only did a couple of sessions, I still get people asking me if we’re still looking for volunteers. How cool is that? Share the knowledge.

Summer Fever

I've had Spring Fever now for 5 months; however, looking at the forecast makes me think I have my terminology wrong. As the days get warmer, the rains emerge thus making trail riding a sin. I am now wishing for Summer days.

On a happy note, one of the locals thought a nearby park would be dry enough to ride on Thursday. Dare I take a day off just before vacation to get some trail time? I think not. Perhaps a night ride is in order; I think I'll charge up the lights.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]