Day 6: We Hitchhiked and Laid on the Beach

Day 6, already?! Well we had to finish like we started...with a hike. This one was an 11 mile round trip hike with the promise of a waterfall about half-way through.

We drove all the way to the top of Waimea Canyon. The trailhead was supposed to be right before the Kokee lodge. Well we went to where we thought it should be. No trailhead. But there was a little break in the bushes that looked promising so we started bushwacking. I was getting a little concerned, so I sent Dave on up about 50 feet to check things out. And lo and behold, a beautiful wide trail with no need for bushwacking. We laughed so hard once we got on the right trail. We're still not sure how we missed the correct trailhead.

The vegetation and scenery was spectacular. We hiked towards to the NaPali Coast. We paused at about mile 3 to pose for a picture.

Shortly after this picture was taken the week of living mostly as a fruititarian and the walking began to wreak havoc on my GI system. And I became a woman on a mission--to finish the last 8 miles as fast as I could. You can bet Dave and I had some words all along that last 8 miles as he insisted that I couldn't take care of business before I arrived back at the ranger station. I told him we'd just have to see how things progressed. And then proceeded to almost kill him as I practically raced up the 1500' elevation gain (don't worry, that was spread out over the last 3 miles).

We did happen upon some mountain goats along the way. But fortunately no hunters even though it was hunting season and the ranger told us there were hunters out on the trails.

There were some vistas to hike to, but due to the urgency of GI issues, we did not hike to them. It will definitely be something to do the next time we go. And unfortunately the promised waterfall was dry because of the drought Kauai is having.

The trail popped us out onto the Waimea Canyon Road about 2 miles from our car. And even though I was feeling better about this time, we decided to hitchhike back to our car. We were picked up by a guy visiting from Germany and had a nice little chat the two miles down to our car. Side note: I need to work on my listening to foreign accent skills because I only understood about half of what he said.

Anyway, after we finished we decided to hit the beach. So back to Poipu State Park we went. I decided that I just wanted to lay on the beach. Dave snorkeled for one last time. I had about 2 hours to just bask in the sunshine and think.

I discovered how truly blessed I am. Blessed with a husband who works so hard for our family. Blessed that we could take this wonderful trip together. Blessed in so many other ways. But I also realized I need to do a much better job in giving back. I'm formulating a plan.

Sunday we woke up and left paradise. But we returned to our daily paradise with our kids.