A Hike in Waimea Canyon

When Dave and I visited Kauai six years ago, we went on some incredible hikes. Some of them were so great that we wanted to do them again. One of those hikes was to Waipo'o Falls.

Now, our visit six years ago was during a particularly dry year. We had been warned that there might not be much water flowing across the falls and that the trail would be hot and dusty. And the warnings were right on all accounts. It was hot, dry, dusty and the small falls were nothing but a small dribble. Still, the hike was worth repeating and one we knew that Katelyn and our 7 year-old niece could do (Katelyn doesn't enjoy hiking nearly as much as the rest of us).

So on one of the drier days, we all (minus Rich and Charlene) trekked out to the Waimea Canyon to hike to the falls. The trail that we remembered as dry and dusty was now soggy and incredibly muddy until we reached the ridge line that is traversed right before the falls. That part was relatively dry. The view from the ridge line is amazing, but if one is a bit nervous with heights, enjoy the view from a few feet back. And if you are hiking with young adults who have more bravado than sense, have them hike far ahead of you so you can't see how close to the edge they are walking.

The smaller falls were roaring, so different from six years ago. And even thought it wasn't a particularly hot day, some of us decided to swim in the pool to be pummeled by the falls. The water filling that pool was suprisingly cold! But the swim was so fun!

 Once we finished playing in this small pool, we walked back to the trail and hiked about 200 yards to the top of the Waipo'o falls. There was a crazy amount of water rushing across those falls and you could almost feel the spray!

While we were at those falls, there was a helicopter that flew a bit closer than any other helicopters we had seen that day. The chopper did a deep banked turn. I was glad that the passengers were buckled in tight. As it turned out, that was Rich and Charlene's helicopter! They were taking a helicopter tour while we were hiking and they were flying over us just as we were getting to the top of the falls. That was pretty neat.

As we finished up at the falls, the clouds began to grow heavy and we knew that rain was on the way. Not wanting to hike on an even muddier trail, we double-timed it back to the trailhead. Unfortunately, we didn't beat the rain and hiked the last half-mile in the pouring down rain. But even with the rain, everyone (including Katelyn) enjoyed the hike. The 7 year old, was tired of hiking about 200 yards before we reached the falls and there was no amount of cajoling that could convince her to walk the last 200 yards to see the falls. But, that worked out OK, because she got a bit of a rest and was ready to go when it was time to double-time it back to the trailhead.