Continued...
Our last full day on Kauai had us a bit conflicted. We had planned to do the
Tunnel Trail on the east side of the island, featuring a mile-long water
diversion tunnel that had been carved between two drainages. It had rained a
good deal in Lihue overnight and the forecast had more in store and it seemed
it would be a whole lot of mud for the privilege of stumbling hunchbacked
though a wet tunnel by headlamp for half an hour or more. In the end we
decided to skip that one and headed back to Waimea Canyon/Kokee State Parks
to hike the Awa'awapuhi Trail. Afterwards we did some gratuitous peakbagging
to a selection of minor summits found on LoJ that amused us for the rest of
the afternoon.
Awa'awapuhi Trail
This is one of two major trails on the west side of the highway in Koke'e State
Park. The other is the Nu'alolo Trail starting just south of the Visitor Center,
but has been closed now for a few years (though I've heard folks still use it).
The is about 1.5mi up the road from the Visitor
Center and continues to be as popular as when I first hiked it in the 1980s.
The trail is about 3.5mi each way to its end at on the
ridgeline between the Awa'awapuhi and Nu'alolo Valleys on the Napali Coast.
Though there had been little rain on this side of the island the past week, the
trail was terribly , mostly in the beginning. Despite
this, it makes for a very fine hike through forest, and
before reaching the end where the reward is an almost
unreal view looking steeply down to on either side.
One can a few hundred yards
for even better views. We stopped near the end of this, having the place to ours
elves while we took a break for snacks. One could hear goats bleating on the
cliffs far below and came looking for handouts - lots of
non-native plants and animals in these parts. The are of
course introduced, but so are most of that inhabit the
island.
There is between the Awa'awapuhi and Nu'alolo Trails,
found around the 3.0mi mark. This trail was closed back in the day but has been
reopened and can be used to visit the lookout at the end of the Nu'alolo Trail.
It was going to be a bigger undertaking than we wanted to spend time on, so we
left this section untrammeled. We to the jeep by 1:45p, taking
about 3.5hrs on the roundtrip effort at a leisurely pace.
Ka'inamanu
Less than half a mile north of the Awa'awapuhu TH is the TH for Honopu Ridge,
a trail that appears to no longer be mainained by the State Park, but still very
useable. There is a small turnout where the road bends and a large tree has
fallen of the trail. Poke through the tree branches or
around the left side and you can easily . Ka'inamnu is a
named highpoint
with minimal prominence found off the trail about half a mile from the TH. When
we were about 450ft east of this summit we , initially
following
a use trail through very dense uluhe ferns. This led in a short distance to a
rat trap installed at the base of a tree, but did not help us get further. We
then began a slow thrash through , myself leading (and doing
most of the work, mind you) and the others following, rather amused by my
determination. We eventually found our way to of this little
knoll where we found a few to rest upon (about the only
firm ground we'd seen for several hundred feet) and provide some views
. Iris also found an which
turned out to be very helpful. It was one of half a dozen we noted showing a
faint trail through the ferns heading south off the summit, making for a much
easier exit than our ascent route. It
right onto the Honopu Ridge Trail which we then followed back to the start.
With more time we might have taken the trail west to its end, probably at a
nice overlook spot.
Makaha Ridge
Paved runs west from the highway to the Pacific Missle
Range
Facility on a bluff overlooking the Napali Coast. The point indicated on LoJ
for Makaha Ridge is located near of this road, just a few
hundred feet from it. No ferns on this one, but there is somewhat thick forest
with lots of downfall to work through for with zero views.
Hikimoe Ridge
Found a few miles to the south, Hikimoe Ridge can be reached by a muddy hunter
road off the main highway. around the summit has been cleared
of invasive eucalyptus trees and replanted with native o'hia trees in their
place. It made for easy walking to reach this otherwise uninteresting
...