Kauai Day 2

Sunday the wind was still blowing, and having had enough wind and sand, we headed inland along the Wailua River, reportedly the only navigable river on the island.  The original Hawaiians found the flats along the river a perfect habitat with fresh water, fish, enough land to settle, and made it a refuge.  Seven Heiaus, religious areas, were built from lava rock, between the mouth of the river to the top of Mount Wai'ale'ale.  The mouth of the river was well known throughout the Hawaiian Islands but also in parts of central Polynesia, and ancient Polynesians are thought to have come from Tahiti to visit it.

Wailua River Valley

The first highlight of the day was Opaeka Falls,  in the 'not to be missed' category.  The ancient Hawaiians were bothered that the small, sacre pool at the top of the Wai'ale'ale didn't feed their most sacred river, the Wailua, so they cut a trench at the top of the mountain from the small pool to the edge of the cliff so the water would be part of the waterfalls that feed the Wailua River.  They must have been engineers.

Opaeka Falls on the north fork of the Wailua River

We drove almost to the end of the road and picked up the trail head to the Kuilau Ridge trail.  Unfortunately there are few loop trails which mean you either retrace your steps or finish the hike on a road far from where you began, not ideal!  The ridge trail connected with the Moalope when the trails met at a bridge, but doing it as a loop would require more miles hiked along narrow roads than actual hiking trails.

Pan looking west on Kuilau Ridge Trail

The ridge of the ridge trail - it was a road in the past

The Kuilau Ridge trail was about 2 M one way, with a relatively gentle, but steady rise and gorgeous views.  We opted to continue about a 0.25 M along the Moalope trail when the trails met at a bridge (the trail had once been a road of sorts).  The marked difference between the trails was the Moalope tended to be more jungle.  We joined a couple of groups at the picnic tables for lunch.  With lots of photos, lunch and looking, the hike took around 3 hours, and at the end, we crossed a bridge just beyond the parking area to see the rainbow eucalyptus trees at the nearby Keahua Arboretum.

The bridge at the junction of the Kuilau and Moalope trails

Paper bark or cajeput tree

Moalope trail

  

Bagras  or Rainbow Eucalyptus

Bagras bark detail

With not enough time for another check list item after our hike, we drove into Lihu'e, the 'big' town on the island where the airport (and Costco) are located.  Given the price of fuel here, it warranted a stop at the Costco gas station to top off the tank.  We also picked up enough food at a larger Safeway to last us until we leave for Oahu on Wednesday afternoon.  Our return to base took us past the Menehune Fishpond, supposedly built in one night by the Menehune, a mythical race of people living the islands before the Polynesians, as a gift for a princess around 1000 years ago.  True to form, we swung by the harbor to check out boats. before heading home after another full day.

Menehune fish pond  panorama