Fun with Fitness: Kauai Day 2

One great thing about going from California to Hawaii is that they are 3 time zones behind us. The wild roosters on the island would start crowing around 0500-0600, but since we were waking up around 0400 local time this didn't bother us at all.

We woke up to the sound of the ocean and watched an amazing sunrise before heading out to Wailua Falls.

This waterfall was made famous when it was featured in the opening scene of the TV show Fantasy Island. The Falls are 80' high and flat on top with channels carved into the rock from centuries of water flow. Ancient warriors used to prove their bravery by jumping from the top. This is as well as even climbing to the top is highly discouraged these days as a slip and fall could easily be fatal. We didn't realize it at the time, but visitors can take a slippery trail to the bottom and take a dip in the cool mountain water.

Afterwards we headed out to hike the Powerline trail. We had heard that this trail has spectacular views of the interior of the island as well sweeping ocean views. The trail is for dry weather only and is unmaintained. I've spent many miles off trail in my Forest Service days. An unmaintained trail with incredible views sounded like fun.

The sign reads "Powerline Trail. Unmaintained Trail Proceed at Your own Risk"

The trail started out steep and muddy in spots.

After about a mile and a half in, it soon became so much muddier and the vegetation denser, that if we wanted to proceed we would've needed a machete and snow shoes.

We headed back down to come up with plan B. We spent some time walking by the river, looking at the amazing local vegetation before consulting the trail maps.

We settled on the Kuilua Ridge Trail. We heard that it was paved and a super easy trail, but we were bound and determined to hike something this day before it got too late. Turns out when the locals told us it was paved, they really meant that it was maintained and the first part graded. It soon turned into a single track trail with some decent grades both up and down.

We made a new friend along the way.

And then were treated to some pretty amazing views of the valley.

At 1 1/2 miles in the trail leveled off into a grassy picnic area. Overlooking the valley, we could easily imagine a few Na'vi from Avatar running through the country side. The vegetation was some of the densest and the leaves some of the largest I have ever seen.

We hiked on another mile or so further, but as it got later in the day, we realized how much more difficult the trail would be hiking back if it began to rain. We turned around and enjoyed the spectacular views on the hike back.

Check out Fun with Fitness: Kauai Day 1 Arriving on the Island here

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