the waipi'o valley and waimea

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friday morning, we left the beautiful arnott's lodge for the road up the coast to the north, to the waipi'o valley. we start off the day by taking highway 19 north, passing by the 4-mile scenic route at onomea where the lush foliage of the rainforest brushed against the car and where the views were absolutely amazing. we also did a quick detour to the akaka falls near honomu off of highway 220. driving past what seemed like a ghost town, we arrived at a small parking lot and did the quick 1 km walk into dense rainforest to see the falls... they were, as usual, quite spectacular, standing at 420 feet. the view, unfortunately, was from quite far away, but we did enjoy the rainforest plants and flowers! the drive went pretty fast, and by mid-morning, we were already nearing waipi'o.

we had a hostel lined up where we were planning to drop off our stuff and go exploring the valley for the day. we hadn't reserved since our experience so far on the island was that it was quite bare, and when we got there, despite the desolate hostel, the woman working was quite rude and refused to check us in before 4pm. as it was, at 10:30am, there was no one there and we sure as hell didn't want to leave all our stuff in the car while we went hiking all day! so we took off and did some research in the car, calling various establishments. we finally found a hotel in waimea, west of the waipi'o valley, where we could share a room with two single beds and a double bed, for cheaper than what it would have been at the hostel. we were sold. we drove the 30 minutes out and settled into our lovely hotel, making dinner and spreading our stuff all over the room. we then returned to the waipi'o valley to finally start our day and descend the 1mile road into the actual valley...

the valley itself is located down steeply off the main roads. you must descend a road into the valley that is 1 mile long and described at 25% grade - most do it by foot as only cars and trucks with four wheel drive can tackle this steepness. there is a lookout at the end of highway 240, where most people decide to see the valley, but the true die-hards like us hike down. from the top, the valley looks mayan, with lush hills descending into the depths and meeting in the middle at a creek that pours into the ocean. it took us about 25 minutes to make it down, with only one fall (myself). the road is at some parts covered with some pebbles, and with the steepness, i started rolling and fell down on my left knee and ankle. nothing too bad, but it wasn't a good sign of things to come! we veered left to first go see the hi'ilawe falls that stand at 1200 feet. they are the highest free falling falls in hawai'i and are located on... private property! so although you can have some good views of the falls at some points, you are prohibited from actually going anywhere near them, which is quite disappointing! we then came back and veered right to the waipi'o black sand beach. this beach is beautiful and has a beautiful feature: the water from the hi'ilawe falls crosses the valley as the waipi'o stream and eventually comes out into the ocean, splitting the beach into two halves. this meeting of the two waters creates a bubbling point, where fresh water and salt water meet, but don't mingle. the weather wasn't the best, but we still took the time to sit and eat, putting our feet in the fresh water and watching the landscape. after a while, we settled to the fact that we had to head back up the hill....

crossing the muddy paths, we came across a scene that made the journey worth it: a mother horse and her fledgling munching in the forest... now the horses in the waipi'o valley are wild, so this was indeed a rare scene for us to behold. we were quite fortunate. we also saw a mongoose running across the road, which we hadn't seen yet either.

then the road up began... and we started swearing and panting and sweating... it took us about 45 minutes to get all the way up, at which point the welcomed rain started descending upon us. we were done. some trucks passed us on the way up, but none of us tried to stop them - i think we were all hoping that they would stop willingly and pick up the poor canadians hiking... but we made it up all on our own! and we were proud.

we returned to waimea and had showers without flip flops for the first time during our trip! we then headed out to explore the city (nothing much) and then headed out west to see the sunset. although the most impressive part of the sunset was during our drive, we got to hapuna beach state recreation centre and ventured near the water to watch the rest. i was sitting on a lone rock and as the sun was setting, 3 black crabs starting scalling the black rocks and scurrying. i moved to fast to grab my camera and scared them away, but i was still happy i got to see them!

our return to the kamuela inn was uneventful and we stopped at the local grocery store to stock up on various needs. i picked up some cortisone cream as bug bites on my body from... bed bugs... were getting worse and i put everything i could in the freezer at the hotel in hopes of stopping anything from spreading. there was beer involved for the rest of the party, and for a bit, we watched the state hula competition on tv, absorbing the culture of hawai'i even in our spare time. but dave and i passed out pretty early from the adventures of the past few days. i think i finally went down at 9:30pm... but dave won the award by being asleep at 8pm. tomorrow? heading to the kona valley!!

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