Travels always involve a path of one sort or another...our newest travel tale comes from the north shore of the Big Big Island of Hawaii. In Hawaii, you get the distinct joy of traveling beneath the surface to glide on underwater trails with the fishies and giant sea turtles...WOW, it's wonderful to feel so free and weightless!
Off the beaten path in Wiapio....on the north shore....
The path in this case is a road that leads 800 feet down a steep tropical canyon...it ends up in an ancient valley with waters and walls of epic and kingly proportions...it's the path down to Waipio Valley. Waipio and Waimanu Valleys are the growing up place of King Kamehameha....they are also the places destroyed by the 1946 Tsunami, and the place just down the road from the place we stay on the Big Island called "Cliff House".
...the first time we walked down the 23% grade road to the Waipio valley in 2005, we found a sign that made me smile and put me in mind of Jimmy Buffet and his Coral Reefer Band...I think he'd love this sign!
The bottom of the valley is a place that "regular" old folks like us feel out of place...all you hear is the sound of the waves crashing...all you feel is the wind whipping the sweat off your skin...it feels like a place with secrets...most people who live down in the valley now are squatters, farmers who live off the land, dread locked kids and people who want to disappear. We hiked down to the bottom of the road through jungle, crossed the river, and walked over the black sand beach and up the "Z" trail to the top of the cliff where we met local man named Kliekay and his two dogs--one of which had been blinded by a wild pig, the other wore fresh wounds from another fight with a pig.
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| The super steep road down to the Waipio Valley |
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| Crossing the river to get to the Z Trail Head at the bottom |
A Death in the Valley
The waves are big and the currents here are treacherous. While on our trip this year, a 62 year old man went out for a swim at night and never returned. A helicopter, a huge airplane and boats swarmed over the area for three days. No body was recovered.
A Path through the Valley
The walk up the Z trail takes a couple of hours with incredible views.
Off the Beaten Path...in a crater!
Even more other worldly than the path into the Wiapio Valley is the hike into the belly of a crater...the whole time you are walking in the Kilauea Iki crater, you can't help thinking you are walking right through the past during the creation of the earth. While we were there, a giant bench of earth broke off into the sea, sending up new fresh fire and steam a mile into the air. Dry lightening and/or a shooting star blasted right through the middle of the steam cloud. The rangers were beside themselves -- It was historic! The earth was still "in the making".
From Wiapio and Honokaa, it is a 3 hour drive to get to the Volcanoes National Park so we stayed overnight in Hilo in order to spend 2 days in the Volcanoes area. There is a lodge with cute cabins and a restaurant right in the park. I almost wished we had stayed there...even a golf course there!
The Kilauea Iki trail head is easy to find of the main park road.
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| Before you reach the lava, you walk through a rain forest...of course it used to be lava! |
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| Life growing in the middle of black death is what this reminded me of... |
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| It's a feeling like no other to walk over folded, crumpled lava with the earth giving up it's steamy breath all around |
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| I learned lava comes in many colors, shapes and sizes too! |
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| Our bed and breakfast lodging in Hilo had this wonderful pool and view of the ocean |
Walking through the Garden of Eden?
Another path we love on the Big Island wanders through the Hilo Botanical Gardens. At every turn, you feel wonder at the outrageous creativity in form, size and color of the planet earth. It makes you wonder about the original Garden in Eden. (The garden is found off the "4 mile scenic road" just north of Hilo -- open 7 days a week)
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| This flower is HUGE...see Dave's arm on the left for scale. |
A final off the beaten path adventure lead to the Kapoho Tide Pools just south of Hilo...use the Big Island Revealed "Blue Book" to find your way here through a sleepy residential area. The snorkling is remarkable because of the presence of sulfur in the water...it has contributed to an underwater world of coral and critters that looks like the colorful glass ceiling in the Bellagio Hotel
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| A happy puppy"surfing" at Kapoho |
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| The sun sets on the West Shore of the Big Island |
