Recovery Walk

Tammy and I began the process of renewal and recovery with a light hike on the Mahaulepu Heritage Coastal Trail starting at Shipwreck Beach.  We have never been to this particular location before, so we were not entirely sure what to expect.

It did, of course, start at a beach - which was nice enough.  But, we were here to do a little walking and exploring, so the beach wasn't of huge interest to us at the time.  Towards one end of the beach, someone had taken the time to make a giant heart in the sand.  Cute, but not what we were looking for either.

After a cursory examination of the beach and a few efforts of picture taking to get used to the camera again, we turned away from the beach and explored the beginning of the trail.  That might seem a bit odd to say, but in our defense, it wasn't as if the trail entry was as clear as you might think.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't hard at all to find our way around.  But, there were actually several little side trails that led to various viewpoints.  In fact, there were many side trails for the first third or so of the walk that we could opt to take.  Some of the trails followed the water as closely as was practical and others provided shade, but no view of the water.

On the way out, we were happy to stay out by the water most of the time.  On the way back, we found the shade to be a pleasant addition.

As is true for so many of the hikes we have taken, it seemed like things only got better the deeper we went into the hike.  But, it didn't take long to be happy we took this trail.  After a very short climb, we were able to see the ocean on one side and some of the smaller southeastern mountains of Kauai.  We're still trying to get a handle on which peak is which in our pictures, but while we'd like to name them properly some day, just seeing them was enough of a treat.

Rather than provide a whole bunch of words to fill the space, we thought we would share a bunch of pictures with captions instead.  If you happen upon this blog post, we hope you enjoy this.  If you don't happen upon this blog post, then we'll just simply enjoy it all by ourselves.  Either way, we're happy.

Kamaulele or Kalapa, we're not yet certain.

Some of these pictures may not be the ones we will identify as our best later on, but they serve for the purpose of sharing!

Our first ocean viewpoint from the ridge over the water.

Going forward (to the East) things got rocky.  Looking back West, one can see the inlet that comes up to Shipwreck Beach.

Looking back at Keoneloa Bay

A shaded section of the trail looks a bit like a tunnel.

The power of the ocean has worn interesting patterns into the rocks.

As is often the case on our hikes, some little birds visit us and tried to be helpful.

"Mind the big rocks!" they said.

...and mind the roots too!

That's Pu'u Keke in the background.

The light was just right to show off the character of the rocks

This may well be our favorite picture of the trip!

The rocks changed character again later in the hike.

Eventually, we had the opportunity to go down by the water

And sometimes a plant would surprise by growing in the middle of the rocks.

A possible heiau

There are various sites on Kauai that have cultural and/or religious significance.  A heiau is an ancient Hawaiian temple or religious site.  The Waiopili Heiau is usually listed with a question mark because the significance of the site is not yet known.  There is a useful website that describes the conservation mission for this trail, which includes this historical site.  Another blog gives more perspective.

Looking back over the hiking route.

Sometimes it is a little surprising to look back and see where you've been (both in life and on a hiking trail).  This look back was rewarding.