Back at a Favorite Place

Anyone who has had the privilege to visit different parts of the world is bound to come away with a few places that they favor.  While the two of us do not necessarily travel much, we do know a good thing when we see it and we see no reason why we shouldn't give ourselves the opportunity and time to truly appreciate something if we are able.  This is why we find ourselves returning to a favorite place.

Waimea Canyon

The West side of Kaua'i fits our temperament well and we find that we have a certain comfort level with the people and communities there.  On top of that are the places we can spend hours absorbing the beauty of the land that we see.

Our location allows us to go see one of our favorite places in the world before most of the tourists manage to get there - and that's just fine with us since neither of us is fond of crowds of any sort.  We were able to stand at the first overlook for an hour and only encountered ten to fifteen others who came, saw, and left during the time we watched the shadows play on the walls of the canyon.

This meant that we could try our hands at pictures multiple times as the light changed AND it ensured that we would have plenty of time to experience the beauty without the obstruction of a lens and the distraction of the goal of acquiring a photo.

We've seen our share of individuals go to these overlooks and do their picture taking duties - but often they forget to do the soul filling part of the trip.  I just want to tell people to remove a stop or two from their itinerary and just take a little time to absorb some of the lessons these places have for us.

Waipo'o Falls

If you look closely at the first photo in this blog, you can see Waipo'o Falls - but this picture shows it to much better advantage.  We've walked to this falls before, so we have some understanding of its source and what it is about. 

This time around, the falls had much more water than it has other times we have visited.  Even those who live on Kaua'i have told us that the past few weeks have been wetter than normal - which explains the increased visibility of the various waterfalls on the island.

There are multiple overlooks next to the road up to Koke'e that provide a person with a chance to view this particular waterfall - and we are attracted to those places like a bear to honey - assuming bears are attracted to honey.  The movement of the water against the backdrop of a shear cliff face with some greenery clinging successfully to the vertical surfaces is hard to pull away from.

Kalalau Lookout and the Pihea Trail

Several miles further up into Koke'e Park one can find the overlooks on the West side of the Napali Coast.  If you go there, you have to expect that you will have equal chances that you will see very little through the clouds - especially during the winter months.

Even on the cloudy days at the Kalalau Lookout, you might get a glimpse of the valley and the ocean far below.  But, you need to be patient - spending time listening intently to the world around you as you experience what it is like to be in the middle of a cloud, even though your feet have not left the Earth's surface.

We very briefly entertained the idea of walking the Pihea Trail, but the wet trail was very slippery and the whole thing was pretty much covered in fog.  There was one moment however, that I was able to catch the clouds breaking on the ridge that this trail follows. Perhaps we will walk there again - but it was not going to be this time.

If you learn a bit about the weather patterns on the island and you put yourself in the right spot to observe them, you might even recognize that a different day will result in a mostly clear view from that same spot.  If you are really lucky, you might even get to see a rainbow diving down into the valley.

The Pihea Trail was still slippery and wet and the clouds were still sporadically present there as well.  That's ok, we still got some walking in!

Mahaulepu Heritage Coastal Trail

Unfortunately, Tammy is fighting a foot injury that takes some of the walks we would like to take off of the table.  But, we were able to take this hike just fine since the trail allowed us to tailor the experience to our needs.

We have walked here before, so we knew what to expect.  We still brought the camera along in case something struck us as interesting.  And, of course, that meant we couldn't help ourselves and tried to capture what we were seeing now and again.  

One of the joys of this place is the wide range of natural colors that are on display.  Even the Pacific Ocean could entrance us with its texture and the different hues it could show us depending on the light and the depth at a given place.

Kuilau Ridge Trail

We knew things were wet, especially on the East side of Kaua'i, so we admit we weren't sure about taking the hike on Kuilau Ridge Trail.  A bit of rain as we were about to go to the trail head by the arboretum almost made us give up on the idea.  But, the pull of the trail and knowledge of what we could see if we allowed ourselves to get a bit muddy caused us to go through with it.

There is a critical difference between muddy on Kuilau Ridge and a wet Pihea Trail.  The hard surface on Pihea's early stages get very slippery and make it easy for a person to meet the ground in various uncontrolled fashions.  While I suppose you could also trip and fall on Kuilau, it certainly was NOT the same kind of treacherous.

We slogged our way up the trail, keeping our eyes on our footing - but making sure to stop and get a look around every so often.  After all, that's part of the point of going in the first place!

Kuilau is one of the trails that made us think a bit about the Ents, which we found a few years ago on Awaawapuhi Trail.  The woods surrounding us gave us the sense that there were creatures shepherding the forest, just as Tolkien's Ents were said to do. 

And, of course, once we were done taking our walks, we had the chance to relax near the ocean for a while and watch the waves roll in.

 

Here's to all of the "favorite places" in the world.  May we find ways to be effective stewards for them at all times and in all ways.