May 6th - Kayak and Hiking Adventure

Its a Monday morning bright and early for a 6:45 a.m. departure to our Kayak and Hiking adventure.  Fortunately for us the drive to the meeting point was only 5 minutes total.  We met our guide Helm who was a barefooted ball of energy.  We drove just a half mile to the Marina and loaded up our dry sack and kayak to start the adventure.  No photos on the way to the falls as the phones were in the dry sack.  A 2 mile kayak ride with some stops to regroup along the way.  Then we beached the kayaks and started the hike, which soon had a river crossing, still a bit swollen from the May 12th flood.  The entire area we hiked saw the river rise 12 ft and throughout the hike you could tell with fallen trees and matted grasses.

After the river crossing we trekked along the river pathway both muddy, rocky, and with walking planks a good share of the way.  Then an uphill climb to the falls.  There we dropped our dry sack and headed into the water for pictures.  Yes, we walked / swam to the water fall and were able to stand underneath.  Not really much room to stand fully behind, so a beating we took.

Yes, we walked across to the falls and climbed in behind.

Back to the rocky shore for our lunch and picture time before heading back to the Kayaks.  The first river crossing we took deeper slow moving water, this time we walked waist deep fast moving water.  Back to the kayaks to start the down river into a head wind paddle.  This part was actually harder to paddle as the winds on the island are no joke.

Impressed by the walkway being on steel supports and wide enough to be very stable.

Wet Kane shoes the entire walk with a lot of water crossings.

Debris all along the river banks

First man made water fall from the days of the locals using the area as a fertility camp

Hiking up was easier than getting down from the falls

We met a couple from FL about our age and helped with picture taking and hiking

Another group crossing where we will

The group heading into the flow

We made it across relatively easily

Second half of of first crossing was chest deep behind those rocks.

Vines with pretty flowers all over the place

After we got back to the room we relaxed a bit and headed to the beach.  It was getting more cloudy and after about an hour the rain came.  Jeff took a stroll and got pictures of all the debris that washed down the river into the ocean and then back on the shore.  The primarily wood pieces and logs were as far as you could see in either direction.  Some were massive trees.

They created a swimming area with lava rocks, that the waves crashed over, but lots of wood chucks everywhere.

The entire beach covered

In the distance the bridge over the river outlet into the ocean where all the debris washed down and we kayaked up to the falls

Like always everyday it rains.  You quickly learn to just enjoy the little bit of dampness, but the winds can make it very chilly.  We walked up to the Tiki Bar for a couple hours of drinks, phone searches of Maui activities and ended up splitting another hamburger and fries.  The pineapple jam on the cheese burgers with bacon just yummy.  The fries were hot and awesome once again.

Back to the room, where to Jeff's surprise at 4:30 p.m. his nap turned into a full on sleep until 9:30 p.m.  Since writing the blog soon after waking, the going to sleep and rise and shine part of the story will be interesting tomorrow.