March, 2004

Kauai, Hawaii Hikes and Scenes

Powerline Trail Hike (Pictures) This hike started at the Princeville end and went up as far as Tower 155, about four miles in, though the trail is about eleven miles total length. The trail is essentially a hunter's road (and muddy and slick in spots at this time of the year.) Though there were only a few good views, the vegetation was lush from all the rains, and there were few people. The trail was a gentle climb and a good warmup and a chance to check out equipment.

Canyon Trail Hike (Pictures) I found out about this trail after coming across a web site http://www.geocaching.com. Locations of hidden "caches" are given here in terms of Latitude and Longitude which one can program into a hand-held Global Positioning Receiver (GPS) and used to navigate to the hiding place. It turned out that one was hidden along this trail in Waimea Canyon in Kauai. Having just received a GPS for Christmas I thought I might try to find it.

The start of the trail is about 14 miles up the Waimea Canyon Road, off onto a dirt road (which I didn't try to drive because of recent rains.) One follows the dirt road for about a mile, then the signs marking the trail. Unfortunately there was no sign at the junction of Canyon Trail and Black Pipe Trail, so I had to backtrack a ways to get on the right path. Once back on the Canyon Trail I followed the GPS pointer to within 4 feet of the hiding spot. (The spot is on a bare, rounded knob just before the descent to Waipoo Falls. The knob can be seen from various lookouts along the main road.)

A good hike, but popular. Not only with hikers, but also helicopter tours.

Nounou Trail Hike (Pictures) This trail is a thousand-foot climb to the top of a formation called "Sleeping Giant". The trail is heavily used, being on the East Side of the island and near the resort areas, and is very eroded in places where hikers have cut across switchbacks. (I didn't see one sign discouraging this practice.) The trail, I found, is also very slick in spots when it's wet. Near the top, after the trail joins another trail coming up from the west (go left if you're on the East Trail), is a covered picnic table. The trail continues up to the very top along a steep ridge, which I didn't take because of the rain and slipperiness, but can be seen in one photo.

Kauai Views (Pictures) These pictures were taken mainly along the North Shore since we stayed in Princeville. During our stay it rained quite frequently, and with the winds, the surf was dangerously high. But the sun did come out now and then and I was able to get some decent shots around Hanalei Bay and the Kilauea Lighthouse, and a couple of pictures at the top of the Waimea Canyon Road. I also tried for the first time to take a couple of movies with my digital still camera - not great, but the shots of surf do capture the unsafe swimming conditions.