Kauai October itinerary: Input please!
May 5th, 2005, 06:20 PM
#21
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Bill,
The Alakai Swamp is VERY cool...totally spooky and utterly devoid of anyone except for us...big dragonflies and hungry mosquitoes (I sprayed my boyfriend's bare legs right before we started the swamp trail and about a minute in he was covered in them). It's shrouded in fog and as you look around at the vast expanse of stunted trees it almost doesn't seem real. Even though it's foggy, the views of the surrounding canyon are still cool, and you can STILL hear the goats and roosters up there! AND there's a bathroom at the plateau near the trailhead, and it was cleanish!
love
roxy
The Alakai Swamp is VERY cool...totally spooky and utterly devoid of anyone except for us...big dragonflies and hungry mosquitoes (I sprayed my boyfriend's bare legs right before we started the swamp trail and about a minute in he was covered in them). It's shrouded in fog and as you look around at the vast expanse of stunted trees it almost doesn't seem real. Even though it's foggy, the views of the surrounding canyon are still cool, and you can STILL hear the goats and roosters up there! AND there's a bathroom at the plateau near the trailhead, and it was cleanish!
love
roxy
May 6th, 2005, 11:06 AM
#22
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Roxy,
Where did you start the hike? Did you do an out-and-back from the parking area/overlook or did you do the loop hike? I love bizarre lanscapes, so this ought to be great.
muchos mahalos,
-Bill
Where did you start the hike? Did you do an out-and-back from the parking area/overlook or did you do the loop hike? I love bizarre lanscapes, so this ought to be great.
muchos mahalos,
-Bill
May 10th, 2005, 04:11 PM
#23
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Bill,
Where did we start the hike? By that point in the trip, I was tired, so I wanted to drive as far as we could toward the actual Alakai Swamp trailhead. If you look at the map in Ultimate Kauai on p. 141: we drove down Mohihi Road (before mm 16 off Waimea Cyn Dr), in our 4WD vehicle until the point in the map where it says "4WD from here". He's not kidding. Right when the trip odometer turned to 1.6 miles, there was this enormous, impassible hole in the road. We did a five point turn in the mud, against the ravine, and backtracked a bit to park and then walk the road to the Alakai trailhead. My boyfriend was incensed that "Pssh, except for that huge hole, I totally could of driven the rest of the way". Right. Except for the HUGE HOLE IN THE ROAD.
The roads are very slick sticky muddy. Please bring a 4WD. They're not kidding.
Anyway, it was a nice walk, nothing super spectacular, we could hear more waterfalls than we could locate or reach. So, I guess we really only saved a half mile over taking the Pihea Trail. Lame.
We didn't do the whole trail; it was very cold and wet and we got tired of it. (I got tired of it.) What we both figured were waterproof jackets really just turned out to be windbreakers, which don't break when they're wet. I can't imagine how lucky you'd have to be to make it to the end of the trail and have it be clear at the Kilohana Lookout. But it's still very cool, and as I said, there's a cleanish bathroom at the trailhead!
love
roxy
Where did we start the hike? By that point in the trip, I was tired, so I wanted to drive as far as we could toward the actual Alakai Swamp trailhead. If you look at the map in Ultimate Kauai on p. 141: we drove down Mohihi Road (before mm 16 off Waimea Cyn Dr), in our 4WD vehicle until the point in the map where it says "4WD from here". He's not kidding. Right when the trip odometer turned to 1.6 miles, there was this enormous, impassible hole in the road. We did a five point turn in the mud, against the ravine, and backtracked a bit to park and then walk the road to the Alakai trailhead. My boyfriend was incensed that "Pssh, except for that huge hole, I totally could of driven the rest of the way". Right. Except for the HUGE HOLE IN THE ROAD.
The roads are very slick sticky muddy. Please bring a 4WD. They're not kidding.
Anyway, it was a nice walk, nothing super spectacular, we could hear more waterfalls than we could locate or reach. So, I guess we really only saved a half mile over taking the Pihea Trail. Lame.
We didn't do the whole trail; it was very cold and wet and we got tired of it. (I got tired of it.) What we both figured were waterproof jackets really just turned out to be windbreakers, which don't break when they're wet. I can't imagine how lucky you'd have to be to make it to the end of the trail and have it be clear at the Kilohana Lookout. But it's still very cool, and as I said, there's a cleanish bathroom at the trailhead!
love
roxy
