Songdoc

The weather on Kauai has been absolutely stunning for the past week and I’ve been doing some fantastic walks. Two days ago I walked the 4-1/2 mile, easy Wai Koa Loop that starts at the putt-putt golf course and goes through the mahogany forest. Beautiful! Access to the stone dam remains closed (a year after the flood) but it’s still a beautiful, peaceful walk.

Yesterday (Easter), I started the morning with a heavenly banana/macadamia pancake at Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa. (I’ve learned to request a “to-go” box when I order. One pancake is seriously so enormous that it’s enough for two meals. Then went for a walk on my favorite walking path, Ke Ala Hele Makalae, the one that starts in Kapaa and runs past Kealia Beach. They had just graded the parking lot at Kealia Beach and that’s where I parked and started my walk. I’ve done this walk countless times. I usually turn back before the end, but this time I went past beautiful Donkey Beach (which was deserted except for one person) all the way to the end. FYI, DH is off island, so I was alone.


Donkey Beach




the end of the path


Heading back, I must have taken a wrong turn because nothing was looking familiar. But I didn’t mind because it was ridiculously beautiful, I still had half of my 16 oz. bottle of water, and I figured I would soon recognize where I was and find my way back to the path or the main road. The only negative: there wasn’t any shade and it was getting hotter.

The round trip should have taken about an hour and fifteen minutes. After I had walked MORE than three hours in the sun, I had no idea where I was—and no idea which way to go. I came upon a gorgeous, secluded cove where some guy was wearing a wetsuit that looked like the “Creature From the Black Lagoon.” (He was about to go spearfishing.) When I asked him how I could get back to where I started, he replied that I would have to climb “all the up the mountain” then back down around the side, and ... OMG. His directions were completely incomprehensible, but I did understand that he was saying it would take me 3 - 4 hours (presuming I could find my way!).



This was crazy. I hadn’t come down any mountain. All I wanted to do was backtrack, but there had been countless choice points and I hadn’t dropped any breadcrumbs. I was starting to get really hot and nervous. I did not want to spend 6 or 7 hours hiking in the sun, with very little water left. My phone GPS was no help—maybe because there were no roads. Out of the blue, an older native Hawaiian guy with gold teeth pulled up on a sort of a dirt bike or off-road motorcycle. His directions seemed equally impossible to follow, and I imagined wandering on jungle paths until someone found me passed out from heat stroke and dehydration a day or two later. So ... I asked if I could pay him to drive me back to the path I had been on.



Next thing I knew, we were ZOOMING through fields of sugarcane on a path that at times couldn’t have been more than 12 inches across. At one point he yelled, “Hold on!” and we drove straight through a stream then practically flew over rocks and tree limbs. It was thrilling – but terrifying! I thought there was about a 50/50 chance I would be thrown from the back of the bike.



He drove me all the way back to my car, (a LONG ride) where I thanked him PROFUSELY and showed my appreciation with a very generous tip. End of adventure! Whew!!



I think that was my Passover/Easter miracle! Today, I think I’ll stick to Hanalei Bay, No chance of getting lost there.



PS. Amazingly, I’m still seeing an occasional whale. I thought they would have all been gone by now, but apparently, they don’t want to leave Hawaii.

JerseyGirlinAZ

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Glad you survived!

Songdoc

Thanks! FYI, I have no idea why the font is so large. I couldn't find where to adjust it.

emalloy

Great photos , glad you got a ride to your car, that would have been a difficult trip back. Thanks for posting.

sf7307

Kathie

That was quite an adventure. I'm glad it all worked out.

Melnq8

Beautiful photos Songdoc - glad you made it home!

Songdoc

Thanks for all the nice comments!

Fra_Diavolo

Great story! Glad it worked out. One suggestion -- buy a GPS for hiking.

Shar

An Easter miracle I'd say. You were given an angel to take you back home. What an adventure....

Songdoc

Shar: I agree!!!

kanunu

Reading your initial post, I was starting to get concerned.... could this be the end of Songdoc's ongoing love affair with Kauai?
Looks like no chance of that!
I don't suppose you ever figured out where you took the wrong turn, but I can understand it happening, as I've done it too many times myself.... including getting back to 'civilization' in the dark, with no flashlight.
But I can vouch for the effectiveness of handheld GPS's, they are an amazing device. Having them, say, 25 or more years ago would have saved me a lot of shoe leather. And a bit of worry, too....

Songdoc

kananu: After two years of living on Kauai, I can honestly say I am even happier than I ever imagined I might be. It would take a lot more than getting lost to sour me on my idea of paradise.

The irony is that if I'd owned a handheld GPS, I probably would not have brought it with me. This was not a "hike," but a walk on a paved path, with a last-minute decision to take the little path to the nearby beach -- as I had done several times before. I have NOT figured out where I wound up.

On a different note ... it has been absolutely gorgeous here for the past month. Ahhh ...

Kathie

Songdoc.this is a story about a woman who got lost on Maui, but when I read it I thought of your adventure.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/u...gtype=Homepage

Songdoc

Hi Kathie. I thought the same thing!
It's incredible that she survived.