{"id":741,"date":"2012-07-23T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morningnewsinverse.com\/?p=741"},"modified":"2012-07-23T06:00:43","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T13:00:43","slug":"hawaiian-postscript-ok-ok-i-didnt-work-the-whole-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=741","title":{"rendered":"Hawaiian Postscript – OK, OK I Didn’t Work the WHOLE Time!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019re reading this from Facebook,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 we\u2019d like to ask you to \u2018subscribe\u2019 to our blog \u2013 it\u2019s free and easy, just fill in the blank at the right hand side of this article (Follow Blog on Email<\/em>) with your email address, go to your email and \u2018confirm\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s it.\u00a0 You\u2019ll then have our weekly blog come directly to your email.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve already subscribed . . .\u00a0 send the link to a friend and Thank You!<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For those who may have questioned my veracity regarding\u00a0the story on my recent trip to Hawaii (I Had To Go To Hawaii To WORK! \u2013 A Picture Story)<\/em>, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that while the conference I attended did go from Thursday \u2013 Saturday, the vendors (and I\u2019m a virtual\u00a0vending machine<\/em>) were not included in Saturday\u2019s agenda.\u00a0 Since I was wasn\u2019t sentenced to spend five hours on a \u2018red eye\u2019 strapped into the last row of seats for my flight home until 9:00 pm Saturday, I had the whole day to explore Kaua\u2019i.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Friday evening, while not sitting at one of those tiki bars not\u00a0having one of those umbrella drinks, I struck up a conversation with\u00a0a young man who had just returned from a hike.\u00a0 I asked him to tell me about it.\u00a0 He had me at \u201cat the end is this beautiful waterfall.\u201d\u00a0 My Saturday was planned.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I took the Kuhio\u00a0Highway \u2013 the term \u2018Highway\u2019 here is used\u00a0in the most colloquial sense \u2013 it is a narrow, two-lane road, when it doesn\u2019t cross a river and go down to a one-lane bridge, that winds past the posh resort, homes and golf courses of Princeville\u00a0and then through the quaint and euphonious town of Hanalei\u00a0until it just ends.\u00a0 I think it was the first highway I\u2019d driven on that just came to a dead-end.\u00a0 I parked. \u00a0I was at Ke\u2019e Beach in Haena\u00a0State Park, on the Na Pali coast, trailhead for the hike to Hanakapi\u2019ai Falls. \u00a0This was the setting for Bali Hai in the movie South Pacific<\/em>; beautiful doesn\u2019t even begin to describe it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The trail to the falls goes up the mountain then down to Hanakapi\u2019ai Beach, which is two miles away.\u00a0\u00a0It is narrow and drops off rather dramatically. \u00a0Here is part of the \u2018Hazard Warning\u2019 for this trail:<\/p>\n

Extreme inclines and declines on uneven, narrow footpath on high cliffs.\u00a0 Loose rocks underfoot and from eroding cliffs above.\u00a0 Strong currents and flash flooding can occur at the river.\u00a0 Dangerous shorebreak\u00a0and riptides at Hanakapi`ai beach – use extreme caution.\u00a0 Hike Rating: Strenuous<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So one false step could send you down the cliff, careening off lava rock into a watery grave several hundred feet below; but you will have died in a most beautiful place, so you\u2019d have that going for you.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was about mid-morning when I reach Hanakapi\u2019ai Beach and it was becoming quite warm; I considered a quick dip in the ocean (I read the \u2018Hazard Warning\u2019 after <\/em>I did the hike) when I noticed a wooden sign stuck in the sand at the entrance to the beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0In case you can\u2019t read it, it says, \u201cBEACH WARNING! DO NOT GO NEAR THE WATER, UNSEEN CURRENTS HAVE KILLED (82 in Roman numerals) VISITORS.\u00a0 I noticed that there was plenty of room for more hash marks so . . .<\/p>\n

I splashed a little water in my face from the stream, turned and got on the trail toward the falls<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The trail cuts through the rainforest and crisscrosses\u00a0the stream several times.\u00a0\u00a0 An agile hiker could use the large rocks in the stream as \u2018stepping stones\u2019 for the many traverses that are required.\u00a0 I, on the other hand, had shoes and socks that were soaked by the time I reached the falls.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure a less-experienced hiker might lose this poorly marked and seldom traveled trail, but . . . OK, yes, I misplaced the trail a few times, but I told myself I was just being adventurous, not lost; the road less traveled and all that.\u00a0 I was less cavalier about losing the trail when I remembered that Jurassic Park<\/em>\u00a0was filmed\u00a0around here\u00a0and wondered if\u00a0any of those creatures were still hanging out here.\u00a0 Instinctively my step quickened.\u00a0 As I was making my way back to the trail I came upon a fairly wide clearing in the otherwise thick foliage.\u00a0 I noticed a sign at the other end of the clearing and made my way over to see what it said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What?!\u00a0 I could have taken a helicopter here?!!\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell anyone, but I did \u2018linger\u2019 there for a while and thought that anyone coming to see the falls by helicopter would have missed the beautiful scenery along the way, and\u00a0probably had very dry shoes and thus would not have appreciated the experience nearly as much as I did.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Moving a little further up the trail, I reached the falls.\u00a0 The view was spectacular and well worth the four mile hike, OK, it was worth the eight mile\u00a0hike since I was planning on making the return trip.\u00a0 The falls are several hundred feet high and cascade into a crystal clear pool, complete, as you can see in the photo, with nymphs, mythologically speaking.\u00a0 I included them in the picture to give a perspective of the size of the waterfall.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The return trip was uneventful, although I think someone moved the rocks in the stream further apart.\u00a0 By the time I got back to the trailhead, my shoes were completely soaked, but my throat was quite dry, as I had run out of water on my return trip, so the young Hawaiian selling fresh coconuts filled with milk, complete with straw, at trails end, was a welcome sight.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My shoes were not only soaked, but\u00a0they were severely cut up from the lava rock, so no longer viable for hiking, but\u00a0I wear them now when I work in the yard, and every time I look at them I think of\u00a0this\u00a0most beautiful hike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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