Adventures . . . And Misadventures

We decided that today would be a good day to kayak to Secret Falls. We had gotten some advice to rent a kayak from Hawaiian Village so the kayak trip would be shorter, so we headed off up Hwy 580 to just past the Opaekaa Falls Overlook where we stopped a couple of days ago

We were a bit surprised to learn that a hike of over a mile each way is required and that we would be crossing the river guided by a rope. Undaunted, we set out in our tandem kayak. We had a dry bag for our towels and camera. All was well as we kayaked the calm waters, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation.

We got to the place we had to beach the kayak and pulled it up on shore. Next we made two critical errors. We did not take the dry bag with us, but left it in the kayak. Ken took the camera in a small bag. I had the first aid kit in my nylon fanny pack. We had been told that we would need to cross the river following a rope. We spotted a nearby rope across the river and set out. Instead of water up tour knees, we soon found ourselves in much deeper water.

The sad result is that the camera and first aid kit got soaked. The next instant we found ourselves on an island with no visible trail. After casting about, we realized that we had gone the wrong way, so we crossed back, again getting things soaked. We finally did locate the path, mainly by following another group.

Did I mention that it rained heavily again last night? Everything was very muddy. We crossed the river at another rope, this time in only knee deep water. We were very glad we had our trekking poles, because the trail was criss crossed by roots anti many places quite rutted and mucky. Slogging through the muck was slow going, and we managed to take another wrong turn.
Back on the right path, we carefully picked our way, doing some slipping and sliding. Ken slipped and sat down in the muck. We had another couple of small streams to cross, which was good, because we were able to wash our feet and Tevas off. We finally got to the falls.

Lovely! A real treat and worth the difficult hike. One or two people swam in the pool at the base of the falls. We sat on the rocks and dangled our feet, enjoying the cool wart and the spectacular sight. Then we headed back. The return trip was much faster, but it was nearly five hours after our departure when we turned the kayak in. We walked through the Hawaiian village reconstruction, but mainly to get to the restrooms in the rear.

Tired and hungry, we drove to Tiki Taco and had some great fish tacos for a very late lunch. We filled up with gas for our drive tomorrow and headed home for showers and a rest.

Before I could rest, I spent nearly a hour trying to wash the red dirt out of our clothes, and mostly succeeding. Probably better not to wear a white shirt on a hike in the red dirt of Kauai!

Later we took a walk on the multiuse trail. It was getting dark, so we had the trail mostly to ourselves. We enjoyed the peace and the sights and sounds of he Pacific, which we will miss when we leave the Garden Island on Wednesday.