Wailua Falls, Opaekaa Falls, and Lee Falls

We wanted to see Wailua Falls and hike to the base of the falls. Driving out to the falls was no problem. Ken took some photos of the impressive double waterfall. Then we set out to find a trail to the base of the falls we had read about, but we never found anything that looked like we would feel good about hiking down. The state has put up signs to discourage people from attempting to hike down. We were discouraged mainly by the wet, muddy conditions, not something we wanted to deal with on a steep, unmaintained trail.

This spectacular view of the falls from the air was taken a few days later when we took an airplane tour.

We drove back to Lihue, where we bought gas. Our little Nissan was showing half a tank of fuel. We were surprised to find that we had used less than six gallons of gas, and the total charge was around $25. That's way less than we are used to with our ginormous truck!

We stopped at a Subway to use the restroom and have lunch, but they did not have a restroom, so we went across the street to MacDonalds. That's the first time in many years that we have eaten at MacDonalds. We had grilled chicken sandwiches, which actually were pretty good.
Later we drove out to Opaekaa falls.

We decided to hike the NouNou trail, which was recommended by the guide books. We found the deep red mud so slippery that we ended up turning back. To add to the discomfort, the path was strewn with fermenting (and slippery) fruit. Unfortunately I managed to lose my balance, tripped by the roots in the trail, and fall in the mud--yuck. Bruised and muddy, we headed home.