The Ritchies, Cooleys(es), and Tonks did a week in Kauai. We spent most of our time in and around the Poipu beach house but ventured out to Lihue, the Wailua Forest, and Waimea Canyon. And Cooley and I put my Blue Hole hike research to the test, since that's the longest part of this post I put it at the bottom.


The Cooleys booked one of the few houses on the beach at Poipu. It wasn't cheap but it was great to be able to bounce between the water, lawn, pool and house.


There were sign-encircled sea turtles and monk seals throughout the week. The water was nice but just cold enough that Dani's teeth would be chattering after twenty minutes in the ocean (Dad's too). After grabbing a spring suit from a local surf shop the little one could spend all day in the water. I brought mine and it was sufficient for both swimming and scuba.

All of the sun and sand and water meant ample downtime in the house's huge common area with comfy couches.


We stocked up at Costco on the way out of Lihue but took full advantage of the ice cream and Puka Dog shop a block from the house. We did a picnic up at the McBryde-Allerton garden and made use of the Kiahuna Club passes that came with the rental.


Gear:

• D850
• D700
• Ikelite D700 housing
• 120mm f/2.8 with Ikelite dome
• 20mm f/2.8 with Ikelite dome
• 50mm f/1.4
• SB-700
• Ikelite DS-51 (in another bag)

I think my D700 is RIP so I didn't get any underwater shots.

Cooley brought his new underwater camera.

The Cooleys and I had intended to do a lot of diving on the trip. It was windy and the waves were choppy the first couple days we were there so the vis was not good on our Day 2 dive from Koloa Landing. The turtles were all taking shelter in the reef, though we did see quite a few of them.

We realized too late that we probably could have done a boat dive on the final full day. Regrets.


On Jon and Tori's recommendation, we did the Kauai Plantation luau. The train ride and animals were a big hit with the kids but at around 6:00p local (8:00p pacific) I took a very tired child home.



The original plan was to drive all the way up to the Na Pali coast and do the Kalalau day hike. Since Cooley and I had already scouted the Wailua rainforest (below), we audibled to the Kuilau Ridge trail... kind of.


We drove out to the Keahua Arboretum and went a little ways down the dirt road where we crossed paths with some kei truck enthusiasts. Then the Cooleys/Tonks did the Arboretum hike and the Ritchies got very muddy on the ridge trail.


Toward the end of the trip, Courtney had a mild cold, Chad and Kati still had a toddler, and Cooley and I were recovering from our adventure so we took the jeeps up Waimea Canyon to do the short, gentle Pihea Trail that looks down on the north shore. We had sandwiches and chips at the Koke'e picnic grounds before descending.


We got a late start so the clouds had rolled in by the time we got to the top. Doesn't matter, it's amazing up there.


It was not awesome that Alaska rescheduled our departure from 10:00a to 3:00p (11:00p arrival). Jes had not asked for Tuesday off. I had to do an Acceptance Test thing. Dani had school. On the plus side, the later flight meant Jes and I could do a sunrise horseback ride from the stables east of Poipu.



The Cooleys had a helicopter trip booked for Thursday but due to wind it was cancelled. I offered to instead take them into the shadow of Kawaikini on jeep and on foot. Only one of them took me up on the offer.

Prep

Fast-forward to lunch.

We packed a normal hiking lunch (bagel/sandwich, trail mix, etc.) and plenty of water. I went with those Vibram toe-shoes since they'd worked pretty well for the Kalalau hike many years ago. I let Cooley know that tabi water socks are the recommended footwear for this journey but he opted to wear his Solomons with boots as a backup (he didn't use them). I had my D850 and on the mobile I had offline maps and a copy of my research.

The drive out

Keahua Arboretum where the pavement ends.

Everyone had rented jeeps for the week so we had a choice between the Wrangler with all-seasons and the Rubicon with all-terrains. Not expecting anything too crazy, we left the Rubicon with Jes and took the Wrangler. Cooley and I hit the road at 6:30a and caught traffic into Lihue but made it to the Arboretum about an hour later.

Just past the arboretum is a fork in the road where the south path takes you off Google Maps and toward the trailhead. I was happy to see that the driving route was pretty unmbiguous when equipped with the directions I had found online.


We crossed some streams and standing water but since it hadn't rained much the water level was low.

Then, disaster.


The loud whistling from outside the driver's side window told us we had caught a puncture. While all terrain tires would have been more robust, this was more a result of one of our four tires being much older than the other three.

Our long hike was going to be a long walk to cell service if not for the fact that the rental had all of the required equipment to change a tire (including the two sets of wheel locks).

Without a spare, we nervously proceeded onward, wary of both our tire situation and the possiblility of getting stuck in the mud. Since the road is constantly subject to rain and runoff, there were a few sections that gave Cooley (a seasoned offroader) cause for concern.


We eventually made it to the Jurassic Park gate (which is just two pillars) and a bit beyond that we parked at a turnoff half a mile from the trailhead. After walking the last bit of road we decided it was driveable but didn't second guess the choice to play it safe - what's an extra mile of hiking anyway? We left the jeep at about 8:00a, buoyed by our lack of additional vehicular troubles.

Trailhead

The first stretch of trail introduced us to pretty much all of the challenges we'd see thereafter:

• A stream crossing with probably the strongest current
• Rock and boulder traversals
• Finding and following a minimal trail that sometimes proceeds invisibly up or across the river

None of this was surprising based on the reading we'd done.

We got gradually better with pathfinding as the hike progressed and I learned to look for small scrapes on rocks as breadcrumbs of prior traversals. Incidentally, I have a new perspective on the yellow paint debate.

The guidance we'd read claimed 6-10 hours to hike sevenish miles. I was hoping our pace would put us on the left side of that time window but after an hour or so Cooley's watch said we'd gone 0.92 miles. I'd like to have presented a GPS track of the hike but apparently when Cooley's watch ran out of batteries his phone deleted the entire hike.

Guardian Falls

After almost three hours we reached Guardian Falls. On another day this would have been an awesome place to swim and turn around, but we had a hole to see. This is also where my rough distance measurement diverged from the actual trail which follows the northernmost river fork before swinging back into the valley.

To the gate

After Guardian Falls the canyons narrowed considerably and the streamside trails became a series of miniature climbs that eventually led to a fence and gate meant to protect the valley from invasive stuff.


Some of the photos above are from the other side of the gate but are nonetheless indicative of that stretch of trail.

The Blue Hole

Approaching the Blue Hole, the green canyon walls were lit brilliantly by sun through thin cloud cover, contrasting the canyon head that opens north and had the appearance of being permanently deprived of sunlight. We traversed a handful of small ridges that each offered a more impressive view of the ominous 2500' canyon wall streaked with thin waterfalls.

The back wall

The back wall sits under and enormous overhang where the waterfalls depart the canyon wall and rain down on everything below. It's neither easy to describe nor photograph.

Lunch and return

We moved away from the canyon wall before having lunch; the boulders at the foot of the cliff reminded me of the rocks that fell throughout the night on Kalalau Beach.

I took a few screenshots of gmaps throughout the hike. I was expecting to have a nice GPS track from Cooley's app and I'd only need these if he fell off a waterfall or something. Note the last frame is the return trip, I was just looking upriver.

The return trip was quicker, though down is more perilous with tired muscles. We got back to the jeep around 3:00p, making it a seven hour adventure.

Couch time

I don't normally have cankles, this is either swelling or phone camera/perspective.

The Vibrams probably gave me +3 agility and resistance to trenchfoot versus Cooley's hiking shoes. But, like the Kalalau hike, I felt the trail in the bottoms of my feet much more. Additionally, my ankles were far less protected from missteps and a particular rock that rolled over my foot when I stepped next to it in the stream. I nostalgically wore the same forever-mudstained boardshorts I took to the north shore, light pants would have been a better choice. The low brush of the Hawaiian rainforest isn't especially prickly but there's no part of the Blue Hole trail where it isn't scraping against your legs.

I guess the price of World Cup tickets hasn't driven that many people away because I went 0-3 in the random draw. The resale situation doesn't look great:


More than 3x the MSRP for a group stage match and, surprisingly, only double for the LA quaterfinal. The kicker: "Seat will be assigned later". Sure.

Source. This is from some dude's hike to the summit of Kawaikini, the Blue Hole hike is a few thousand feet below.

I think the Kauai crew is planning to do the Kalalau day hike. Having done both the day hike and the overnighter, I'd like to see the Blue Hole (or Waialeale or "Weeping Wall", to disambiguate it from the other one).

Since we got a fancy vacation rental, we have a concierge whom I queried about the trip. The response:

Concierge

There is no way to see Weeping Wall except by doing a 10 hour hike with a guide. I do have details on it if you are interested...

The guide company sent a lengthy email warning of the fitness requirements and quoting a few hundred bucks per person:

Guide Company

Blue Hole 10 Hours Advanced Hikers Only $1080 +tax for up to 3 hikers.

Further down the email, they confirmed that the hike is on public land and that their business isn't exactly legal:

Guide Consulting Company

Licensed hiking tour companies are only permitted to guide guests on a few specific trails on Kauaii - if we agree to arrange things for you it is to be understood that any upfront payments will be for the "consulting fee" including gear recommendations and referral to a contractor guide that may accompany you on your journey to make sure you stay safe and are respectful of the environment in that area. As state land, it is not an officially closed area - it is simply a potentially dangerous and delicate area in which commercial guiding is not permitted.

Things didn't seem to be on the up-and-up, so I did some research.

Source.

On a dry day, the trailhead is accessible from the east side of the island, just north of Lihue:

John Derrick

At the end of Hwy. 580, Kuamoo Road will end abruptly at the Keahua Stream crossing near Keahua Arboretum. You can park in the parking lot on your left and begin your hike (unless you have 4x4, then you can proceed at your own risk). The drive beyond the paved highway is very rough, bumpy, often muddy, and dangerous in spots (especially when crossing streams). The state has been working on the unpaved access road to here of late and they may have a locked gate during the week while they work on the road (not on weekends). The road heads inland beyond Kuamoo Road and the Wailua Reservoir to the Keahua Arboretum. You will cross a second spillway just past the arboretum, followed by a series of power towers. Continue along the Wailua Forest Management Road (maintained by Na Ala Hele). The road will bear right and continue for about 0.5 miles until you reach a major fork in the road. Here you will see a 'Hunting Unit C' sign nailed to a tree asking people to not pick up "lost" hunting dogs. If for some reason you have made it this far by driving, do not try to drive any farther unless it has been extremely dry recently (not likely), as the road gets even worse beyond this point. If you take the right fork for about one mile you will be at the Waialeale stream convergence. Back at the fork, the left trail crosses streams and winds through the dense forest for about 1.5 miles to the 'gate,' used in Jurassic Park. During all of our visits between 2009-2012 the gate was open; which for us was a first. If it's open and you've driven this far, we suggest parking at the Waikoko (Jungle hike) trailhead, which is about 0.15 miles from the diversion/weir

The gmaps view showed a windy road up from the south (rather than east) and no road (marked or otherwise) from the arboretum:

Source.

So I attempted to corroborate the directions quoted above. I found a few informal maps and a youtube video by a condo sales guy (or something):


And I eventually made it to the Hawaii land management site that showed the minor roads and trails:

Source.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources had a blurb that seemed to agree with everything else:

Hawaii DLNR

To access the Wailua section of the Lihu'e-Koloa Forest Reserve by car, follow Highway 580 (Kuamo'o Road) mauka from Wailua town to the Keahua Arboretum, where parking is available. From here, 4WD vehicles may proceed southbound into the Reserve along the Wailua Forest Management Road. The Kalaheo section of the Forest Reserve may be reached via two unmaintained rights-of-way: one near the end of Kua Road, where a small parking area is available, and another off Pu'u Wai Road. Na Ala Hele, the State of Hawai'i Trail and Access Program, manages three trails at Lihu'e-Koloa Forest Reserve: Powerline Trail, Kuilau Trail, and Wailua Forest Management Road. Hiking on undesignated trails is not recommended due to the potential for natural hazards.

Getting to the trailhead, in short

dinenpine

Rent a 4x4 Jeep or find/hire someone with a 4x4 truck to drive you to where the trail starts. I tried walking there from the arboretum the first time and it was a LOOONNNNGGGG walk. I got lucky and some people going to picnic out at the trailhead with their trucks saw me walking halfway and gave me a ride in and back. The second time around I rented a jeep myself to get out there.

The takeaways:

• Rent a jeep
• Don't go if it's been raining much
• Reconsider if the trailhead can't be reached

The post by John Derrick provided distances that I have bulletized:

1. Drive 7 miles (all paved) to the parking lot at the end of Kuamoo Road and park.
2. Cross the first spillway next to the parking lot. Keahua Arboretum is on your left.
3. At 0.1 mile is the Kuilau trailhead on the right (also the trailhead for Powerline).
4. At 0.5 mile is the second spillway. Use caution crossing and don't cross at all if the water is up and/or moving fast.
5. Continue 1 mile along the straight road until it makes a right toward the Waialeale basin.
6. In another 0.5 miles, you'll see a fork in the road. Take a LEFT at the fork (C-dog) sign.
7. From here it's 1.5 miles to the gate.
8. It's approximately another 0.5 miles to the diversion/weir where the Blue Hole hike begins.

Source. That is some topography.

The not-guide company talked up the strenuousness of the Blue Hole hike. It doesn't have much elevation change at least.

Source.

And it's not long:

John Derrick

Total Mileage: 0.5 (to the second spillway) + 1.5 (to the road fork) + 1.5 (to the gate) = 3.5 miles one way/7 round trip, not including the half-mile hike to the Blue Hole viewpoint. So, figure about 8 miles total round trip if you stop at the weir.

Source.

The difficulty seems to come primarily from the fact that there really isn't a trail but rather a traversable streambed.

John Derrick

As you boulder hop up the streams, you'll get to a three-way waterfall (what some call Guardian Falls or the "three-way convergence"). You'll have to find/climb your way up, continue via another stream, and cross over some small ridges before you reach the headwaters (the back wall, Weeping Wall, or true Blue Hole).

Another account of the Guardian Falls path:

dinenpine

Basically you're going to go all the way up the river till you come across a pretty big waterfall. Continue up the left side of it and follow the trail (not follow the river going left, but literally climb on the left side of the big waterfall. There will be a trail).

The not-guide company estimates the hiking pace is about half what you'd expect from a trail:

Consulting Company

Generally the actual hiking portion is about 3 - 4 hours one way before stopping to eat lunch, take in the view, then turn back (6 - 8 hours RT).

Getting lost

Source.

The consulting company mentioned hikers getting lost by following paths to nowhere. I'm optimistic that given the topography, it's more of a detour/attrition concern than a lost-in-the-backcountry one. Particularly since GPS is a thing.

dinenpine

I'm from there and attempted the hike twice. The first time I ended up following the wrong split in the river and ended up at the wrong part of the back wall... the trail disappears very often. When the trail disappears you more or less just walk up and through the river and scan the sides of the river till the trail appears again. There's a pretty good number of random paths that lead to nowhere, probably from pigs or hikers repeatedly getting lost in the same place or hunters or whatever.

But I guess there may be some alternate, incorrect routes that follow one of the river forks?

Darkness

dinenpine

I went with a group of friends that weren't in the best shape for this and we didn't make good time and was forced to turn around right in front of it as we were running out of time (we started around 11, around 3:30 I was right in front of it but we had more or less agreed that we'd turn around no matter what at the time). Start early, like ideally you'd want to start at like 7-8.

An early start was already the plan, cheers to time zones.

Weather

dinenpine

Don't go if the weather looks like shit. I'm in Oahu now and it looks pretty overcast here and if it looked the same there I wouldn't attempt it.

The main draw of the Blue Hole hike is a canyon fed by numerous waterfalls in the "wettest place on earth" so it stands to reason that the stream one traverses to get to the end of the canyon is particularly susceptible to flash flooding. So weather and water level are of acute importance, but should a prolonged downpour occur the plan is to seek higher ground. I imagine the greatest risk is not the rising water level but rather attempting to continue stream crossings after the water has risen to a dangerous level.

Injury

dinenpine

You'll be walking along some muddy portions where if you fall you'll probably not be able to carry yourself out.

Stream crossings, wet rocks, cliffs, mud- all are recipes for injuries that might make solo or assisted return impossible.

Consulting Company

Unfortunately, many people just want to go there because they have seen it on social media and/or want to put it on their social media.

Needless to say, respect for the land and the experience is my highest priority. We'll see how it goes. I'll definitely only go if the weather is dry and will ideally recruit a buddy or two to come with.

See my follow-up post.