Wandering Publicist

Kauai, better known as the “Garden Island” is chock full of stunning waterfalls, many of which you can hike to for an up close and personal look at nature’s wonders.  My absolute favorite hike in Kauai is the Kalepa Ridge Trail, in the Waimea Canyon State Park. This trail starts at the Kalalau Valley Lookout, which is a breathtaking sneak peak of the hike.

You can hike out for about 30 minutes to a grassy area where you can enjoy the views of the Na Pali coast, or you can hike the entire trail where you can look straight down to the ocean, producing a major adrenaline rush. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the end of the trail.  You can see a few waterfalls as you look into the valley.

The trail is moderate. Some parts are slippery, but overall it is not too hard. Go early in the morning to avoid the clouds coming in and the heat! I highly recommend this hike or at least going to the lookout.

All along the drive in Waimea Canyon State Park, there are plenty of stops to view the stunning canyon and the Waipo’o Waterfall. If you want to hike to this jaw-dropping waterfall it takes about 45 minutes to get to it. There are some steep parts of the hike, but it isn’t too bad.  I suggest going as early as possible to avoid the heat and the crowds.

It was a little disappointing that we couldn’t get a better view of the waterfall, but we did get to see it in its entirety when we did the doors-off helicopter tour with Jack Harter for Tim’s birthday. If you want to see as many waterfalls as possible very quickly, this is the way to do it. We saw about 200 waterfalls in our hour-long chopper ride.

Since we lived in the south, we didn’t venture up North too often. One of the times we did was to check out Queen’s Bath, a popular tide pool located in Princeville. The first time we attempted to do the hike we weren’t able to find parking. There is a small parking lot, but if its full, it can take a long time for a spot to open up. There is no on-street parking available. You could park by the golf course, but you need to pay and it’s about a 25-minute walk to get back to the trailhead.  After doing the hike, you wouldn’t want to walk another 25 minutes to your car, or at least we wouldn’t want to.  We came back another time before we moved to Maui and luckily we got a parking spot after waiting only 10 minutes.

The hike is a quick 20 minutes, but it is pretty steep so you need to be careful not to fall. When you make it down, the first thing you see is a lovely little waterfall pouring into the pool.

The tide pool is surrounded by indigenous rock, giving off an otherworldly vibe to the landscape. We are happy we got to see it before we moved!

The first hike we did together in Kauai was hiking to the Wailua Waterfall.  This massive waterfall drops 173 feet into the Wailua River!

It is stunning. You can see it up top from the road, or you can do the slippery, steep hike to the bottom of the fall. This was my least favorite hike mainly because of how slippery it was.  I just didn’t enjoy it as much as other hikes, but the waterfall is really beautiful to see from the bottom. Just be prepared with good hiking shoes and bug spray!

 

Needless to say, Kauai is the place to go for waterfalls. If you are planning to visit Kauai and have any questions, please let me know!

XO,

Sarah