View up Waimea Canyon from the rim road.Another view from further up the road inside of Waimea Canyon State Park.Crossing Kauaikinana Stream. This is the first stream crossing on the drive in. Very manageable in these conditions but it hadn’t rained much that day.Another view of the stream crossing. The road beyond here was in relatively good shape. There is a road junction at 22.11656, -159.61398. We went right, which led to a parking area with some covered picnic benches. We camped at the trailhead and started the hike the next morning.Nice forested section near the start of the hike.The trail was overgrown in places but still easy enough to follow.View out towards Waimea Canyon.Following the trail towards Koai’e Canyon.Nice hiking conditions in the forest.It remained sunny all morning.There were ropes in place to get down to the stream crossing in Koai’e Canyon.Crossing the stream in Koai’e Canyon. The shelter is visible on the far side of the creek.Rock hopping across the creek.Shelter on the far side of the stream.The inside of the shelter was dry but had some holes in the floor. There was also a nearby clearing in the forest that could hold several tents.Climbing out of the canyon. There was a ladder that helped with one of the steep sections.Making it to the fence. The rest of the afternoon would be spent following the fence.There were a few gates along the way.Avoiding one of the muddy areas.View back along the fence. There were a few steep spots where it was helpful to grab onto the fence.Kawaikini in the distance. The sunny weather we had in the morning transitioned to cloudy skies with the occasional shower.The muddy areas became unavoidable further up the mountain.Some tent platforms high up on the mountain. We could have stopped here but there was still plenty of time in the afternoon so we kept going.Setting up camp in one of the only dry spots we could find.Heading for Kawaikini.Cloudy weather starting to depart.First view out to the ocean.Sunny weather starting to return. Kawaikini in the distance.There were a few up and downs along the ridge on the way over to Kawaikini.Kawaikini summit ahead.Impressive view out toward Olokele Canyon.View from near the summit.Clear skies on the way back.Enjoying the view along the ridge. Continuing to Wai’ale’ale.Rain gauge near the summit of Wai’ale’ale. This area is considered one of the wettest points on earth.Pond on the north side of Wai’ale’ale. This is one of the few clear water sources in the area. We stopped to filter some water.View north from the point where we turned around.Nice sunset from camp.
We hiked up to the ridge in the morning to enjoy the sunrise. The steep point in the distance is named Pohakupele and looked like it would be very difficult to reach.Clear view to the north from near camp.One of the steep sections along the fence.Ladder on the way back to Koai’e stream.Crossing the stream. It started raining hard at this point but fortunately we didn’t have too much distance left back to the trailhead.Enjoying the beach before our flight out the following day.
Trip Index
Map
Lists
Search
