Saturday, June 30, 2012

Hiking Waimea Canyon

Today in Kauai we visited the Waimea Canyon also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.   To me the canyon looked like a miniature Grand Canyon but with a lot of green plants all over it.  It is much smaller than the Grand Canyon, only 26 miles across and 21 miles north to south, but it has tall mountains, deep canyons, rivers, and waterfalls.  Captain Cook was the first one to set foot and discover Waimea Canyon 1778.   What was so interesting about the canyon was its colors.  The canyons colors were red, green, blue, gray and purple which was very attractive to me. 

Waimea Valley

The canyon was carved thousands of years ago by numerous amounts of floods and rivers flowing down from the wettest point on earth of Mount Waialeale. It receives an average of 466 inches of rain each year.  The lines in the canyon walls were made by eruptive volcanoes and lava flows that had occurred over the centuries.

We hiked the Canyon Trail up to the waterfall. In the beginning the trail was shady, cool, with great views. However, the last half a mile, the hike became very difficult because most of it was up hill and at times had also steep drops.  Sometimes we also had to climb rocks.    On the way we sang different songs.  We also stopped at different viewpoints to see the canyon from different locations.  At one of the viewpoints we even saw a wild goat!

When we finally got to Waipo'o Falls, we were so hot that we jumped into the very cold pool the waterfall made. Since it was the summer, the pool didn’t have much water in it.  Waipo'o Falls is a fantastic waterfall on Kokee Stream dropping 800 ft.!  We only went to the first fall and were too exhausted to go to the top and see the fall from the top. We still had a good time looking up from the bottom of the fall.

When we finally cooled down and had a picnic we trekked up the long way back.   On the way back from Waimea we saw a rainbow.  We saw four more rainbows that day.  It was a marvelous day!

 

Climbing down steep rocks to get to the waterfall

 

Swimming near the waterfall
   













What interesting places have you hiked?





6 comments:

  1. Aloha, Miriam!

    It has been so much fun reading your posts because I did many of the same activities you did when I was in Kauai last summer. In fact, here is a link to my day at Waimea Canyon!

    I read that you have not been able to play the piano. I hope you do learn to play the ukelele! I love the sound, and I think you'd be very good! Do you think you will?

    Mahalo!
    Mrs. Y♥llis

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    Replies
    1. @Mrs. Yollis,

      It is so interesting that we both did the same activities. Waimea Canyon was gorgeous especially after it rains which it did in the morning.

      I don't think I will play the ukelele, but my brother wants to try the ukelele. I have to many activities already and I wouldn't have time to practice the ukelele. I also think it will probably be difficult to find a teacher in Southern California that will be able to teach the ukelele. I have never seen anyone play it here.

      When we were flying home, there was a 10 year girl and her brother who were playing the ukelele at the airport, and it sounded really nice.

      Your blogging buddy,
      ♥Miriam♥

      Delete
  2. Hello, Miriam.

    What a wonderful experience Hawaii is! I can see by the photos, you were able to pack quite a lot of activities into your time. :)

    I have spent some time there looking at active lava flows and walking around the Diamond Head area. Of course, this means I was on Oʻahu and The Big Island (the real Hawaii).

    The scenery is unique in the world. It's no wonder locations of many films have included scenes filmed on one of the Hawaiian Islands.

    What interesting places have I hiked?

    I have hiked many areas of Australia and some places in New Zealand but one favorite was in an area in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney.

    I was a Scout and was part of a trio hiking to Blue Gum Forest in a mountain valley where the only access was on foot. Tall blue gum trees towered above as we set up camp near a creek.

    In the morning, I woke to what I thought was the sound of thunder but when I looked out, a herd of brumbies (wild horses) was thundering through the area not too far from our campsite. They were amazing to watch.

    @RossMannell
    Teacher, NSW, Australia

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    Replies
    1. @Mr. Mannell,

      It was so nice of you to leave me a comment. Last year my family and I also went to The Big Island. Here is a link to my posts: http://victoria-miriamsmoments.blogspot.com/2011/03/aloha-from-hawaii.html. We really liked the Big Island, especially the volcano.

      It must have been very cool to see a herd of wild horses racing by your campsite.

      My grandparents have a lot of Blue Gum trees (Eucalyptus trees) growing in their backyard. They don't like this tree very much because the leaves fall off into the pool and make everything dirty.

      Sincerely,
      Miriam

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  3. Dear Miriam,
    You learned so many interesting new things about Hawaii, it's a wonderful place and I see you enjoy it. I like your pictures, it's looks that you like to take pictures and they look like professional photography.
    Is this the first time you seen a waterfall?
    Love you and miss you,
    Grandma Tanya

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    Replies
    1. Dear Grandma Tanya,

      I loved your comment. Hawaii has so many different and interesting places to visit. It is my first time seeing a waterfall and so far I have seen a lot of them. I love you!

      Love,
      Miriam

      Delete

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