We’ve been enjoying an absolutely delightful visit from an old friend of ours from the mainland and his new squeeze. We took them to see a bit of the rugged coast of this island, parts that don’t have roads and aren’t accessible even with 4WD vehicles.
Only a dozen miles or so from twoprops’ compound is the Waipio Valley. You can drive to a park with a pavilion that overlooks the valley; we did so bringing Luna the Big Dog™ in tow. The view from the overlook is breathtaking, and though we’ve had a lot of rain and clouds at the compound this week, the weather cooperated and it was beautiful.
There is a road down into the sacred valley, but it’s the steepest public road in the US. It’s being improved, but right now access is restricted to locals in 4WD vehicles (no pedestrians) and, in fact, it was closed to all traffic when we were there. Fine, as I wasn’t of a mind to take Timmy the Titan down the road.
The next day, we drove a much much longer distance to the other side of rugged coast, Pololū. There is a small lookout there, too, but there’s also a short (~1 km) but steep hiking trail down to the beach at the valley floor. We all walked down, and Luna had a blast. We enjoyed the beach, then hiked back up.
It was once possible to hike through several valleys from Pololū to Waimanu and then Waipio, but the trail has deteriorated and it is now all but impassible.
We then drove along the Kohala coast stopping at Kēōkea Beach. Our plan was to camp for the night at Kapa’a, so we deployed Timmy the Titan’s tent-on-top camper for our guests while we slept in a tent.
It was uncrowded and beautiful. The water was thick with frolicking humpback whales and dolphins. We enjoyed a simple sunset and slept well.
We left the next morning to find bathrooms (the ones at Kapa’a were inexplicably locked), stopped at Māhukona briefly, changed at the bathrooms at Spencer Beach Pavilion, then walked down to Mau’umae (where Luna is allowed) and swam in the ocean. We made it back to the compound in time for a poke lunch and a nap.
A full and interesting trip in just over a day.
—2p