Thursday, February 26, 2009

The S.P.A.M Chronicles - Day 10




Today is Day 10 if you’re keeping a tally
We were up early and tried not to dally
Ocean and foliage and woods made of koa and banyan
Were all on display as we visited Waimea Canyon
And ended our trek at the Kalalau Valley

The wind had swept the clouds away and the sun shone brightly as we headed out after breakfast for a visit to one of the major scenic wonders of Kauai, Waimea Canyon and the lookout from the top of the Kalalau Valley. Mark Twain called the canyon the Grnd Canyon of Hawaii and I’ve attached a picture to illustrate this. We knew we needed to get up the top of the canyon early in the day because the clouds can quickly obscure the view. We raced from sea level at Waimea to 4000 feet in 19 miles and saw the temperature drop from 77F -50F (25C – 10C for those metric-centric readers). We were glad we had our jackets with us. Got a great view, minutes before it was closed off by approaching clouds (picture also attached) The valley was once a self sufficient home to 50,000+ Native Hawaiians but is rarely visited due to the treacherous trials and high surf. We overheard the comment that waves sometime reach 60 feet during intense storms that sweep in from the ocean.

We worked our way back down and visited a couple of viewpoints that afforded great panoramas of the Canyon and waterfalls. As we cruised back into town we stopped at the Shrimp Station for Shrimp Tacos, Beer-Battered Shrimp, and a particularly tasty Coconut Shrimp. We had failed to pick up T-Shirts commemorating the Town Celebration, so we found the printer and placed an order for pickup early next week. We knew we wanted to be back in Hanapepe by 3:00 just like last week for the Sunshine Market, so we visited Salt Pond Park and then browsed the local bookstore until the whistle blew. At 3:08 we were headed back home and enjoyed a nice meal of snapper, rice, corn and salad, Cards, cribbage, and Five-Straight occupied us until 10:00. We head North tomorrow….”Mountaintop” Mike

No comments: