Johnny's Hawaiian Adventure, Part Three

Kevin has been wanting his dad to come to Kauai with them to hike this rugged-in-places four miles in and four miles out trail to Hanakapi'ia Falls. The first twelve minutes got them to this viewpoint.

Looking through the tropical rain forest to the beach below

It was two miles up and over the cliff to get down to the beach, then two miles up to the waterfall.

This is the stream that comes from the waterfall that is their goal

Giant bamboo along the trail

The path was inlaid with little black marbles that turned out to be seeds of, Johnny  thinks, Candlenut Palms (Kevin added a clarification: Those black nuts are usually called Kukui Nuts here on the island. The Kukui Nut tree is the state tree of Hawaii. Leis made of them were traditionally worn by royalty, and are now often given to men upon arriving to the island (women usually get a flower lei made of plumeria and/or orchids).

The round black seeds up closer

Here is the waterfall they were heading for.

A Cattle Egret by the stream. Introduced to Hawaii, they are now plentiful.

Once they arrived at Hanakapi'ai Falls,  Kevin and Johnny traded photo taking with another couple of tourists

Kevin, swimming in the pool below the falls

 

Back at the beach on their way home

Kevin climbing the black cliffs at that beach

That evening, as they did most every evening, they all hiked down to "their" beach to watch sunset over the ocean. (Kevin clarified my confusion over which beaches they hiked up and down to: The walk down from the condo to the beach is just downhill. We only hike back up to the top, then back down again, to go to "Hideaways" beach.)

Below are Jessica, Ian and Kevin, plus others, all photographing the beautiful sunset over Bali Hai. The end of another spectacular day in paradise.