Today we thought we’d get our feet wet with hiking by taking a guided hike over the Honopu Ridge which offers a spectacular view of the Honopu Valley.
After it was all said and done, we got our feet wet along with everything we were wearing, carrying or covering up. But more on this later.
I should start by saying that we are in pretty good shape as a couple and so we thought we could handle a “beginning hike.” Wow! We vastly underestimated the effort, courage, and drive that it required to complete this hike. But we survived and are living to tell about it here.
First of all, the hike sounded easy enough; 2 miles each way, 1000 feet of elevation change, and 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours each way. However, the complications began early when it was realized that recent rains had made for treacherous footing. Both Suzanne and I had early flat-on-your-back falls in the mud.
When we weren’t on the ground, we were straining to find solid footing by seeking out roots, grass, or tree limbs to grab onto. In some cases, a combination was necessary to keep us upright. And this wasn’t on level ground. In some cases, there were escalator-like angles downward. It was mostly downhill on the way out to the ridge, so this continued for most of 4 hours.
A mixture of new-growth and died-back ferns lined the path in stretches. In some cases, there were fern tunnels to be navigated through. If that weren’t enough, there were many times where downed trees blocked our path and had to be straddled. This may not sound challenging if taken one at a time, but the aggregate toll on our bodies was considerable.
The first part of the hike is through the forrest as you make your way to the ridge. However, I started to wonder if and when we’d ever see the ridge. It seemed like we had already walked forever before the first view of the valley was upon us. And we were a bit disheartened when the view was shrouded in low-lying clouds. Fortunately, there were periods where the clouds would thin out and offer us better views of the valley.
We finally made it near the end of the ridge and had lunch on top of Na Pali. Our tour guide had thoughtfully purchased us some mixed plate lunches and we had a similar view to the one in the picture. That view actually allowed us to see down the Na Pali Coast to Ke’e Beach. This was a one-in-a-lifetime experience for us.
As we were eating our last bites of lunch, the rains came. We had been sprinkled on during our approach, but this rain was harder and longer-lasting. We decided to turn back and though the rain quit briefly, it proceeded to rain the entire way back out.
The way back out was uphill and with the rain it was completely muddy. As mentioned previously, everything we were wearing or carrying eventually became totally soaked. Suzanne and I both agreed that we couldn’t remember ever being so miserable. Pouring rain, mud, a two-hour uphill struggle out of the forrest. Yuck.
Note that we did make it out in 2 hours as opposed to the 4 hours getting in. All I can say is that we wanted to get out of there. I cannot put into words how miserable it was. On my part, my muscles were already fatigued from the hike in. You have to keep every muscle ready to catch your fall, so there were few moments to relax. Every step was stressful. And toward the end, my boots were covered in mud and every step took that much more effort.
I learned a lot about Suzanne today, though. Wow…what a trooper! She seemed to hold up better than I did. I was fit to be tied toward the end and downright grumpy. She was miserable, but wasn’t outwardly so as I was. I feel great to have learned how strong my wife is!
So at the end of the hike, we piled into our car and made the drive down to Waimea. We were rain-soaked and looking forward to the pizza that we had planned to get at the end of the day. We looked like absolute hell, but they still served us. Too tired and dirty to eat the pizza there, we brought it home to eat. Our first priority was to take a shower and get clean if that were possible.
So that’s the review on hiking. We each believe that we were just dealt a very bad day for a first hiking experience. But rain has been a recurring theme on this trip. A drier day would probably have made for a blog post focusing on scenery rather than misery.