The Big Island is full of treats. There are boundless opportunities to experience nature. Eric and I seek out interesting hikes, commonly with a goal to reach the back of Waipio Valley. If you want to blow your mind, come visit Waipio Valley. Not only is it culturally and spiritually significant, it’s also downright gorgeous, some of the most incredible nature I’ve ever seen. We keep trying to get there on foot and while we’ve found tons of treasures along the way, we’ve yet to reach Waipio. Ha!
Like most great experiences in Hawaii, there’s no map or entry in the guide book. You need to rely on your network of friends and local community. We followed the verbal instructions given to us by a friend: “drive down Mud Lane until the paved road ends, 4wd a ways, look for the second gate, park, hop the gate, and follow the trail.” Well, there were many gates and many trails; thankfully, we found right one. Google satellite maps helped.
Hike along the way to a waterfall
Similar to previous hikes, there were deep puddles. It was a guaranteed wet feet situation, hard core winter weather hiking boots or not. As far as I’m concerned, wet feet in shoes while hiking is unbearable. Eric finally convinced me to abandon the trash bag booties concept (see previous post), take the boots off, put my slippers (Hawaiian for flip flop) on, and get my feet wet like a big girl. He was not only nice enough to mule my muddy boots (and water, jacket, extra shirt, snacks, phone, wallet, gum, hair bobbles, etc), but he also waited patiently while I switched my boots and slippers a handful of times. How great is my husband?
braving the mud puddle (much deeper than it looks). Nani didn't mind at all.
We hiked for about an hour not knowing if we’d reach the waterfalls or not, and then we heard the water. yey!
the "bridge"
I was hesitant to cross the “bridge” at first, I even put the leash on Nani for fear that she’d fall into the passing waterfall. Fortunately, the “bridge” was a non-event, and we all made it safely to the other side where we discovered a beautiful waterfall and swimmy hole. I couldn’t resist taking a dip!
waterfall swimmy hole
It felt just like a living postcard. Pure Paradise. After good long while, we carried on to the next waterfall.
waterfall sans swimmy hole
Wowee!
Then we ran into a nice local family and tried to get directions to the back of Waipio Valley. We followed the directions and ended up on a VERY muddy path, rich with boar hoof prints, lots of them. We met another nice guy who had just crossed paths with 20 boars. Sounds fun, but I’m glad I missed out on the experience.
hmmmm.....
Eric doesn't mind mud, or wet feet
The thing is, Eric brought hiking shoes and chose not to wear them. He loves the freedom of a slipper, despite the caked on mud which got much much worse than you see here in this photo. Anyhoo, we turned around after awhile, never reaching Waipio Valley (again)! We got back in the truck and thought maybe we could drive down the rest of Mud Lane and reach it from the other side. 30 minutes down the 4wd road only to reach a gate – so typical of Hawaii. Nani had the right idea though. Next time, we’ll hop the gate and carry on. We’re going to reach the back of Waipio so stay tuned….
And, of course, we had some fun along the way 
girl and dog
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