Top Secret Entry......

Now it was parent’s day for Kim and I!  We had consulted “The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook” (which proved a wonderfully comprehensive companion) to select a day of kayaking and hiking up the Wailua River.  I had contacted a kayak outfitter on Monday to reserve a couple kayaks and we had fun picking these up --- the proprietors originally hailed from Corpus Christi so we chatted about the homeland for a bit before securing the kayaks to the top of our rental car.

 

The outfitter was only a mile north of a launch (with free parking) and in no time we were out on the river.  The scenery was delicious as we navigated two miles upstream…but I can’t find those pictures at the moment so please check back later on.

  At this point we disembarked to make the mile hike back to “Secret Falls”, touted as a scenic waterfalls.  I don’t think it was quite a mile, the trail pretty much following a creek ďż˝" a bit muddy, but very easy trekking.

 

We encountered a handful of folks going the opposite direction and soon reached an uprise where we could hear the falls.  We scaled the hill with bated breath and were greeted…by about sixty people scattered around the base of the falls!  The falls were gorgeous, but certainly not ‘Secret’, lol.  Wasn’t the romantic picnic lunch we expected, but we still enjoyed our meal and followed with a dip in the basin at the foot of the falls.  Both of us heeded the warning to not get directly underneath the falls --- you could see where a lot of rocks/boulders had plummeted at one time or another --- but there were a lot of folks living on the edge and getting directly doused.

 

After savoring the beautiful spot a little longer, we hiked back to our kayaks and continued upstream perhaps another half mile before it became too shallow.  A leisurely rebound brought us back to the launch in no time (downstream on the return) and we loaded our craft back atop the car and returned them at the kayak shop.  A recommended idyll for a day on Kauai!

 

Actually, the venture took surprisingly little time so we drove back to Poipu and picked up the rest of the gang (they had been enjoying Brennecke’s Beach all day…another recommended spot if you have youngsters).  We navigated to Spouting Horn, a blowhole that was nearby.  It wasn’t awesome, but still enjoyable and we got to see several rainbows.  One of the splendors of Hawaii is how many rainbows you get to witness during your visit, reinforcing the natural beauty.