Today we were back in the island action. We awoke bright and early and headed of to hike the infamous Kalalau trail on the north side of the island. We were in a bit of a time crunch due to our afternoon reservation for zip-lining on the south side. Kalalau trail is 11 miles long and is typically done as a backpacking trip. The first 4 miles are what day hikers normally do. Our plan was to go as far in as possible while having enough time to make it to our afternoon plans. This was our first time to the north side of the island and we were impressed. There were beautiful sights to see and very cute towns.
On the way in we did not see a ton of people. We made it to the beach right around the hour mark. We explored the amazing rocky beach, took some pictures and then decided to head back.
There were some falls farther on down the trail but we wanted to be sure about our time. We headed back and ended up running almost the entire way down which was fast and exhilarating but we passed a lot of people or waited to let inbound groups go by. We made it back to the car in around 45 minutes. We then headed all the way back where we came from towards the south side of the island. We stopped for lunch at the Feral Pig. When Scott was there the other day he heard about the feral burger - an off menu item that features a burger made with local Kauai grass fed beef and kalua pig. The burgers were very good and definitely worth all the hype.
We got back on the road and made it to Kauai Outfitters with 30 minutes to spare. I took a quick cat nap in the car and then it was time to check-in. We were in a group of 12 people: us, a large family group with 2 kids, another couple and a mother and son duo. We took a very bumpy ride to Kipu Ranch where all the zip-lines were set-up. This is a true ranch area complete with huge rolling grass areas filled with munching cattle. We even saw some peacocks and wild pigs.
We were on the 4 hour tour which included 6 zip-lines. The first 3 were in the same area and were fairly small. This included a "zapeal" (zip-line/rappel) and an nything goes line where you could start backwards and go upside down - on the other side you eventually exited the zip-line via a mid air ladder. Yes - we started backwards and both went upside down at certain points of the line. The last 3 were in a separate area and were all much longer. 4 of the lines were doubles so Scott and I got to go at the same time which was fun. Overall the views were beautiful and the experience exhilarating. I would say it felt too short and I would definitely go again!
The guides were very friendly and gave many local recommendations on the way back to the shop. We were happy to hear a few of the recommendations were already places we had visited. We learned of a Friday art walk in a small town near by and an amazing pie lady so we headed of in search of that. The Friday night art walk was in a small old Hawaiian town, Hanapepe. One street was lined with vendors and food items outside local galleries. We looked at many way too expensive art pieces, tried an amazing piece of mango pie and window shopped. Once it started to get dark we loaded back up and headed back to the East side.
We had dinner at Verde which was had great Mexican food (the fresh fish tacos are where it is at). Then it was back to the inn where we had left from over 14 hours prior! Needless to say it has been a long day and we are ready to rest for the night. Tomorrow will be our last full day on Kauai - what an amazing place we have come to love.
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