Kauai vacation
April 25th
Hiking south end of Powerline Trail
Click on any photo to see a larger image
The afternoon hike we decided to do was the southern end of the Power Line trail. There is a line of power poles that stretch directly across the island, apparently supplying power to the north end of the island. There is a service road that follows along the power poles. The trail is along that service road. It is 13 miles one way if you do the entire length. Obviously, we did not go that far. But the drawing in the book indicated that a couple of water falls were visible from the trail not too far from the southern end. We decided to hike until we spotted those falls.
Good thing it was a dry day! The trail is red dirt, and it is deeply routed. Clearly, on a rainy day the trail becomes a quagmire, some of the tire ruts are several feet deep. The trail makes a beeline across the center of the island, so it climbs steadily up over the mountain ridges for the portion that we hiked. I think the climbing made the falls seem further than they appear to be in the book. Click on any of these photos to get a good look at the verdant landscape. The constant rainfall lets the jungle grow; it must be a battle to keep the trail clear. Without the road, it would be quite difficult to cross this landscape. I wonder if the native Hawaiians spent much time in the interior. They probably spent their time on the coast where the fish were available. Not much to eat in the Hawaiian jungle.
Here is a photo of the power poles.
After walking a good distance, I started to wonder if we had missed the waterfalls. On the book map, they appear to be right near the south end, and we had been walking for at least an hour. But then we got a glimpse off to the right of the trail. The falls are quite distant from the trail. My camera does not have a great zoom factor, but if you click on the photos to maximize their size, you can make them out. You can also faintly see the power lines in the picture. Everything is so green and rugged! We then hiked back to our car. (By the way, the trail head is on the opposite side of a shallow river ford, you can drive your rental car right across it. Probably would not want to do that on a day when it was downpouring though.)
