Kokee camping..Part 2 - The hike....

another view of Waimea Canyon. This canyon was such a contrast from the lush green highly sculpted canyons and mountain ridges of the North Shore. Here the colors are so varied and vibrant. Worth the drive up to

There are moments which can bind the family together and there are moments which create divisions within the family. I decided we should take a hike through the Alaka'i swamp, which is really a bog but who cares. Anyway, I was mislead to think it was 1.4 mile hike to Pihea lookout, but in fact it was about 1.25 miles to the beginning of the 1.4 mile trail to Pihea lookout. I didn't realize my mistake until we got deep into the swamp. Following the Concorde fallacy, we pushed on since we had already hiked to this point. The kids were amazing, even Max hiked the entire trail, up and back! Here we are admiring the moss diversity - Ian noticed at least 5 different forms of moss and is explaining it to Etel.

This somehow was one of those moments which brought us closer together.

We break out of the Alaka'i swamp to cross this high altitude plain. It was around 12 noon and the heat shimmered off of the dry brown vegetation. We think we are close.....but we aren't.
Ignorance is bliss.

Climbing the last 100 feet to Pihea point. It gets a bit rough here. When you hike in Kauai, even on established trails, you have moments where you feel like you are one of the first explores to go this way. This is actually an old trail used over 100 years ago by locals when they went to visit their family kin who lived on the north shore in the winter (like now) when the ocean was too rough to sail.

Kids loved the 'rock climbing' aspect of the final ascent.

Kalalau valley from Pihea lookout. This was the view that awarded us at the end of a 2+ mile hike. It was great, but we still had to walk back!!!!.... We were lucky to have such a clear day, we could see whales splashing in the ocean down below.