…this morning came up with sun again, i stretched my bones and took Tyler to Kekaha because he needed shopping and charging his stuff. Good idea, so i got some breakfast and plugged my stuff on an almost public wall plug at the Neighbourhood Centre. We exchanged the numbers because i gonna pick him up after my hike to the Waimea Canyon Valley. I was a bit wondering because the the trail on the ridge of the canyon and in the valley was both “Canyon Trail” on some signs.
The sun came out more and more and started to dry the way down. On the way down i was remembering Mephy’s blog that this trail only goes downwards and it seems to be easy, but when you reached your goal, the only way back to the car is going upwards. Almost at the end of the Kukui Trail which leads to the Waimea Canyon Trail i met again the nice couple from my first hike on this island. There are lots of trails, but somehow you always ran into the same hikers on the tourist free ones. After a short hike on the Waimea Canyon trail my motivation was stopped by the river and the rainfalls in the last days. The river had a more water then usual and the only way in the Koai Canyon was through the water. Get the shoes off and walk through the water? I felt more better enjoying my beer beside the river, making some pictures and returning.
On the way back two young girls crossed my way and asked for the way, because they wanted to hike the Canyon Trail to the waterfall with the roundtrip back to the parking lot. I told them that they might are one the wrong track, because there is no roundtrip here and i could not remember a waterfall on my map (which was in the car). Even the way into the Canyon is blocked by the water, which can be crossed somehow, but better option is not to do it. Both headed on and i thought i should wait at the junction with the trail up back to the car and then one very long on the side of the river back to the Village Waimea. It didn’t took long as they came back and realised that they really was on the wrong way. The older ones told her sister that she didn’t want to get the steep way back because she has problems with her knees and instead wants to go the very long way along the river.
I choose my known way back and they the long trail to the city. After a while alone on my track, the younger one passed me, while she was kind of jogging or hiking with more speed the steep way up. As experienced hiker with lots of training in the parents “bootcamp” in Austria, i know that this is not an good idea and it’s better to hike slower with in rhythm of your steps and breathing. I always closed up, without any rest, while she took a lots of rests and i decided to start a conversation with her. She tried to go up fast to tell their parents while the older one is also hiking this way up but on her speed. After some advises about the speed she tried to get up and small talk about hiking she felt more comfortable. It was their first “longer” hike they had chosen, because they love hiking in the nature and they had looked onto a hiking map, but somehow (i didn’t asked further) they started at the wrong entry. Back at the top, the mother was happy that i took care about and brought her safe up again.
So i called Tyler for his pickup and we both went shopping for our New Year party. Instead of buying fireworks (i really though about playing around with fire) i decided to donate “Feed a family dinner” to the Hawaiian Food Bank. With enough beer, booze and sausages we returned to Polihale and sadly noticed that both Eric and Lauren wasn’t there anymore. Will they return? Are they might stay somewhere else, as they told us about this option the day before? It was time to start the fire again. As backup we bought charcoal because there was not that much wood left and Eric was the only one with an axe for cutting the trees with spines down, who someone cut of with an chainsaw before. Taylor and me wen the dunes and the beach up and down to find more fire wood for the night. While doing an picture together Eric and Lauren showed up and we both was happy that they came back.
Later a group of , already good drunken, locals came to our spot and placed and very dry christmas tree on the beach which should be fired later. Sitting with Lauren, Eric and Tyler around the fire, talking, eating, drinking and just having fun made this NYE party to one of my best. As it went dark the locals tried to light the christmas tree with fireworks which took some time, but then, it started and an insane fireball went up, while i was drinking my Fireball Whisky on Ice, my new favourite drink. The fact that one of the girls has birthday on the first January made it more funny. Happy New Year? Happy Birthday? During the evening, we noticed some more cars driving down to long beach but we didn’t saw any fireworks or hints which could be an indication for an bigger party, so we decided to stay with our own party. Again, this was one of my best New Years party…(2014/12/31)