Top Travel Memories: Hiking Waipio Road

On our first trip to Hawaii in 2010, we took in the beautiful Waipio overlook, but with Mark's torn Achilles, we weren't up to much as far as hiking, so we vowed to make the hike when we returned again. Well, in 2013 we DID return, and in fact stayed much closer to the Waipio Valley area, so we decided to take the "little" hike down to the gorgeous black sand beach.

Of course, what we failed to realize at the time was just exactly how steep the road was going to be, and about 3/4 of the way down, we were informed that this particular road contained the steepest incline in America! Of course, at that point, there was no turning back, but it was a long, strenuous, exhausting, hot hike! Oh, and did I mention that at the time, I was 17 weeks pregnant with our second child, and our first (at 15 months and around 28lbs) was riding in prime position in the Kelty carrier atop Daddy's back?

The hikers along the way assured us that we would have no trouble finding a ride back up to the top of the hill from one of the locals, so we enjoyed exploring the beach (BREATHTAKING!) for half an hour or so, then made our way back to the spot where we'd likely be able to be picked up.

It didn't take long to realize that I had come completely unprepared to spend any significant time anywhere: Not only had I forgotten to pack any diapers or wipes, I had also forgotten to pack very much water (just 24 fl oz) or any food for our little guy. So, in other words, we didn't really have much time to dawdle or wait around for the possible ride. We did wait about half an hour at this one spot, but after a while just decided that it wasn't worth the wait, so we took off back up the hill.

It was an extraordinarily LONG hike back up the hill, which was really only about a mile. It took us about half an hour, but it felt like about 3 hours or more. Mark took it like a trooper, and Cashel did so great! I was just a few minute behind them, but by the end was barely putting one foot in front of another. It was so completely more than exhausting, but we made it!

Never before or likely ever again have we ever done something so insane, but it will definitely be one of those memories that sticks with us for the rest of our lives :)

Hawaii 2013 - Days 0 and 1: Flying, Travel, Tex Drive in, Waipio Road, Bamboo Restaurant

Wednesday, March 27: Flying, Flying, Flying, then a little KFC

We had an early morning flight out of Minneapolis at 7:15am on Wednesday morning. It was a VERY long day of flying, and fortunately, Cashel did wonderful on both flights! We finally arrived in Kona shortly after 2pm. Mark went to pick up the rental car, and after a little bit, we made our way to the Jacaranda Inn to check in.

We were SO pleased with the Jacaranda Inn - we didn't want to leave on Friday! Upon checking in, we found we had been upgraded to a nicer (bigger) suite as the people who were staying in our suite the night before had decided to stay longer (and who could blame them?)

It was BEAUTIFUL!

We had initially planned on going out for supper, but we were all completely exhausted, so I ran into the store to pick up a few staples (fruit, coffee) and grabbed some KFC on the way back so we could feed our faces and get right to bed. (Which is exactly what we did) :)

Thursday, March 28: Tex Drive In, Waipio Road Hike, Bamboo Restaurant

We were up arguably much too early for vacation (granted, this after about 10 hours of sleep for all of us!) and ready to enjoy our day!

This view greeted us as we woke up, with the french doors from our suite wide open and a beautiful cool breeze coming in. We all enjoyed snuggling a little longer in the comfy king size bed before we decided to get ready to go find some breakfast at highly acclaimed Tex Drive In for some malasadas!

As we headed out of Waimea towards Honoka'a to Tex Drive In, we were greeted with some insanely beautiful views in the country (which was the reason we wanted to stay our first two nights in Waimea Valley, truthfully):

It wasn't long before we were at Tex and found ourselves some of the yummy malasadas. We found that while the filled ones were yummy, we preferred the plain ones. Very yummy! Probably not worth a trip to Hawaii on their own, but who goes to Hawaii for the food anyways?

Waipio Road and Overlook

After a good, filling breakfast (haha), we decided unknowingly to hike the steepest road in America. Don't believe me? Check this out!

It is at very least a 25% grade with sections a 40% grade, and it was just plain absurd. By the time we reached about halfway down, I was already talking about trying to turn around and go back up, but we pressed on. Our knees were burning like crazy! (Admittedly, when you look at the pictures, this doesn't look very steep...at all)

When we made it to the bottom, however, it was stunning :)

Mark was so glad to reach a flat (albeit incredibly mudddy) stretch leading down to the beach finally, so he could take off the pack and we could let Cashel walk a bit.

Cashel found a few rocks, but we struggled with trying to keep them out of his mouth.

It truly was breathtaking down there, but I'd be lying if the whole time our minds weren't thinking about the possibility of having to hike back up that mammoth incline to get back to the top. We kept hearing people tell us that they were just certain we'd get a lift from one of the locals, but after a half hour wait, we decided we really needed to get back up to the top and couldn't wait any longer, so we started back up. It took us about 45 minutes (to go something like a mile), and I honestly was worried that Mark was going to have a heart attack (or me go into early labor), but we made it!

Afterwards, we had these grandiose plans to check out the Pololu Lookout as well after what was supposed to be a short nap, but the short nap turned into a very long one, and we barely made our supper reservations at Bamboo Restaurant in Hawi, much less having time to check out the lookout before sunset. I'm going to have to do an entire food blog post on the food in Hawaii, because that was a whole experience in itself, but we'd HIGHLY recommend Bamboo Restaurant - yum!!

Our reservations left us hitting these gorgeous mountain views right before sunset. Incredible!

For our first full day in Hawaii, it was pretty crazy, but we thoroughly enjoyed our day.