After lunch, we pulled up to a business that offered guided hiking, kayaking, ziplining, horse-back riding, and I don’t know what else. We had a reservation to hike/kayak/and zipline. After signing our lives away, and promising that if we were injured, we wouldn’t sue the company (nor would our family, whether born or unborn) we all piled into a truck and headed down the road about 10 minutes, where we came to a stop and were told that this is where the hike started.The guides, David and Joshua pointed out certain plants, some being native to the island, but most having been brought from other places in the world. We climbed a hill and rounded a corner to see a beautiful view. I thought about bursting into song, “Theeeee hiiiiiillllls are aliiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuusiiiiic.” But I refrained. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off without laughing, and I didn’t know whether I should sing “The Sound of Music” version or the “Moulin Rouge” version. Now I’m thinking I should have done it. Oh well. The thought still makes me laugh. Eh-hem.
We started down a staircase towards a river. I was nervous about this next part because I’ve never kayaked before, and my grid of rivers is Idaho white water. (My last experience in Idaho white water, I fell out of the raft on the Staircase in a hole called “The Big Nasty” (See blog titled “The Big Nasty”.)) The guides quickly taught us how to paddle the kayaks, and said that if we fell out, yell, get someone’s attention (which was the startled thing to do), then stand up. We would be in 2 feet of water. Next, they started helping us into our kayaks. What I observed of this river was that there wasn’t a ripple in it until someone’s boat hit the water. When we all got in the water, we started paddling and what I saw took my breath away. We floated through a tunnel of trees, making the river nice and nice and cool, with dappled sunlight filtering through. Then, we noticed flowers, the size of my fist, floating in the water. We also floated past a couple of flowers that were suspended from the trees, hanging down at eye level. Finally the water became too shallow that we couldn’t paddle any longer, so we tied up our kayaks and started hiking again. We crossed the river about 5 times and ended up on a path that was bordered by, “The Fern of Death.”
Our guides told us that “The Fern of Death” is the second most deadly plant on the island. The reason is because this fern grows on dead, rotting vegetation. Then it grows up and there is really no solid shelf under it. So, if you step off the path, into “The Fern of Death” a person can literally plummet to their death. Ok. Avoid that one. (The most deadly plant is the coconut tree. Sitting under one runs the risk of getting beaned on the head with a coconut.)
Next, we arrived at a zipline. We got in our harnesses and the guides asked, “Who’s first?” The group decided that Paul should go first so that he could take pictures as the rest of the group came across. Once Paul got across, no one moved. Well, I probably only gave them 2 seconds before I started up the steps to the platform. Having zipped before, I knew what to expect. As I was “flying”, I looked down and saw a pretty pool with water falls, a river that fed the pool and a little picnic area. Landing on the other side, I waited for everyone to come over to the “other” side. Then, one of the guides said that Paul should stand there and take pictures while someone ran off this next platform…backwards. I jumped right up there, got hooked in and took off backwards, giving a little yelp and giggle. Something about ziplining just makes me laugh.
Next, we hiked down to the picnic spot that I had seen from the air and David and Josh set up lunch for us. There were tubes so that we could put them in the water and go swim. Everyone jumped off a small cliff into the water. Everyone, that is, except me. And I’m ok with that.
After lunch, we hiked back to our kayaks, returned down the river in the kayaks and hiked back to the vehicles
Cory didn’t go on this adventure with us, but had an adventure of his own. When he came to pick up Becky, Karin and me, he drove us to a bay (I think it was Hanalei Bay). I noticed a man with long grey hair pulled back in a ponytail, and his long grey beard, was also tied. I won’t go into what he was wearing because I’m not sure you want the visual. I stopped to watch what he was doing and talk with him about the different boards that he had on the rack of his truck. He said, “Oh, you probably don’t see these in Idaho, do you?” and then kindly told me how they were different and how you use each one. One was a lay down paddleboard (you lay on it and paddle with your hands). He mentioned that the sensation of this paddleboard is really cool as your face is so close to the water. There is a 32-mile(?) race from one island to another that people come from Australia, New Zealand, and different surfing communities to participate in. This type of boarding is a good way for surfers to keep in shape during the off surf months. After talking for a little longer, he proceeded to load his kayak and we parted ways.
