By Kathy Morey
Although
many visitors choose to fly over Kauai so that they can drink in the entire
island in an hour. To really get the most of this beautiful island, you need to
see it up close, smell the flowers, feel the breeze, look over the cliffs and
up at the mountains, and yes of course swat a few insects.
With miles of trails to choose from, and terrains ranging from sandy beaches
(Hanalei Bay Walk), breath taking cliffs (Kohua Ridge over the Waimea Canyon),
and majestic mountains its difficult to decide where to go. Choices include,
the wettest place on earth (well you can’t actually hike on Mt. Waialeale, but
at 450 inches of rain a year you probably wouldn’t want to anyway), and swamps
(Alakai Swamp), to desert like Polihale. What ever your choice of hiking, easy
to strenuous you will find it here.
If you are anything like my family though you would probably rather not drive to
a location expecting a short day hike and find yourself ill prepared for the
swamp or rugged climb up a mountain offered by the hike you chose.
That’s where a good trail book is worth its weight in gold! We found Kauai
Trails to be an excellent book to help you find the hiking trails you are
looking for. One notable feature was a hiking table found at the front of the
book telling the type of hike, difficulty, and number of miles. It even tells
you whether you should take it as a day hike, side trip or a several day
backpack trip and what footwear is most appropriate.
Further into the book you get descriptions of what you will see, pictures and
maybe most importantly the authors opinion of how high up your list this hike
should be, considering you are unlikely to be able to try them all.
I went through most of the book on the flight to Kauai, and it gave us some
very good advise on where to hike. I would recommend this book to anyone that
wants to see more than just beach on the “Garden Isle” of Kauai.
Find out more about
Kauai Trails!