Waipi'o Valley

The only way to describe this place is gorgeous!
The two lane, state highway follows high up on the sea-cliff coastline and comes to a dead end at the place where I took this photo. There are a number of houses at the end of the highway, along both sides of the road and a visitor's "perch"/park at the very end. Valley visitors park along the highway,in front of the houses and take in the views from this lookout point. And..those adventurous enough and with the mandatory 4 wheel drive (all wheel drive does not count and there is a state employee there to check) can take the steep road to the bottom of the valley.. When I say steep, I mean steep!...a 25% grade which has you climb/descend 800 vertical feet in .6 miles...it's a titch scary. The 1 lane (+-ish) road is now paved and there are guard rails; not sure when these were installed but our guide(s) for the day said it was within recent memory. Cars going down must yield to cars going up..there are a couple of sections of the road that are wide enough for two cars to pass but only if you fold in your side mirrors.
The ride is not for the faint of heart.
If you arrive at the lookout point and do not have a 4 wheel drive, you can still go down...on foot. This also means you come back up...on foot. It's grueling and it's hot. Sometimes those driving up are nice (brave!) enough to stop and take on a passenger. Makoto once witnessed a poor guy throw-up from the strain of the ascent so he stopped and offered him a ride.....


There were six of us in total this day; we took two vehicles to the end of the highway lookout where we parked one of the vehicles and all piled into Makoto's demon for the decent. We were a little tight in the demon and Ira even volunteered to sit on the spare tire that's mounted on the back door of the demon...that's how steep it is! Then he tells us he's a little bit afraid of heights..such the brave gentleman (and I have a feeling that's the first time anyone has described him that way-heehee). Needless to say, I did not take any photos of the descent...I was in the demon, holding on; this photo was pilfered...
Other then the clinched teeth, there was no descent drama for this valley virgin (eh-hem). We were passed by a couple of vehicles on their ascent and of course there were the pedestrians that clung to the guard rails when any vehicle passed by.









Once at the bottom, a right turn on a heavily rutted and puddled road (another reason for the 4 wheel drive) will take you to an incredibly large and beautiful black sand beach that seems to be a mile long and is cut with a fresh water river that flows from the valley floor and into the ocean . If you enlarge the first photo, take note of the zig-zag trail that leads up the side of the cliff. This leads to two other valleys and eventually to Pololu Valley at the other end of this chain of valleys. That was the place where we abandoned an earlier hike due to rain and not having the right hiking shoes...remember that from an earlier post?
This photo of Christopher has him facing the ocean...that's the stormy, rainforest Waipi'o Valley at his back.
After fjording (I know that's not a real word but I like it) the river, as you see Miho and Christopher doing here, we had a leisurely stroll to the opposite end of the beach passing visitor-made cairns and gnarly rooted trees along the way.
The sheer size and immense beauty of the trees that were beach side can't be captured in pictures. They did remind me of something one may have seen in the movie Jurassic Park (although that movie was filmed on the island of Kauai).



































The valley is actually home to a few people and from what we heard, the children that live there have to hike out (and back in) each day to go to school....can't even imagine! I would guess the valley is entirely off the grid...no electricity, to public water or sewer...I could be wrong about that but I didn't see anything to the contrary. I read that the valley residents aren't the friendliest either. We didn't have any interaction with them as we drove past their homes and taro farms but I would think a daily trove of thrill seekers and their big vehicles might set the locals on edge a bit.

Also making their home here....wild horses which really are not all that "wild". They're always looking for a handout and, like baboons on a safari ride, they'll put their noses into your vehicle and pluck what they can in hopes of a free snack.
Of this group, all of the bays were mares including the foal and the very dark bay was the stallion.











So taro.....this is a food I didn't cover in the "What Do Hawaiians Eat?" part of the blog.

It's a plant grown mostly in flooded "paddies", as seen in this first photo, but there are "upland" varieties that are grown in Hawaii as well. The root is cooked and mashed into something that's the consistency of a paste, it's then topped with, what I term, a salmon salsa..although it's not always salmon and there's a Japanese word for it that I can't remember. We had it at Miho's parent's house and although good, it wasn't my favorite thing on the table.....

Now the leaves of the taro plant, that's what I like! At Miho's parent's house we were also served the leaves, cooked like spinach, with squid and coconut milk...Fab-U-Lus!
Back on the mainland, most of us know taro in the form of a chip...pretty fabulous too. What isn't good when fried?
















Our ultimate goal for the day was to drive and hike back into the valley, to the base of a very tall waterfall, but upon our first, distant view of said waterfall, we realized it was almost dry.
Never one to be dissuaded, our ever fearless guide took the demon further back into the valley anyway, on the narrow and rutted "roads" that crossed a multitude of streams. Some the "roads" were the actual stream bed itself! There were a few times Makoto was driving right up the middle of the stream bed before "signaling and merging" out of the stream and onto another rutted road. Totally fun! and basically how it works down there.
We ended up at a swimming hole where a rope swing hung from a tree....only Ira, god love him, took the plunge into the cold river. We cheered him on (and got eaten by mosquitoes).

The ride out was just as harrowing as the ride in but totally worth the experiences of the day.





oh..I forgot to tell you...on the way to the valley, in the little town of Honoka'a there is a road-side eatery that you MUST visit should you come here. It's called Tex Drive In, I thought for sure we were in for a Mexican food fest prior to hiking in the valley, for strength gathering purposes of course...
The menu had nothing to do with Mexican food...it was a nice lunch place that serves wraps, subs, burgers and the like BUT! the best menu item of all?
They make malasada!....a Portuguese donut without a hole, rolled in sugar and served HOT! and your choice of plain or with jam or cream fillings. Crispy Creme has nothing on them! Nothing.
Traditionally the malasada was made just prior to lent in order to use up the lard and sugar in the house (foods that are usually verboten during lent). Now they're available year round, gracias a dios!
And the VERY best thing about Tex? You have to pass it on the way to and from Waipi'o, doubling the pleasure for your palate!