Kayaking Wailua River and hiking Secret Falls

Tuesday we headed over to Kapa’a to kayak on the Wailua River.  We teamed up in groups of 2 and 3 and headed off with our guide, Forest.  Forest has lived in Kauai his whole life, and says that the only pair of shoes he owns is slippers (flip flops). Kayaking was a blast.  Landon, Blake and I were in one of the 3 person canoes and we just enjoyed every minute of the beautiful scenery.  It was a surreal moment where I just felt so lucky to be alive, and to experience this beautiful place.  We kayaked for about 2.5 miles to the beginning of our hike to Secret Falls. 

The hike was only 1 mile long, but it was VERY muddy.  Forest kept saying, “The mud is your friend!” Finally Blake turned to me and said, “Well, the mud is not MY friend!!” The mud was calf deep in places and Blake was having a super hard time.  Most little boys would relish the chance to get so dirty, but my two boys did not like it one bit.  When walking through a particularly bad part of the trail Josh said, “If there was any throw-up in my body right now, looking at this mud would make it come out.” Halle was an awesome hiker.  She’s always up for an adventure.  The mud eventually got the best of Blake and Rusty had to carry him the rest of the way.  In true Blake fashion, he promptly fell asleep.  Rusty was amazing.  I cannot imagine carrying anyone through that mud.  I was having a hard time just keeping myself upright!  His Keens kept getting stuck in the mud so eventually he just took off his shoes and hiked barefoot while carrying Blake.  Seriously, Superman. 

The waterfall was beautiful, and worth the muddy hike.  Halle and Rusty swam out under the falls and Halle thought it was pretty cool to be on the underside of a waterfall. She was pretty afraid in the beginning and didn’t want to go out.  But she got brave and gave it a try.  We were so proud of her.  The hike back was much, much easier, and we kayaked back without incident. 

Then it was off to the beach to see if we could get rid of some of the mud we had acquired on the hike. Lydgate State Park was beautiful.  There was one side of the beach that had a protected cove perfect for the kids to splash and play to their hearts content.  Then the other side of the beach had big waves that were perfect for body boarding.  There was a big stretch of sand, and then also a shady, grassy area that was perfect for napping.  Rusty lost his sunglasses when he was body boarding and I have to give him credit for his tenacity.  He put on some snorkel gear and looked for those glasses for almost an hour.  He never found them :(

After we had our fill of the ocean we stopped at Foodland, came back to the condos and grilled chicken and roasted some potatoes for dinner and crashed hard.