Day 18 Kauai - Visit to the Sleeping Giant, Lydgate Beach & Wailua Falls

August 9, 2022

Today it is heavily cloudy as we sit on the balcony for breakfast. Therefore, we decide to spontaneously hike the Sleeping Giant Trail today.

After breakfast, we pack drinks and beach gear for later and drive towards Lihue equipped with hiking shoes.

Before reaching the main road towards Lihue, we pass through the Tree Tunnel. As we head towards Lihue, the sky becomes a bit brighter and there are scattered sun rays. We decide to go to the Giant Head West Trailhead and stop along the way at the Opaeka'a Falls Viewpoint, where hundreds of chickens roam around. The chickens sit on the benches and picnic tables, sleeping. As we drive into the parking lot, dozens of chickens immediately run in front of our car. Kauai is truly the island of chickens 😂🐣🐔

After a photo stop with the chickens and the Opaeka'a Falls across the way, we continue to the parking lot of the Giant Head West Trail, which can accommodate a handful of cars. The small parking lot is the starting point of the trail, located in a residential area and leads directly into the forest, passing by the gardens of the houses. We park next to another car and then start our hike, passing several signs like "Hazardous Cliff" and "Danger" into the forest. It is uphill from the beginning. The path through the forest is truly picturesque.

Gradually, it becomes steeper and to my dismay, almost all the clouds have disappeared and the sun is shining in the sky. It's too hot...too hot for hiking (at least for me). We groan and pant as we climb the steeper and steeper path. By now, it feels like we're in the jungle, the sky is blue, and the sun is scorching. Finally, when we reach the picnic area, we take a break. We have been hiking for nearly 1.5 hours.

The path continues towards the "Giant" - not for the faint-hearted. My son and I decide to pass. The view from up here is enough for us, so we watch my husband and daughter as they climb the stair-like ascent without a railing, over steep rocks to the top.

Looking at the photos later, I almost freak out when I see how "cool" they were dangling their feet over the abyss...

Well, the view is cool from up there, but it definitely wouldn't have been for my son and me.

We start the descent. It is challenging now as we have to climb down the rocks and loose tree roots. Going up was tiring, going down is pretty tricky.

After a total of 2.5 hours, we reach the parking lot again and there is only one thing we want: to go swimming!

We decide to visit the Lydgate Beach Park, which we reach around 2 PM and secure one of the picnic tables with a view of the ocean. Now it's time for lunch. Unfortunately, the weather worsens. The clouds get thicker and darker, it's quite windy, and the waves crash onto the beach. We don't really get that beach feeling, but my son and I don't care anymore. After a snack, we drive a bit further to the "Bathing Pool," a swimming area enclosed by stone walls, where you can safely swim despite the roaring waves. Perfect.

My son manages to get into the water a little faster, but I have to muster up some courage. I manage to do it. Even my husband jumps into the cool water for a moment. Right now, it feels more like the North Sea than Hawaii...

Refreshed, we change and continue to the Wailua River State Park to see the Wailua Falls. Just as we reach the parking lot at the end of the road near the falls, it starts to rain...no, it's pouring...

Fortunately, the rain doesn't last long. After about 10 minutes, it stops pouring and we cautiously get out of the car. Here too, despite all the barriers and warning signs, many tourists have climbed down to the falls and are swimming at the waterfall.

Quite steep - I don't want to know how they got down there!?

There's absolutely nothing that draws me into the water now.

We take a few photos and drive back to the Poipu apartment. The kids are exhausted and just want to relax, but my husband and I explore the surroundings for the first time.

We're not far from Shipwreck Beach. We walk through the garden of our complex directly to the neighboring complex, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, and admire the huge saltwater lagoon of the resort. It's nice, but I guess a night for 4 people here in high season costs more than what we're paying for a 2-bedroom apartment...

The path leads past the resort and lagoon to Shipwreck Beach, where surfers and bodyboarders are frolicking. Several wedding photo shoots are taking place on the beach of the Hyatt. We count 4 wedding couples with entourages. Wow, it's busy here...

We sit in the sand and watch the surfers, then we start the way back. We're pretty tired now.

It starts raining again on the way back. This time, however, it's very brief and less intense, but we're rewarded with a super amazing rainbow stretching across the entire Shipwreck Beach into the ocean. Wow! That was worth it!!!

After dinner, we go to bed without our usual evening game round, because tomorrow it's time to get up early again!!! 😴😴😴