Waipio
Valley
Next
to the volcano, this was my favorite part of Hawaii.
There are miles of hiking trails that take you to
secluded beaches and waterfalls.
This is a look at the valley from the top of one of the
cliffs. The beach below is a black sand beach, and
the although the waves do not look big from here, they
are 15 foot waves. You can see where the river
feeds into the ocean.
This picture is as far as you can drive a non 4x4
vehicle to. This is the edge of the valley.
If you have a 4x4, you can take the road you see in the
bottom left of the picture, down to the beach in the
valley. I did not have a 4x4, so I hiked down the
1 mile road, and over to the beach in the valley.
This was the steepest grade road I have ever been on.
Going down was not to bad, but coming up the road is a
real chore. If you are coming up the road, I would
suggest asking someone at the beach for a ride up.
If you do drive down, be very careful. We saw the
remains of a van that went over the edge, and crashed on
the bottom.
This
is a photo from the other side of the valley. Way
back in the valley is a waterfall which you could see
from this viewpoint, but didn't come out in the picture.
This
is the black sand beach in the valley. The people
in the picture are learning some sort of Hula dance from
the dance instructor on the left. There are a
couple of waterfalls in the distance.
We hiked about 2 miles in before turning around and coming out.
We met a few people who hiked the extra 8 miles in to
the secluded beach. If you were to hike in, you
would have to stay at least one night. If I had
more time, this is something I would have done.
Update: On Memorial Weekend 2003, there were 200
campers, and no restrooms, and as of now, the health
department closed down the park for camping. Day
hikes are still permitted.
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