Smart decisions and foolish endeavors

Friday was planned as our Waimea Canyon hike day. However, beginning Thursday night the south side of Kauia was hit by a series of tropical rain showers. This continued off and on through Friday morning. Since it was our last full day on the south side of the island, the hike had to be today or on our next trip. So while planning our day at the Poipu Starbucks (brief aside: it's brilliant that the Poipu Starbucks opens at 5:00 a.m. to cater to all the jet lagged West-coasters and everyone who hasn't been able to adjust to island sleep hours), Luella said "It's going to be muddy and slippery. I might fall. I don't want to go." [Smart decision] and I said, "Okay. You join Alicia, Jeff, and Gabby on their activities and I'll drive to Waimea Canyon and go on the hike." [Foolish endeavor]

Flash flood on the side of the road

While the weather was okay on the drive to Waimea Canyon, around 1,500 ft it started to rain. Then it started to rain harder. You can it on the picture on the right.
As I drove higher up the mountain, I thought I might drive above the weather, as often happens on Haleakala on Maui. Unfortunately, that was not the case and I finally ran out of road at the Pu'u o Kila Lookout. This was the trail head for the Pihea Trail to Alaka'i Swamp, which happened to be the hike that I most wanted to make. It was still raining but I went for it anyway.
The hike turned out to be more of a controlled slide (downhill), a slippery scrample (uphill), and a bit of tarzan mixed in (as crossing mud pits required grabbing tree branches and trying to swing across). As I encountered hikers on their way back, they were either covered in mud or moving extremely slowly. Everyone kept saying it got worse further up the trail.

Tree branch for grip and swinging.

At this point, Luella's prediction was 100% accurate - It was raining, muddy, slippery, with occasional falls.

One of the steeper pitches to scramble.

After about a mile, I finally reached the actual Alaka'i Swamp. In this part of the trail, the park service has installed a raised boardwalk. This made progress much, much easier. Including the boardwalk, my pace was less than 2 miles an hour so I didn't get as far as I had hoped. On my return hike, I was rewarded by some clearing skies and impressive views of the Kalalau Valley. 

Boardwalk made it much easier

Kalalau Valley during a brief clearing sky

I was able to get off the trail in time to make it back to the condo to clean up for a nice dinner at Tidepools Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Kauia.