Aloha and welcome to Day 3 of the Kauai Chronicles! We woke up and drove to Grind’s Cafe again, hoping for another faaaabulous coconut latte, but it was so hot outside I ordered an iced coffee instead and was disappointed. Heigh ho. The carrot cake I snarfed down made up for it, though. Our plan for the day was to complete the 4 mile hike on the Pihea Trail to the Alakai Swamp Trail, ending at the Kilohana Overlook. The above photo was taken at one of the lookouts before the actual trail hiking begins.

Breathtaking. The color of the water, looking out into that endless blue, the craggy green cliffs…there’s just nothing like it.

It’s like standing at the edge of the world.

Our pre-hike faces. Things would get real hot, sweaty, and humid pretty quick, so I wanted to capture us while we were still er, fresh. I wore my rainbow hat for the entire hike.

While the hike was not as grueling as the one we did later in the week, it was definitely steep, muddy, and slippery in sections, and the closer we got to the end…the harder the trail conditions became.

In spite of the heat, we wore hiking boots and socks. Chacos probably would have been appropriate too. I felt sorry for people trying to navigate the trail in flip flops! No thanks!

Mmmm…there’s that aqua water again. I must have taken 20 shots similar to this.

Looking back. The trail started off crowded with people, and became less and less populated the further along you went.

Surveying the beauty. I was so hot on the hike back that I stripped off my shirt and proudly let my neon orange sports bra hang out. Who cares? It’s Hawaii!

The clouds are so close, you can almost reach out and grab them.

The huge ferns had a different feel to them than Seattle ferns. Thicker, more plastic-like.

Near the top of the trail, we met a muscular blonde German woman, who told me that we were very close to the end, but it was incredibly steep, and where we were standing was the best view anyway. That in mind, I put down my pack and ate a sweet orange while Josh ventured up to the very end.

Proof! He returned and agreed with the German lady–it wasn’t that much more impressive at the very end. We stood for a while admiring the view and had a snack before venturing back down.

How could the view be better than this, anyway?

MELTING. But my eyelash extensions held up beautifully!

One last long look before descending back.

The way I operate on hikes is this: on the way to the location I like to take my time, take a lot of photos…but on the way back, I MOTOR. I move about twice as fast and really don’t bother to photograph anything…so there are no photos during our hike back from me! Josh took a few of me hustling back down the mountain in my sports bra. I gave him my camera to hold onto…it’s amazing how much easier hiking is with nothing to carry!

Stay tuned for more of Day 3! In the meanwhile, TGIF, mang. My plans for this weekend include a little painting, maybe visit some kittens at the Broad’s house, and getting Bear Cub professionally groomed tomorrow night (that’s gonna make for a good story, I’m sure). Happy weekend!