July 15

Today, we returned to Waimea Canyon Road in order to traverse the Awa'awapuhi Trail, which is a 6.5 mile loop --the first half downhill, the return trip uphill so yeah... yikes-- out to a view of the NaPali Coast. The heading in part wasn't really an issue for most of us; I'm generally the slowpoke, and the continual downward grade combined with my less-than-awesome knees and my penchant for making sure I don't twist, break, or otherwise injury any body parts made for slow going as I tried to control my gait (and not trip. Fortunately, I only wiped out once. Unfortunately, I wiped out once). It was, for the most part, a shady, pleasant enough journey, though I wasn't a huge fan of the brief segments of the trail that skirted sharp drop-offs. (See the pic in the lower righthand corner: the orange dot is Brady. Next to him on the left: a grassy cliff. It looks a little less menacing with the trees and assorted greenery, but trust me: if you were to slip and fall, you'd continue falling for some time.)

When we reached the lookout points, we stopped to have some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as we looked out at the Pacific and some of the coastline. None of us wanted to get too close to the ledge so we passed on the last tiny portion of the trail: the ridge walk, which is literally a walk along a bare ridge that must give a spectacular view of what's below (see the right middle picture. The small bit of trail in the center of the image is part of said ridge walk. This is as close as I got to it because I'm not fond of heights. And I didn't want to toss my cookies).

The walk back to the car was pretty brutal, or as close to pretty brutal as a 3.25 mile uphill walk can be. About halfway through the return trip, Isaac suggested we take a very brief side-excursion up a hill, and much to Abby's consternation, Adam and I took him up on the offer and scurried up a dirt mound, where we found what might've been the best view of the day. I may have had a little bit of trouble getting down after a good wind kicked up and I lost some of my bearings, but slow and steady did the trick.

We were all pretty tired and sweaty by the time we made it back to where we started, but by God's grace we did just that. The rest of the afternoon was a slow one; just some Jo Jo's in Waimea and then back to the house for some R&R. A good day. My legs will no doubt scream at me tomorrow, but I'm thankful that I'm getting the chance to see cool new-to-me sights.