Fern Gully

In a valley near Kahaluu lies a waterfall not many people see.  It lies behind a gated community and you can't see a waterfall from the road unless its raining and flash flooding.

Since my friend Josh got back from his recent trip to Kauai over the summer I was itching to hike with him and talk story about his internship over the summer on Kauai.  

Along with us on the hike was Baron, Katie and Darren.  We all decided to go here because they wanted to see if the trail was still hike able and not overgrown.  

We started on a well maintained trail and contoured and came to the terminus of this trail and made our way down into pine trees.  We hit a section of strawberry guava and there was barely a discernible trail left.  Luckily we had a GPS and the track from the last time Josh and Baron came.  We followed the GPS track and cut away some of the strawberry guava.  

We came to a section uluhe and bamboo which the trail was still intact and easy to push through.  

After the bamboo section we got to the stream and followed it up.  There was a left and right fork that both had streams flowing.  Along the stream there was plenty Pohole ferns.  Usually Pohole ferns don't grow on Oahu because they need a lot of water to grow.  Most of the Pohole in the supermarkets come from farms on the Big Island.  

We followed the stream to the terminus at a waterfall.  Kalo was growing in the stream and also Mamaki.  There was a dry chute above this waterfall which means that the water flowing down the face of it usually is a pool or a spring.  Left of this falls was a dry chute as well with a lot of ferns growing on the face of it.  

We hung out took pictures and ate lunch below the falls.  We decided after lunch that we go check out the right fork and go see what's up there.

After taking the right fork and following the steam for ten to fifteen minutes we came to a gigantic dry waterfall chute.  It looked to be one of the biggest dry chutes I had ever seen, even bigger than the sacred falls left side chute.  The water flowing in the stream was also coming from a spring flowing right out of the ground.  We were all impressed with what we saw that day.

 Checking out the stream. 

Interesting looking fungus!

Mamaki in front of the falls.  

These two never stop exploring.

 The Pohole fern.

 

Baron looking at the massive dry waterfall chute

 A little better perspective on it.

Hanakoa Valley to Kalalau Beach

I'm finally getting down and finishing up videos and photos from SPRING BREAK!  If you haven't seen my Japan stuff I just finished all the blogging and videos on it.  Look for it on this site. 

Hanakoa Valley was a little wet and buggy; staying in a forested area for the night we woke up quite early after a night of talking story, drinking and a camp fire.  We slowly packed up and said our farewells to Keahi who was going to spend one more night in Hanakoa and hike back the next day. 

We shoved off in set for Kalalau Beach which was another 6-7 miles away from Hanakoa Valley.  Our first obstacle a mile into the hike was known as crawlers ledge.  We saw two guys coming out of  valley literally crawling which spooked all of us and made us think this place was nuts when in reality it wasn't too bad.  On the ocean side we saw boats stopped and taking pictures near this area as well.  I guess they frequent this area a lot so if anyone falls into the ocean they might be able to save them.  After crawlers ledge we finally saw Kalalau beach. 

We hit eight mile where we were going to camp the first night, with the stream so close and a super nice view of the ocean the next time we do it that's where I plan to camp.  We slowly marched our way to Kalalau hitting a few more streams and some mild uphill sections.  We got to the Kalalau sign around 11, took our pictures and made our way down red hill.  We hit a really grassy meadow and chilled there for a few minutes.  It was a great break spot.  Still a mile to go with a 30 lb pack we were pretty beat. 

We crossed one last stream and made our way to the camp site.  We finally reached Lei, Jason, Sheri, Dave, and Neal around 12.  It was time for lunch and time to set up camp and relax!  We talked story on how beautiful Hanakoa falls is and shared a few pictures at lunch.  I set up my hammock and chilled in it for about an hour. 

The group decided to go exploring and not waste afternoon time.  Jodi, Jenny, Katie, and I decided to walk down to the beach and go to the cave at the far end of Kalalau beach.  On the way there we saw the waterfall where everyone gets their water to cook bathe and drink with.  We reached the cave and saw how deep it went.  It was a really wet cave.  We explored inside and poked around a bit.  There were waves about a foot to two feet in size right outside the cave where we tried to look for shells and I shot some gopro pictures. 

Before dinner we all showered enjoyed our first sunset from Kalalau beach and got ready to cook our meals.  The sun went down fast or what I thought was fast because I was so tired.  We drank, ate, talked story, and played some games around a camp fire before we all decided to turn in for the night. 

Waves were breaking at the end of Kalalau beach coming into a wedge forming some small barrels.  

A clean one as Jenny, Jody, and Katie watch from shore.

The next frame from the last pic. 

The last clip from the 30 photo burst from the Gopro Hero 3

Katie and I kissing under a rainbow at Kalalau beach.  Photo by: Jenny Ersbak

Kalalau trail... only a few more miles.

Twins at Kalalau!

Looking at the cliffs along Kalalau Valley.

Nice blue ocean with mountains and a grassy meadow to rest at. 

Katie leading the way to our campsite.

Enjoying the sunset at Kalalau beach.

These guys took a dip before dinner.

Just before sunset.

Kalalau beach at 4 am

  

Osaka

March 30 and 31

Osaka is where we landed and where we were leaving from.  The trip was winding down and I was so happy that I got to see what I saw.  In Osaka we visited the Osaka aquarium home of a whale shark.  It was a better aquarium than back home because it was so big and had so many different animals.  One of the last places we visited was the Osaka castle. 

Outside of the Osaka Aquarium.

That furry penguin in the middles is the baby one! 

Whale shark in a tank was unreal!

Schools of fish... look like one tornado

Guess who won the stare down contest

Snow crabs

The jellyfish exhibit was like walking into an alien world

On our way to Osaka Castle we saw many Japanese people picnicing in the park. 

Osaka Castle was a ten minute walk from the train stop.

Osaka Castle with a Sakura tree below it. 

Can't go to Japan and not recognize this sports car! 

Masaki met up with our group on the last night there in Osaka.  We ate some really good shabu shabu!

We had about 10 orders of this because it was all you can eat! 

 

Arashiyama/Kyoto

March 29

The next morning my mom made the decision to sleep in and leave around 8:30 because everyone was tired of walking so much yesterday.  We all met downstairs for another full day in Kyoto.  Upon arriving we were supposed to meet Joanna near the information station but we kind of got a little lost.  Luckily she bumped into us on our way to the information station.  We made our way to the next train station where Joanna had to buy her ticket to Arashiyama.  Luckily we had our ICOCA cards with money so we didn't have to study the machines.  As she went to buy her ticket the group ate at a small bakery.  I ate a bear shaped bread looking thing.  

When we got to Arashiyama we walked through a park with a bamboo forest and sakura.  We snapped lots of pictures in the park.  

We made our way to the Togetsu bridge.  Along the way we saw a water way where people would go out on boats and float in the river.  We crossed over the bridge and decided to eat lunch before we would catch the bus to the next temple.  

We waited for the bus for over an hour after lunch!  We kept looking for a number 62 or 72 to take us to Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple.  We called it quits and asked Joanna what we should do.  She suggested a walk to the monkey park just down the road. We got to the ticket booth but we had to hike up a mountain for about 20-30 minutes.  When we finally got up we fed the monkeys in a cage with apples and peanuts.  After feeding them you can walk around with them in this open scenic area.  

After playing with the monkeys for about an hour we made our way back down to the bus stop to wait for the bus.  Joanna checked the sign of the bus that was passing and it wasn't a 62 or 72 but it had a sign indicating that it would drop us off near the temple.  We all hopped on and got off in what seemed like a residential area.  We walked up and down a street for about ten minutes and even asked for directions.  It seemed like no one knew where this temple was.  We kept wandering up into the residential area where we finally found it!  And yes it was worth it coming here.  There were what seemed like a thousand carved Buddhas in different facial expressions all in one area.  They were carved out of stone and actually commemorated someone dead that didn't have a grave.  It was amazing to see them all lined up and all in the same area... I took the most time taking pictures here playing with settings and focusing points.  After all that photography it was late afternoon.  We caught the next bus that came and made our way to Kyoto station.  I passed out on the way there.  

We met up with Joanna's mom and Kohta at a Chinese restaurant where we talked about our day in Arashiyama and ate some Chinese food.  Kohta was happy to see me one last time before we left.  After dinner we made our way to the train station where we said our thank you's and good byes to the Yoshimuras.

Mom trying out the Sakura ice cream flavor.  I don't recommend it. 

 The famous Arashiyama bamboo forest.

Sakura was in full bloom!

Boats along the river.  You can see the Togetsu bridge in the background.

Joanna asking for directions. 

We ate at a small hole in the wall restaurant.  Still super good tempura udon!

Ronald and Caryn making their way up to the monkey park. 

Feeding the monkeys. 

Monkey's view of Kyoto city.

Up close and personal.

Hundreds of these statues were near the temple. 

These statues represent people all around the world with unmarked graves or bodies that weren't found.  

Found a statue representing myself.

Like I said hundreds maybe over a thousand of these statues! 

Many cool photo opportunities with these statues.

One of my favorite poses by the statues.

The last night in Kyoto with Kyoto tower in the background.  

This day in Kyoto was really long with lots of waiting for buses for us.  We saw lots, I really enjoyed this day and gave my camera a really good work out with the bamboo forest and the temple as my places most favorite shoot.