Day 5: The hike.

Tuesday we decided that since we're totally out of shape and neither of us has been hiking or doing anything of the sort for such a long time that it would be such a great idea to go on an 4 mile strenuous hike up to a waterfall. And then back down. Another 4 miles. So 8 total. Cause we're so smart. But even though I felt like I was going to pass out and die, I did get some super awesome pictures.

The hike starts at Ke'e beach. And this picture was taken about 1/2 mile into it, where you can turn around and see the safety of the beach you left behind. Not really knowing, yet, what you've gotten yourself into.

And here's a gorgeous view. Maybe 1 mile into it? I don't know. I honestly lost track. But we were still feeling like we were as healthy as 18 year olds, at this point.

Then we had to cross a river. We had to cross a few of them. This one sucked. Especially if your shoe slips on the moss and into the water and then your sock is all soggy.

This is definitely 2 miles in. I know because there was a sign. We were half way there and already completely exhausted, so we stopped for a snack-a-roo.

After the food, we were on the trail again. And at this point, we felt like we were about 30. But still kind of healthy 30 yr. olds.

I like bamboo.

I called this the tree of enchantment. Because it looks like it should be so named.

This was another river we had to cross. This one was a bitch. I had to actually leap from one rock to another one. It wasn't a pretty sight. Age 45.


After 4 miles and some length of time that felt like 10 hours, we finally arrived at Hanakapi'ai (Han-uh-cop-ee-eye) Falls.

We were tired, gross and sweaty. Age 60. Ish.

So we hopped in (well, Justin hopped in and I slowly crawled in) to the ice-cold water and swam to the waterfall. I felt like my leg hairs were going to turn into icicles and fall off.

(And no- we're not in this picture. We were dumb and forgot to ask anyone to take a picture of us in the water. By the time we thought about it, we were already out of the water and there was no way in hell we were getting back in.)

I felt good for the first 1/2 mile of the way back. So I took some pictures of some nature.

Like more bamboo.

So at about mile 6 I got a headache. Mile 7 I felt super hot. Mile 8 I was totally nauseous and felt like I was going to hurl. Luckily that was the end of the hike. Justin drove us back to the condo where I gulped down about 5 gallons of water and laid down on the bed and had the blessed a/c on full blast. Luckily no puking ensued. But I felt like I was in as good of shape as your average 80 year old.

Needless to say, our activities were pretty low key for the rest of Day 5.