a day trip for tripping out

while in hawaii, we spent a day exploring a place called waipi'o valley. the story on this place is that for however many years, hawaiians lived in this tropical valley that has a waterfall at one end with a river that flows to a gorgeous black beach. i dont have my guide book infront of me so i cant remember exactly when, but there was a huge tsunami, i am thinking it was in the 1940's... that just wiped out the entire valley. no one wanted to come back so in the 1960's and 70's veterans from the war settled there with little or no electricity and have fought with the land owners ever since. they knock down signs that are put up and fences and cannot be kicked out... there are squabbles on who owns the land so it has a wild, wild west sorta feel. you have to take a 4x4 down a bumpy one lane road straight into the valley. it was not as scary as we thought it would be and the rainforest below was amazing. after the tsunami, there were horses who survived and now run wild. we had a surprise when a horse casually approached our jeep and just calmly hung out.

























this was a great day for us, picnic lunch on a black beach, cool weather, a hike to a waterfall, teamwork as we hobbled over the rocks and fallen trees... horses are always a plus and the best part?



shave-ice family style