I originally intended to hike the famed 11 mile Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali Coast as an overnight but admit that the sound of the treacherous cliff side trail and slick conditions that were no doubt present had scared me off. Who wants to hike in the rain anyhow?
The Nounou trail is 2 miles to the top and is about 1200 feet elevation gain. It was a very hot (to this Washington boy) 80 degrees on the way up. All the books and web pages with info on this trail talk about how dangerous it is to go to the very top of Nounou due to a treacherous climber's path and steep drop-offs. When you get to almost the top there is a nice picnic shelter to get you out of the rain and there are 2 tables. There is also a viewpoint with a nice bench. I decided to go to the top past the picnic area despite the warnings. I saw some others at the top so I thought I would try my luck. I was pleased that the "climbers path" was very easy to hike with only a very short little scramble area and found you would need to be very careless to fall off the edge. I guess the warnings were more for tourists than folks that hike a lot. I stopped often with my new camera to take pictures. On the way down It rained pretty hard making the trail slippery. I managed to not slip and fall on my butt, but just barely. On the way home I stopped at Taco Bell for some shrimp tacos, very yummy! I also pulled over to try and get some pictures of the cattle egrets that frequent the sides of the road.
Stock photo - Profile of the Giant
Pano from top of Sleeping Giant - NouNou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Hiker on chin of the Sleeping Giant
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Rain Squall coming in - Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Top of Sleeping Giant - Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Pano from Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Pano from Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Kapa'a from Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Sleeping Giant Nounou Trail
Mmmm, shrimp tacos. Bubba would be proud.
Kauai
cattle egret
cattle egret
cattle egret
cattle egret
