Want to see cliff diving, sea turtles, Hawaiian monk seals, forests, rocks, cliffs, pinnacles, ocean views, sand dunes, red clay trails, ponds, pristine green grasses, sinkholes, caves, multiple beaches, and tortoises?
Drive on Poipu road, passing the Grand Hyatt, making a right turn at the Poipu Golf course. Parked in the free Shipwreck beach parking lot, which fills by 830am. Later arrivals parked in the overflow dirt parking area, or alongside the road leading to the Poipu road.
Wife used the bathroom facilities, as no bathrooms nor water alongside the trail.
I dressed in my Hoka Bondi women size 9B running shoes, although I've seen some doing this hike in flip flops, and one carrying a bike. Wearing shorts and T-shirt, sunscreen, with a floppy sun hat with a strap to keep from blowing off in the high ocean winds. Bring along a sling pack with water and a light raincoat.
Walked along the edge of Shipwreck beach, and then up a rocky hillside, climbing upwards boulder to boulder. Over the top of the hill of limestone, and an awesome sight of waves crashing against the stone cliffs below, on this southeastern coastal corner of Kauai.
Trail goes alongside the ocean, in and out of forests of Kiwae, with fantastic limestone rock formations in view right at the ocean' edge. Saw arches of rock, and pinnacles rising right out of the sea. Sandy dunes replace the rock path, and then red clay. Inlets everywhere along the jagged coastline, where during calmer times you can see sea turtles or Hawaiian monk seals resting on the sands of the inlets.
In the background the red brown Makawehi Lithified cliffs. We pass a pond and then the golf course itself. Signs instruct hikers to stay on the very edge of the golf course. Safety fences separate you from the very edge of the cliffs.
At the end of the golf course is an area of tall grasses, where you can see where you've hiked. Pass a CJM country stables, and then reach Mahaulepu beach. Rugged and remote area with tall brush. Long pants advised, otherwise you'll risk scratching up your legs.
Farther on is the Makauwahi cave, which is really a huge sinkhole, and beyond that Gillian's beach, and then the tortoise reserve with newly built bathrooms on the far side.
Now that I'm 71 I have to go to the bathroom every two hours, as does the wife after drinking coffee. Not a problem for me, but didn't ask if she brought toilet paper, as there is no cover on this hike.
I've done this hike at least a dozen times, but on our way back, we take a short cut through the forests away from the limestone hill formation but get lost and reach a dead end before doubling back. DWA. 11am and already 80 degrees, even in winter.
Walk on down the final part of the trail, very rocky and uneven. A senior lady in her finest fashion sandals totters unevenly about to fall over on the rocks.
Same place where my sister-in-law tore a hole in her only pair of shorts trying to climb down by sliding on her behind. She had extra ventilation on the six-hour plane ride back home. read more