Secret Falls Wailua Kayak Trip

 Renting a kayak to paddle the Waillua River was the best $60 I have ever spent. I am so glad James and I decided to explore on our own instead of doing a guided tour. For the last two nights it has been raining hard and water levels in the rivers have risen. The guided tours were not taking their tours up to Secret Falls. Too dangerous they said, which made it even more exciting to us. The weather was nice, and we took our time, hoping the water levels would fall.

 There were a couple little side rivers and streams that feed into the Wailua River. We decided to check them out. This one reminded us of the Little Spokane River, only more tropical.

 About half way to our destination, we stopped at this beautiful little garden area called Fern Grotto. It was a loop trail full of plants, fruit, and chickens.

 Papaya, one of my favorite fruits here. These are not quite ripe, if they were I probably would have sneaked some.

 These are called mountain apples. Not quite as tasty as an apple, more of a mild fruity flavor.

 And our journey continues up the river. The water is definitely becoming more difficult to paddle, but we are determined.

 The current in the river is to fast to paddle all the way to the falls.  There was an area to beach the kayaks and a path that lead to the falls that was made by foot.  We walked up a muddy path to this rope. The people we rented the kayaks from said that if the rope was above the water then it was possible to cross.  We saw the rope and decided to go for it.  We crossed the river here, holding on to the rope for dear life. The water was up to James' chest, which meant it was up to my shoulders.  The hardest part was knowing where to put my feet. the water was so muddy and flowing quite fast.

 The path was quite remarkable too. Streams with small waterfalls trickled down to meet the muddy river.

 These falls are only accessible by kayak and foot. There is no big parking lot by this beauty. We had the falls all to ourselves. Paradise

There were a couple places were flowers had been laid down as gifts to the Hawaiian gods. This was one of my favorites. So much beauty to behold, yes, thank you mother nature for your beauty.