Ok, that last blog entry of Waipoo Falls was way too long for a normal blog. I suppose there was history involved, it was the first of three hikes and finally, I did not want to make a wrong turn. Sleeping Giant hike was fairly extreme in terms of elevation gain. This elevation gain is similar to the Chumash Trail. Sleeping Giant made me work for each of the 1300 feet of him. My concern for this hike was actually finding the parking area near the trailhead. Preparation and committing the surface street route to memory was essential. I parked at 6:00 A.M. and started at 6:15. The trailhead is very close to a residential area so I was very quiet. With gear and GPS on, I started up the trail.
Internet sites describe other established trails that intersect into the trail heading up sleeping giant. This is what I did not study up on and to make matters worse, the tree canopy caused GPS to loose signal. You guessed it, I did not make the turn and continued along the base of the mountain. Although the scenery was interesting, I was not gaining elevation as much as I expected. After 15 minutes, I halted in a clearing allowing GPS to acquire. Checked the Internet printout and consulted the book. None of this gave me a clear answer, though the Internet printout showed there was a trail along the mountains base. I figured I was on it. So, turned around and made best speed back the way I came, only with eyes on every detail.
There it was, the fork in the trail along with a small sign fastened to a galvanized pole at shin level. I did recall seeing that the first time, though in my rush to keep going, glazed over it and plowed forward. This time, I followed the sign, which indeed led up the hill, all 1300 feet of it. Chumash Trail was equally difficult, only here I took the liberty to find a soft spot and lay down to water and rest. I did this several times. It was still early, the birds were out, cool winds blowing, and this is all under a canopy of very tall pine and other very green trees. Continuing on, there are many openings that frame Wailua, Kapaa , and the ocean with lush green nature. Once on the top, maybe 1200 feet or so, it kind of levels out for a bit, then takes a sharp rise to a pair of covered picnic tables. I rested here for a good 15 minutes and took in the scenery then was surprise by a lady busting through some bushes on her daily walk! She gave me directions to Sleeping Giant’s head, which was just another 20 minutes or so. One wrong set, and it’s a long way down. I proceeded to that actual summit, approximately 1300 feet and took in this unreal view of Lihue, Wailua, Kapaa, and the ocean. Took several photos and video. It was just unreal. Then started down. By the way, this last part was done on hands and knees, I loved every minute.
I checked the time at the picnic tables to see how long it takes to get down. Proceeding on the decent, I guess folks were up and about as there were several couples and groups of folks making the acent. Stopped to chat just a bit and I found out several of the people live “down the hill” and it was their daily stroll. Can you imagine that. On the way down I tried to absorb as much of the nature as possible. At the base, I checked the time. It took 20 minutes. An hour up, 20 minutes down.
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