(Kohala, Polulu Valley, and Waipi’o Lookout; published January 3rd, 2009 from San Jose)

Today we did a lot of driving, but saw some spectacular vistas. 

We started out by heading north to the region of the island known as Kohala (or as I kept calling it "koala").  The drive takes a while, but it was well worth it.  We head north and then veer east before we get to the ocean.  The road ends at Polulu Valley.  I park the clown car in the small parking lot, taking the last spot.  Lonely Planet describes the hike as the best short hike you can do on the island.   We start at the top which has a great view of the Valley below.  Unlike what normally happens, the views get better as we hike down.  While it’s not raining, the air is not especially clear; nonetheless, the vista is fantastic.  We do the hike down to the black sand beach below and I take lots of photos including attempts at  a few panoramas that I’ll try stitching at home.  We wander around the beach a little, then do the steep hike up quickly for some good cardio workout.

It’s around lunch time, so we return down the same road stopping in a small town.  We order our lunch which takes forever since they forgot our order.  Finally done, we head down what Lonely Planet describes as the best scenic drive on the island, Kohala Mountain Road (Hwy. 250).   It lives up to its name.  The green of the landscape is an amazing emerald green with picturesque cows grazing.  There are only a few turnouts for photo-ops, but we take advantage of them.

When the road meets up with the main highway again, we head towards the Waipi’o Valley Lookout.  The Waipi’o Valley is the next one past Polulu, but it takes a bit to get there.  We make it there by midafternoon.  It’s completely overcast and windy on the coast, but the view is still spectacular.  Some of the most amazing hiking is too be found around here, but it’s too late in the day to attempt it.  Too bad since there are supposedly spectacular waterfalls around here.  We walk part of the way down the 25% grade, 4×4 vehicle only road (it decends over 1000 feet in less than a mile).  After conferring on what we can do, we turn back since by then we’re running out of daylight.

We return to the car and head back to the hotel.  On our way back, we stop in Kona which is a touristy town with a bunch of restaurants.  We find one and it has good food and decent prices.  As a bonus, I get a great chocolate milkshake for dessert.  We then head back to the car and drive home for the usual showers and sleep.

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