Waipio Valley and Kona. Big Island. Day 22.

Ok, I was naive enough to think I would translate all my Hawaii and USA posts later but it had never happened. I even didn’t finished “USA month” yet. So from day 23 I decided to write it here directly.

Maybe not so huge posts but still something and of course a lot of pictures.

First of all I have short videos for each day, well, almost each day in Hawaii. And a lot, lots of pictures below.

This day we had to move from our jungle house in nowhere to Kona. This house was close enough to Waipio Valley, so we packed everything and went out to find it.

I read many warnings not to leave anything in a car while you are on a hike, so I was pretty nervous about that fact that we have all our stuff in the Jeep. On the parking close to Waipio was a booth with a guard, who was kind enough to promise to look after the Jeep. But still we packed our notebooks and camera and all passports backpack with us. Mine was ok, but my husband had on his back about 15 kg (28lb).

Of course, we knew that the road is steep but you know what we didn’t knew, it is the steepest road of its length in USA, for example.

The valley floor at sea level is almost 2,000 ft (610 m) below the surrounding terrain. A steep road leads down into the valley from a lookout point located on the top of the southern wall of the valley. The road gains 800 vertical feet (243.84 m) in 0.6 miles (0.9 km) at a 25% average grade, with steeper grades in sections. This is a paved public road but it is open only to 4 wheel drive vehicles. It is the steepest road of its length in the United States and possibly the world. The shore line in the valley is a black sand beach, popular with surfers. A few taro farms are located in the valley. Several large waterfalls fall into the valley to feed the river which flows from the foot of the largest falls at the back of the valley out to the ocean.

The warning sign which meets you at the start of the hike_DSC5147-15Jul2015And stunning view from the very beginning. I want to cry when I see this pics now in winter in Europe. Its freezing and gloomy and I wish to be there._DSC5207-16Jul2015Hiking lower_DSC5205-16Jul2015 Continue reading