On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BigJimSlade
Ok, I’ve been thinking about posting pictures from our Kauai trip from 2015 for so long that I could swear I’ve done it. I searched the site and couldn’t find anything, so let’s go for it. If I’ve done this already and it was lost in the incredible site kablooie of a while back, we can call it an episode of Best of OTR.
Anyway, this trip was why I bought a decent camera*! I was super excited to see the Na Pali coast, and to take a helicopter trip around the island, and my iPhone 4, or whatever I had at the time (maybe a 6), wasn’t going to cut it.
Let’s get straight to the helicopter (we went with Jack Harter Helicopters – it was great!). We went with an open-door helicopter that seats 4 guests + pilot. I got the perfect seat, back on the right side (you don’t get a choice, they seat you in a way to balance the aircraft). You go clockwise around the island, so I was in hog heaven having the best views (they do make circles and turn around in spots so everyone gets a good view of the best spots). My wife was up in front between the pilot and another passenger, and got nauseous right away for the whole hour. Fortunately, I had no idea about that until we landed, lol.
Today we’ll just cover the south side of the island. You’ll have to tune again tomorrow for the Na Pali coast :-)
*Olympus OM-D E-M1 (catchy name, huh?), the original 2013 version, which I still use, but since then I’ve got a bunch more lenses. For this trip I had only a pancake Panasonic 12-32mm (full frame equivalent of 24-64mm, this being an M43 camera).
Taking off, from Lihue. You can see my feet are in the helicopter by about an inch. You rise up fast and you immediately gulp and think, yikes, what am I in for?!! I was kinda terrified, but also absolutely thrilled. View larger.
Flying over some forest just west of Lihue. Treetops like broccoli. View larger.
And we come to what has been called Jurassic Falls, since it appeared in Jurassic Park. Dino-size it.
But then just a bit later, you come across a whole set of waterfalls! Embiggen.
This happened several times on the trip, where you go a little further and more and more is revealed, until moving on to the next section. View larger.
Such sheer cliffs! If you notice the color of the dirt at the top of the image (it reddens a bit at the tiptop), you can see we are approaching the Waimea Canyon area (famous for its red dirt, even using it to dye shirts). View larger.
Then the sheer cliffs give way to more waterfalls. View larger.
Looking down on more cliffs. View larger.
We would eventually hike to the top of the upper falls, approaching from the dirt ridge just up to the left, but from above, you don’t get much idea of the waterfalls below you. View larger.
The road into Waimea Canyon, and the previous waterfalls. Bigger version.
mrmoshpotato
Clipped in at a bazillion points I hope!
Baud
I’ve done that tour. Kauai is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to.
mrmoshpotato
Awesome photos. Did they clock the waterfalls at 32 miles per hour?
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Oh. So it’s pants optional.
evodevo
Gulp! No thanks! The pics are great, however…
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I have as well, I agree
We also did the tour of Maui.
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
I love the national park in Maui. So otherworldly.
MagdaInBlack
These are fun, thank you! I feel like I’m in the “Magnum P.I.” helicopter. 🙂
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’m shooting the Whirlpool galaxy, with NINA I can set here and it does all the work outside and I can monitor it
ETA The Whirlpool galaxy is actually two galaxies that are interacting. It really a cool target, but conditions suck here(light pollution).
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
No one wants to work anymore.
BretH
Reminds me of years ago when I did a sailplane ride for my birthday. Mistake was not to do it alone. We had just gotten unhooked when my wife declared we needed to land asap because of nausea. So it was the shortest ride ever.
I loved the short time in the air though.
Dan
We did the Jack Harter doors off Kauai tour in ’09. Highlight of the trip.
BellaPea
@Baud: We took that same Kauai tour but in a small plane in 2017. It was truly amazing, but I was a nervous wreck for about the first 20 minutes or so. Mr. BellaPea was in the front with headphones on, having a blast.
Pink Tie
We did the same tour as well, through Blue Hawaiian. It was incredible! At one point off Na Pali, we could look down and see dozens of dolphins. Kauai is so beautiful.
StringOnAStick
We hiked as much of the Nai Pali trail as we legally could, then did the hike on top that you mentioned in the photo text; Kauai is such a gorgeous place! We should have done the heli ride but weren’t feeling flush enough at the time. I love doorless heli rides, I’ve done them for work (in my prior life as a geologist) and for fun, and they are always such a thrill! Thanks for the photos!
BigJimSlade
Well, clipped in at whatever was standard – it was a safe thrill ride :-)
BigJimSlade
We left that to all the T Rexes out there, but IIRC the helicopters sometimes cruise at around 100mph.
BigJimSlade
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: How does the tour of Maui compare? I haven’t been to Maui… yet.
BigJimSlade
Looks like I missed a “view larger” link, so here it is.
way2blue
Ah. Never thought to book a helicopter ride in Kauai (or Maui for that matter). Does remind me of leaving Moloka’i in a small plane last February, flying over the cliffs that back the former leper colony. Way too bumpy of a ride that day. (Even the young pilot after we landed in Maui said, ‘Wow, that was something!’)
BigJimSlade—The waterfall in your first photo looks to end in a tiny trickle of a creek. Is that correct? I kept looking for a fair-sized stream to carry all that water…
BigJimSlade
@way2blue: Looking at the top of the falls, the creek doesn’t look very big… maybe some of it seeps back underground at the bottom? It looks like there’s a small damn at the bottom to help make that pool, so maybe that gives the water more of an opportunity to find some holes. Here’s a shot I found by googling – you can see more water flowing over the little damn, so maybe this was right after a bigger rain. In any case, it’s another view…
I don’t think it takes a very big creek to make a great waterfall. For instance, the creeks that turn into Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls aren’t very big, but create quite a scene.
Sister Golden Bear
Did the doors off tour myself. 10/10 would definitely recommend.