Rusty5329

I'm in Kauai with my parents and brother for x-mas vacation and thought I would share some pictures from a ride I took earlier today. I rode up Kokee Rd into the Waimea Canyon state park, climbing exactly 2,580 feet according to my Droid's "My Tracks" app, a fantastic tool for people who ride but aren't professionals that tracks you on google maps. I only tracked myself on the way down because I didn't want to burn up the battery on my phone (needed to meet my parents back at sea level to drive back to our villa). Click here to see the map of my ride down.

Before I describe the ride, I want to share one thing. While I was trying to figure out where to ride, I searched this site and everyone seemed to say that Waimea Canyon was the place. When I went to rent a bike, the folks there said they wouldn't recommend that ride to anyone. They thought it was dangerous, blaming tourists who drive fast and aren't watching the road. I am so glad I trusted folks here over them because it was an amazing ride and didn't seem dangerous at all. I didn't even have one close call. And contrary to what the folks at the bike rental shop told me, the tourists drive real slow (the locals drive fast however). On the ride down, I was only passed by one car at the very beginning because I was basically going the speed limit the whole time and like I said, tourists drive slow. That being said, on to the ride and pictures!

I started right by the beach at the intersection of Alae Rd and Highway 50 (exactly where I ended on the google map). After a couple blocks, Alae Rd becomes Kokee Rd and just a few blocks later, the climbing begins. I made the mistake of renting a mountain bike instead of a road bike because I wasn't sure where I would be riding and while I can ride a mountain bike on a road, I can't ride a rode bike on the trails (with much hope of success that is). That probably slowed me down a little, but I grew up riding mountain bikes on rodes so I didn't mind.

This is the first picture I took, at the first switchback (I had an HD Hero and my Droid, the fisheye shots are from the HD Hero):


My rental bike at roughly 1,000 feet above sea level:


A shot of the canyons:


The entrance to the state park is about 2,300 feet above sea level. I was hurting by this time:


But I persevered and made it past 2,500 feet before stopping:


I stopped for lunch at a hunter check-in area:


There was a little water/bathroom station which gave me the chance to cool my head off:


After about 20 minutes, some clouds started moving in and next thing I new I was in a cloud (it was misty and refreshing!):


After lunch, I began the decent (I wanted to carry on but I had to mee the family back at sea level and didn't have a whole lot of time left). As soon as I got down out of the clouds (about 2,400 feet about sea level) I snapped a photo of the view:


After that, I didn't stop until I made it back to where I was dropped off. What took 4 hours to climb took 22 minutes to ride down (26 if you count my one stop to take in the view). I still had a little time before I was supposed to be picked up, so I rode into the Waimea town to get a drink (my last bottle of gatorade fell out during the descent and the top broke off, so I was a little thirsty to say the least). I found this fantastic pier to catch some shade, a cool breeze, and I gorgeous view while I waited for my ride:


To conclude, this ride was fantastic. The four hour climb was pretty tough, but I kept telling myself, "You get to ride down whatever you ride up. You get to ride down, whatever you ride up." I wish I could have made it to the end of the road (another 10 miles and 1,500 feet higher), maybe next time.

Bekologist

nice one! riding hawaii is great on those types of roads, paradisal!

post some video when you get it edited!

Rusty5329

Thanks!

Sadly, don't have any video. Although I had plugged the camera in the night before, it didn't charge and when I got on the road I saw it only had one bar. Died before I got to the top. Really a shame.

jazzyrider

Nice pics and report! Will add this area to my to do list next time we visit!