That's aggressive

Alright, I will admit that I selected the name for this blog post pretty early on in the day. Sam and I had gotten an early start and headed back over to the canyon to get one more trail run on the south side of the island. We parked at the trail head and said hello to the very friendly chickens that came over to inspect our car. They were adorable but we refused to capitulate to their cuteness, and they remained unfed as we headed down the Canyon Trail to Waipoo falls.

Must. Not. Give. Gu Chomps.

Running downhill is tough going with sore legs, so our descending speed was definitely throttled down a bit. We had the trail pretty much to ourselves on the way out, and we stopped several times along the trail for stunning views of the Waimea Canyon (and a constant stream of helicopter tours sweeping through).

Small Sam, Big Canyon

We made it to the falls, and continued on just a bit farther to get a bit more distance. The guidebook was oddly quiet about the route that continued past the waterfall, maybe because the trail was really gnarly and overgrown and not appropriate for the faint of heart, so we pleasantly surprised at the awesome views that we came across.

This is as close as Sam wants to be to the edge of the falls

The whole canyon all to ourselves

We had to check out of our place at noon, so we turned around and headed for home and discovered that many more hikers were up and about by this time. As we ran back to the parking lot one friendly woman commented "That's aggressive" in a complimentary sort of way as we approached. Another said that she knew I was a runner because of how how short my shorts were. Sam and I are both really enjoying how friendly and outgoing Americans can be!

For the afternoon activity we headed back to Poipu beach to do some snorkling. The ocean is amazing here and pretty much any place you hop into the water you can find lots of colorful fish. We spent a pleasant hour chasing them around, and then later in the day discovered that we didn't put enough sunscreen on our lower backs.

We picked up some more sushi from the same place we visited on the food tour, and drove over to the East coast where we found a lovely beach to have a late lunch, before continuing on to Princeville, where we are staying for the rest of our time on Kaua'i. We dropped off our things and grabbed a couple of towels to visit the number one attraction for Princeville a cool place called the Queen's Bath. This is a section along the coast where there are a couple deep rock pools that fill with water and form these amazing calm secluded bathing spots. On the way out across the rocks we saw some giant sea turtles swimming nearby in the ocean, getting buffeted about by the waves. We keep on getting lucky with our timing, and we managed to have a pool all to ourselves, unless you count all the beautiful fish and scuttling crabs that really lived there. We're already thinking to return on another evening with our snorkling gear to get a better view of the aquatic life and maybe stick
around for the sunset.

Bigger than our tub at home

Beautiful sky just before sunset