We offer a wide range of unique custom-designed specialty adventure tours on Kauai. Following are a selection of our most popular specialty tours.
Waimea Canyon – Kukui Trail Descent
Waimea Canyon, located on the dry west side of the island of Kauai, is one of Hawaii’s great wonders. Here, perhaps more than any other location in the island state, one can learn of the complex geologic origins of the archipelago’s giant shield-style volcanic mountain-islands. With a length of 13 miles, width of 1 to 1.5 miles, and depth of up to 2,500 feet, it dominates the island’s leeward side. It provides a place where one can literally look into the guts of a Hawaiian volcanic mountain. In addition to its relief, the reddish and yellowish to purplish hues of the exposed, intensely weathered, iron-oxide stained lava rocks establish the canyon’s spectacular beauty.
The 2.5 mile long Kukui Trail descends a highly varied terrain 2,300 feet down into the chasm to the translucent, cool, reddish-brown waters of the canyon’s trunk stream. It’s a 2 to 2.5 hour-long trek each way. Deep pools, separated by step-like waterfalls, provide plenty of places to dip in for refreshment from the walk down and to prepare for the bit more aerobic trek back up. Remember, in canyon hiking what goes down must come up.
This KNT Specialty Hike costs $250/participant. A minimum of four participants is required.
Alakai Swamp – Pihea and Swamp Trails
Who ever heard of a swamp on the top of a mountain? Well, Kauai has one – the Alakai, meaning literally “to the sea.” All it takes is a relatively flat surface and a lot of water. The Olokele Platform, a raised elongate, 10-mile long stage declines northward at a rate of only about one degree from 5,148 ft high Mt. Waialeale, one of the planet’s rainiest spots, to 4,000 feet near the top of Kalalau Valley. A lot of water stands, and then moves through and across, this low-relief surface. As an isolated ecosystem on top of one of the world’s most isolated island, the Alakai supports more than 100 plans endemic not only to the island of Kauai, but also to the high altitude swamp itself. Can’t get much more ecologically unique than that.
This excursion begins at Pihea Overlook at the very end of the paved road in Kokee State Park. The first mile is a wide step like trail across weathered lava rock along the top of Na Pali’s huge precipitous Kalalau Valley with spectacular views all the way to the ocean surface 4,000 feet below. Near Pihea Peak (4,284 ft elevation), the Alakai Swamp Trail takes you south and then northeastward for another 2.5 miles into and across the northern portion of the swamp platform. Fortunately, much of the trek is across a two-foot wide boardwalk constructed to both help protect the integrity of the swamp flora and keep you from sinking up to your hips in mud. One of the many highlights is the sometimes-available view – clouds and fog permitting – from Kilohana Overlook (4,022 ft elevation), at the very end of the trail. Hanalei Bay and much of the rest of Kauai’s north shore more than 10 miles distant may be visible. The 3.5-mile return makes this a 7-mile roundtrip across a most interesting ecosystem.
This KNT Specialty Hike costs $200/participant. A minimum of four participants is required.
Beaches of Kauai
Ever wonder where the sand come from that makes up the beaches of a Hawaiian island? Or, have you every thought about why some beaches erode and even disappear completely? Or, why would an island composed almost entirely of grayish lava rock have beaches composed mainly of the skeletal remains of shallow marine plants and animals? Well, the island of Kauai is an ideal place to learn about such things. And this full-day excursion along the west side beaches of the Mana Coastal Plain with an experienced sedimentologist, one who specializes in the study of sediments, provides you that opportunity.
The tour focuses on the State of Hawaii’s longest beach system, which extends for over 16 miles from the mouth of the Waimea River all along the semi-arid Mana Coastal Plain to Polihale Beach, the State’s single largest beach. These are beaches for beach purists – large, arid, remote and amazingly scenic. We begin with the greenish-gray sand of 2.5-mile long Waimea Beach, which is composed of bits of lava rock and the greenish mineral olivine derived from the erosion of Waimea Canyon’s lava rocks. Nearby yellowish orange sands of Kekaha Beach, and the rest of the beaches that rim the coastal plain, are composed of the skeletal fragments of animals such as corals, clams and snails, as well as a plant – coralline (red) algae. That sand is derived from the fragmentation of reefs along the northern part of the island, and is transported via longshore currents for as much as 25 miles along the Na Pali coast to the westernmost parts of the island. Such are the things you will discover through observations that include beach combing, looking through a 10x-magnifying lens and digging trenches in a beach or two. The last locality visited, Polihale, provides an opportunity cool off in Hawaii’s most perfect temperature seawater.
This KNT Specialty Hike costs $200/participant. A minimum of four participants is required.
See the Other Tours We Offer
Waimea Canyon Mountain Excursion
Na Pali Hiking Adventure
Sleeping Giant Mountain Excursion
Mahaulepu Coast Nature Walk
Uplands Volcano Mountain Forest Trek
