Saturday, April 28

Quote of the Day:  “The only way to get positive feelings about yourself is to take positive actions.  Man does not live as he thinks, he thinks as he lives.”  Reverend Vaughan Quinn

Yesterday, Cokie and I met at 5:30 A.M. to run our 20 miler as the Ogden Marathon is just 3 weeks away.  Funny thing, Cokie still doesn’t know if she is running the whole marathon or half but she’s willing to train for the whole.  It always feels like a great accomplishment to run 20 miles.  I think the first time I did it, I ran to the top of Millcreek Canyon and back down.  It took about 4 hours- but alas(sigh) that was in speedier times.  Yesterday, Joe drove us to Hogel Zoo and then we ran through the “U” and along 11th Avenue, down through Memory Grove, which was incredibly beautiful and then since Cokie had not yet seen City Creek, we did a run through.  We then continued up 1st South to 13th East and when we got to East High, we saw a English class writing poetry on the sidewalk.  I, of course, had to stop and read some of the poetry, which was very good.  Then all I could think of was how much I enjoy teaching a unit like poetry to high school kids and really maybe I should go back to high school and teach English?  Anyway, we ran along 15th East until Sugarhouse Park and then up to 27th E. and then made our way into Holladay and ended at the Rite-Aid where our cars were waiting for us.  We both felt pretty good- a lot of walking was involved but I think that is why I had energy for the rest of the day- the walking seems to give your legs a little rest and make it possible to keep going.  My feet were terribly sore but felt ok by evening.  I know I can finish the marathon, but holy cow, how long is it going to take me???

I wanted to reflect a little more about our adventures in Kauai.  One morning, Joe, Alex and I woke up early, around 5:30 A.M., and traveled to the north side of the island.  We were some of the first to reach the Ke’e Beach, a state park, that was absolutely packed when we came off our hike in the afternoon.  We had plans to hike the Kalalau Trail, which my friend, Linda, had told me was a must.  I had done some work and had permits to hike the trail- permits are only needed 4 miles past the start marker and it’s 11 miles to the end of the trail.  What makes this trail so amazing is that it follows the Napali Coast shoreline “along an ancient trail still ruled by the high priests of nature.”  This trail is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous hikes in America by the Sierra Club.  It didn’t help that the night before, I was reading over reviews in Trip Advisor which included many tales of people falling and almost dying on the trail.  Nonetheless, we set off not knowing how far we would go.  It was difficult hiking, not so much for the drop-offs to the sea, but because it was so up and down with rocks and boulders to navigate.  We hiked just 2 miles to Hanakapi’ai Valley, where many signs warn of the strong currents off the bay and the many lives claimed by those currents.  Alex had gone ahead and was no where to be seen when we got to the water.  After seeing all those signs, I started to worry that he had indeed taken a swim. Pretty soon I heard his voice and sure enough he had gone in the water.  He said it was fine, but it doesn’t matter whether your child is 3 or 26, as a parent, you always worry.  We then headed to the waterfalls 2 miles up the canyon through bamboo forests including much boulder-hopping and river-crossing.  We reached our destination- this beautiful waterfall cascading down from high cliffs.  The place was packed with people.  It seemed odd that we saw few people on our way up to the falls, where we really had to keep a watch out for signs of the trail, only  to find so many sitting on boulders or swimming in the pool.  

We ended up only doing 8 miles that day, our legs were shot, and promised that we would return and backpack the entire coast, next time in Kauai.  We finished off the day by snorkeling in Tunnels Beach among the many green sea turtles.  This was my favorite day on the island.  

Alex, Joanie, Joe at start of Kalalau Trail, Hanakapa’ai Trail, River and Waterfalls