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Recommends...
 By Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman. Excellent guidebook. Much better than the Lonely Planet series, since it gives opinions. Good, detailed information for hiking and snorkeling. |
waipio_valley
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On 23 March 2003, Kim and I first hiked a fantastic trail around the headwall of Waipi'o Valley, before clouds inundated us, then drove down to Kukuihaele and hiked down the 4x4 road, where we enjoyed the spectacular views and pleasant waters of Waipi'o Bay. A odd collection of people seem to live in the valley. Before a 1946 tsunami ruined the cultivation here, Waipi'o Valley provided considerable food for the island, and was populated by thousands of residents.
Our guidebook, Hawaii: the Big Island Revealed, notes that after the tsunami of 1946, "most people moved away and the valley was left mostly wild for two decades. Then in the '60s and '70s people started trickling back in. Most were "hippies" and recently discharged veterans...[today] Waipi'o is populated by a colorful assortment of 40 or so characters...The residents here range from the friendly to the grouchy to the very weird. We've found that we are less likely to get a smile or a wave in this valley as anywhere else on the island, in sharp contrast to the friendly folks in Kukuihaele and Honoka'a above. Stink eye and overall unfriendliness from some residents is common."
We too noted the hippie-types here. Lots of squalor and unchecked animal reproduction (we were astounded to see a foal being born by the side of a dirt road). Kim described it as "fecund". It reminded me of a California "music festival". But the visitors from "above", driving back and forth along the narrow beach at 30+mph in 4-wheel all-terrain vehicles, certainly made a worse impression than any white California burnouts. It astounded me that this place hadn't been made a state park. It was pretty crowded--expected for a weekend day. The crush of random civilization still couldn't detract from the place's unique beauty.
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Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
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