This winter break, I went on a 14 day cruise from LA to Hawaii and back. The four days I spent in Hawaii were the most breathtakingly beautiful and exciting days of my life, and I definitely want to go back. On the second land-day (after four days of sailing across the Pacific) we stopped in Kauai, the most northwestern island, and on that day my family and I conquered the jungle.
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- The second stop of our Hawaiian cruise was Kauai. We rented a car and started to drive around the island, stopping at various scenic outlooks. At this particular one, my brother spotted kayakers in the river below and instantly went into two-year-old begging mode and just about exploded with happiness when my dad said we could go down there to kayak. Let the adventure begin.
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- We were told that a fifteen-minute kayak trip would take us to the start of an easy 1-mile hike. After making sure nothing in that river was going to eat me, I climbed into the front of the kayak with my brother. I was so worried about falling into that river; I was so worried about getting wet. Little did I know what was waiting for us…
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- The beginning. At this point our hopes were high for a nice little stroll through the forest. It wasn’t too hot or too sunny – the weather was perfect. And surrounded by all this beauty, I kinda wanted to rip my clothes off, yell “Me Tarzan!” and run away into the jungle.
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- The guy who rented us the kayak and told us about the hike said we’d have to cross one small river. Little did we know that “small” in Hawaiian actually translates to “giant-mothafuckin’-river-of-doom” The current was stronger than that guy who pulled the train with his ears, and I literally thought I was going to get swept away and die a hideous, water-logged death.
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- About five minutes after crossing the Raging River of Killer Currents, we came upon The Ankle-Deep Mud of Slipping Demise. For about a quarter of a mile all we did was slog through mud. It almost ruined my beautiful red sneakers.
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- The mud was really eager to make us all fall on our faces. My brother accidentally invented some pretty creative dance moves in all the slipping.
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- I felt like Indiana Jones, and all I was missing was a machete. This cliff of mud and tree-roots was the last hump we’d have to brave before reaching the gorgeous waterfall.
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- The waterfall marked the end of the hike. It was breathtaking, and I definitely had one of those “I’m one with nature” moments while standing in the spray, my thighs burning, my knees about to give way, reveling in the deliciously cool water rushing past my legs.
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- I officially felt like a badass as we returned to the Rushing River of Treachery, as did Max. I wouldn’t hesitate to say we had officially conquered the jungle.
