Kauai, Hawaii

I left this morning for a solo backpacking trip to Hawaii. I had written off Hawaii for a long time until a friend of mine went for a summer to wwoof and do the Kalalau trail.
Last summer I was looking at going to Hawaii, but ended up in Indonesia instead. Since I was still single when Christmas came around, I started looking for a good place to solo backpack for spring break. I knew there was plenty of activities to pique my interest in Kauai.  I love trips where I can do all the land AND water activities that I love!
Over Christmas, my brother had sent me a hammock, and after hearing that my friend had hammock camped when she was in Kauai, I decided to try to stay in a hammock for my trip.
I had a friend that I met on the Conundrum hike help to show me how to put up the hammock with a tarp over it. Easy breezy for some, but my brain is clueless when it comes to things like this! I did rent a car as I heard that getting around the island is pretty difficult if you have any time constraints. I also wanted to be able to move depending on the weather (and have a last resort place to sleep).

The flight was mostly calm other than one baby who screamed off and on.  The best part was when, after hours and hours of blue ocean, the islands finally came in to view. It was very clear over all the islands until we got closer to Kauai, where all of a sudden it was cloudy and the water looked rough.
It's funny when I travel because I am such a planner, but I usually have no specifics.  I just planned on picking up my car and finding a beach to set up at.
When I got off the plane though, the weather had different plans for me. It was raining very heavily with complete cloud cover.
I picked up my car and started to drive towards the south and because I had heard that it was usually more clear there. 

I was looking for a bank when I saw a Costco (so weird to be so far from home, but have a Costco in the first parking lot I see).  I pulled over in the lot and sat in the car for a second. Always, the first day of traveling there is a bit of panic that his me.  Everything can feel overwhelming.  At this moment I was just going to eat at costco and sleep in my car.  Yes, in my car, in the Costco parking lot.  After a day of traveling, I was tired, and with the clouds in the sky, I was without any plans.
I grabbed a pamphlet that I had taken from the airport and I started to look at the map. I made a quick plan to head to Kapa'a.
As I began driving, I felt instantly better and very thankful I was not in my car in the costco parking lot-really, Carrie?
I saw a turn off for an overlook and a waterfall and I decided that that was perfect. It was still pretty cloudy, so there wasn't much to see at the overlook except for a ton of roosters. I think there are more walking around here than there were in the streets of Nepal, but nothing beats Indonesia where the men literally stood around stroking their cocks. 
Just ahead, I had noticed that there was a trail on the map, so I drove on until I found it. I didn't know how long or how hard it was, or even what it went to, but the rain had let up a bit so I threw on my tennis shoes and a jacket and started out jogging.
The trail was slippery and full of twisty trees and roots. I'm pretty sure I was walking through a cloud, there was so much water and sweat on my skin.

If you have stayed with me this long, this is where the story turns into a typical Carrie type of crazy! I jogged for a little over 2 miles until I started to go down a slippery hill where,of course, I proceeded to fall on my ass. A minute later a woman came up the trail. I asked her where the overlook what and she said I had just missed the turn off. She was a beautiful, tiny, hippie looking women carrying a handful of flowers. I was sweaty and muddy, and wearing my glasses which were fogged up from the humidity and slipping all over my face. Really hot, but she didn't care that I looked a mess and she said she would take me to the turn off. 
We quickly shared the stories that brought each of us to the island. We hit it off immediately and she stopped to give me a long hug.  She told me to pick the flower color that spoke to me. As she was saying this, the yellow flower fell out of her hand and into the mud-so, of course, I picked that one :) 
She said that tomorrow it was the spring equinox, new moon and a solstice (how did I not know this all was happening?) She was making an offering to mother earth and she said I should leave my flower at the top and then she give me another to carry with me.
We chatted for a minute more and she told me I should read a book.  Incredibly, the book was by one of my favorite authors: Barbara Kingsolver! 
She told me that our meeting was a gift from the fairies that care for the island, gave me another hug and we went our separate ways. 

I had about another (steep!!)half hour to the overlook. When I finally got there it was so crazy cloudy that I could hardly see anything. Another girl came up right behind me. (Already I have noticed so many solo girls). It sounded like we came from the same trailhead, so I started off behind her.
She was wearing headphones and singing along so she did not know I was behind her for a while. Also, she was crazy fast on the slippery downhills while I walked as if I was in high heels. I had to  sprint on the flats to keep up with her.

We got to the bottom of the trail, which I promise looked just like where I had entered, but my car was not there!  She offered take me to my car from where she was staying and we started walking.  We walked about 2 minutes before a truck pulled up beside us and offered us a ride. Apparently that happens a lot.and people get stuck walking the road back.  The guy was very hot and even though he had a baby in the backseat I hopped in the bed of his truck.
He drove me to my car, which was way further away than I would have guessed. (Never ever let me navigate!)  But every moment has a purpose.  It was very lucky that I had followed her instead of taking my trail back because mine was about a mile and a half longer and,  not even 5 minutes after I got out of his truck, it was dark and pouring rain again. I would have been stuck in the forest in the rain in the dark!!! There are no coincidences!