The title of this post, while verbose, should have caught your attention so read on for more exciting details.
Em worked on Saturday so Maddie and I planned for a hike in the canyon. Upon driving to Waimea and crossing the bridge, I noticed that the river was very muddy and flowing heavily, meaning significant rain in the canyon. At this point I knew our hiking possibilities would be limited, but with nothing else to do we continued up the canyon road toward Kokee. As I suspected, it was raining in the canyon so the trails would be slick and muddy... and I just realized I forgot my boots at home - a 45 minute drive.
We felt a few drops of rain as clouds began descending on our nice picnic area so I packed Maddie up and started driving up the road. Little did I know that what was a few drops of rain at this lower elevation and extreme west side of the island was a full fledged rainstorm further inland and at higher elevation.
As we continued driving through the rain, my mind returned to those very steep, rutted sections of road and considered how they would look now. We climbed through the forest with ease in the FJ and the rain turned into a downpour as we encounterd the first really steep section. I shifted into 4WD, low range and locked the differential to keep equal power to all wheels should one start to slip - a distinct possiblity with the average quality factory tires. In the meantime, Maddie slept. We climbed and I felt the tires slipping almost impercebtibly on occasion.
However, one thing I could clearly perceive were the rivers of mud and water running down the ruts of dirt road. We ascended through the worst section of road and continued climbing steeply, but the mud had overpowered the tires. The FJ slowly lost speed as the muddy tires lost their grip and soon we were sliding backwards. I shifted into reverse to regain positive traction and guide us into a safe position along the side of the road. Again I tried to climb, but lost traction even sooner and began sliding sideways down the rutted, sloppy mess of a road. Thankfully, the road is not exposed at this section so even in a worst case scenario the trees would arrest our egress from the road. I managed to guide the vehicle all the way below the steep section to make one more attempt at the road taking as much advantage of momentum as possible (i.e. going fast). No dice...and another uncontrolled slide down the road...and sweaty palms...and racing heart. We'd been defeated by cheap tires. I would've given anything for my trusty '96 Cherokee and its indefatigable Yokohama Geolander tires that've carried me through muck much worse than this.
At this point, I took inventory, both of what was important to me and the tools I had to get out of this mess.
Important: Maddie, me.
Not: Insured, replaceable vehicle, other stuff.
Time to cut our losses and use what we had to get out of the woods (pun intended) safely. The good news was that I had the kid carrier, water, food, first aid kit, emergency blanket, Leatherman, warm clothes for Maddie and she had just eaten an hour ago. Bad news was that I was wearing 7 year old Birkenstock clogs, it was raining hard, no cell phone reception, no one knew exactly where we were and we only have 1 car seat necessitating that I haul it out with us to ensure Maddie's safety on the trip home. One more positive - I think of a 5 mile hike in the rain with 50 pounds of gear and kid on my back as fun and exciting, not a scary survival exercise.
I loaded a smiling Maddie into the carrier and put the rainfly over the sunshade so she'd stay dry, but still be able to see through the plastic windows. Next I used a cargo strap from the FJ to secure the car seat to the back of the carrier. I wish I had a picture, but now was no time to be messing around with the camera. I hauled the load onto my back and bid adieu to the reliable vehicle with the not so reliable tires.
Up the road we went as the downpour began to wane and I wondered if it was worth another try. At this point, I think the only thing that would have improved the road was time and the sun. We continued up the road with only a few minor slips and again Maddie watched the forest scenery pass us by, but more slowly and in reverse. I dug my hands into my pockets and found something as good as gold during this rugged, muddy, rainy hike - my iPod and headphones. I put them on and chose the eerily appropriate "Into the Wild" soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.
Maddie behaved extremely well for the great majority of the hike, but was getting tired toward the end since I had rudely interrupted her snooze in the car.
We reached the paved Makaha ridge road in about 2 hours and walked the final half mile to Waimea Canyon Road. There, I was pleased to find a lady cutting wild ginger with her sister and kids. Imagine her surprise when the sweaty 6 1/2 foot tall hiker wearing a kid, teething ring, car seat, muddy Birkenstocks and a ponytail asked her for a ride to the nearest pay phone. After explaining my dilemma and introducing ourselves I found out that she was a nurse who had previously worked at my hospital. That's Kauai for you.
We strapped Maddie into her seat, the seat into the car and soon we were on our way down the canyon road to meet Em (who we called on the way down). Maddie was home in time for her next meal. Em was pleased at our safe return, but needless to say, displeased that we were a vehicle short.
I waited a couple days for the road to dry out and then returned to the scene armed with my Jeep and mountain bike. I hiked the last mile or so in order to avoid losing 2 vehicles although the road had dried out and looked like easy 4-wheeling. The FJ was intact on my arrival and I easily cruised up the difficult, but dry road to my Jeep. I drove the Jeep out, mountain biked down to the FJ and drove that out. We now had 2 cars on a paved road so Em got a ride to Miloli'i so we could get them both home. Thankfully, the worst that happened was a small dent in the rear bumper, but it could have been worse.
We're buying new tires tomorrow.
No diaper so I'm sure the pool was at least 10% pee.
Hey, you've gotta have sunglasses in Hawaii!
On Saturday evening, the one year anniversary of our arrival on Kauai, Emily and I went to Naniwa at the Sheraton for the most excellent sushi buffet. After stuffing my belly full of sashimi we went to see The Dark Knight at the theater. It was the first really great movie I've seen in awhile having amazing special effects as well as an exciting plot.
We had to give her a first haircut.
