Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [220]
Na′alapa Stables (775-0419; www.naalapastables.com; rides $89; departures 9:30am & 1pm Mon-Sat) This outfit also offers a 2½-hour horseback ride; children must be at least eight years old.
Waipi′o on Horseback (775-7291, 877-775-7291; www.waipioonhorseback.com; Hwy 240, past mile marker 7; rides $85; rides 9:30am & 1:30pm) The WOH Ranch runs 2½-hour horseback rides on the valley floor. It also offers ATV rides of its ranch ($100), and runs combo tours with Hawaiian Walkways and Paradise Helicopters.
Waipio Ridge Stables (775-1007, 877-757-1414; www.waipioridgestables.com; rides $85-165; departures 8:45am) Horseback-riding tours follow a 2½-hour valley-rim route, or go on a five-hour trot deeper into the rain forest and end with a picnic and a swim at a hidden waterfall.
Waipio Valley Shuttle (775-7121; adult/child 3-11 $50/25; departures 9am, 11am, 1pm & 3pm Mon-Sat) Runs 90-minute 4WD taxi tours; allows drop-offs/pickups (each way $30).
Waipi′o Valley Wagon Tours (775-9518; www.waipiovalleywagontours.com; adult/child 4-12 $55/25; departures 10:30am, 12:30am & 2:30pm Mon-Sat) For a quaint experience, this 1½-hour jaunt in an open mule-drawn wagon carts visitors over rutted roads and rocky streams.
Sleeping
No camping is allowed in Waipi′o Valley; the beach area has portable toilets, but no water or other facilities. Backcountry camping is allowed in Waimanu Valley with a free state permit (six-night maximum). Facilities include nine campsites, two composting outhouses, and fire pits, but no drinking water. Reservations are taken no more than 30 days in advance by the Division of Forestry & Wildlife (974-4221; www.dofaw.net; 19 E Kawaili St, Hilo, HI 96720; 7:45am-4:30pm Mon-Fri). With two weeks’ notice, the permit can be mailed to you.
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KALOPA STATE RECREATION AREA
This 100-acre state park preserves a beautiful, rare example of a native forest almost as it was before Polynesians arrived. Few people venture up here, and the quiet enhances the moody sensation of stepping back in time. To get here, turn mauka off Hwy 19 at the Kalopa Dr sign and drive 3 miles.
Near the cabins, a three-quarter-mile loop nature trail guides you through an old, scruffy ohia forest thick with hapu′u (tree ferns). Don’t miss the dramatic strangler fig, a sci-fi-scary specimen emblematic of Hawaii’S invasive flora; you may also hear the occasional, heart-stopping grunt of a wild boar. Two native birds call the forest home, the ′io (Hawaiian hawk), and the small ′elepaio (Hawaiian monarch flycatcher).
For a longer hike, take the pretty Kalopa Gulch Trail, which enters the adjoining forest reserve and edges Kalopa Gulch for about a mile. The trail begins next to the campground entrance (a trailboard and maps are near the cabins). While the main trail is recommended and clearly marked, side trails (such as Silk Oak and Blue Gum Lanes) are badly maintained and hard to follow. Plan for a 3-mile hike.
Kalopa has three great tent sites; each is a covered concrete patio in a pretty grassy area with well-kept facilities. Rest rooms have indoor showers, and covered picnic pavilions have running water and BBQ grills. In a separate area, simple but nice cabins have bunk beds, linens and blankets, hot showers, and access to a fully equipped kitchen. For permits, Click here.
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LAUPAHOEHOE
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Laupahoehoe means ‘leaf of pahoehoe lava,’ an apt name for the evocative Laupahoehoe Point, a flat peninsula that’S tucked beneath cliffs and battered relentlessly by the sea. Legend has it that Poliahu, the snow goddess, was sledding down Mauna Kea one day when her ever-jealous sister, Pele, decided to compete with her. One thing led to another, as it often does, and the goddesses were soon fighting, lava melting snow and snow freezing lava, until finally Poliahu forced Pele all the way down Mauna Kea and into the sea, leaving behind this spit of land, which, in fact, is the result of a late-stage Mauna Kea eruption.
Until 1946 the