Having looked out over Waipio Valley and the tour bussed we decided against hiking down, instead we headed for the northern end of the Kohala Reserve. We spent the night in Waimea, woke early and arrived at the trailhead very early. As the sky started to lighten we began our descent into the beautiful valley.
With the sun not peaking over the horizon it was still a little bit brisk so we decided to spend some time exploring the valley. There were a bunch of cool little trails through the jungle-like vegetation. It appears that plenty of people spend time down in this valley: lots of fire pits and other fun signs of human presence.
After our explorations, we returned to the beach to watch the sun come up over the water. We were the only people on the beach for the beautiful sunrise.
Forrest even had a bit of fun on the way back up the hill:
