Prelude to Hawaii Day 4: The Valley of the Kings

We had a long day and a bit of a heat wave, which exhausted me to levels that were more dangerous than I liked. But I’m still here AND I got to see the Valley of the Kings, my dream of the Big Island. We woke to a ridge of sunshine hugging the coast, and followed it the 90 minutes north to get the SUV ride, a personal tour from Pat, a multigenerational native Hawaiian Valley resident whose father, grandmother and others who survive the Tsunami which wiped out the residents by hiking to the ridge, 1500 feet above. Today, as we went down, his uncle at the gate told him that there was a Tsunami warning that had just come in. But you know me – onward!

Here is one of the many coves we saw, crossing old bridges on our way up north. More on that journey tomorrow.

This is the entrance of the valley, the 1,500 foot walls, and the one SUV only 25% grade road in. The valley once was the residence of 50,000 ‘Hawaiians. This is the real Hawaii, tropical jungle and the residence of the Kings, because they could only be attacked from the water.

Here we have a close encounter with a family of wild horses, which run wild in the vally, the mother and father with the foal peeking in on the side. One of many encounters with valley and Hawaiian wildlife