July, 2021
7/2-3: The crowds are back upon us in Vail - good for business but not much fun for an introvert like me to be around. So I hopped in the Element with the dog and headed over to Camp Hale to see if the upper Eagle River had quieted down from the recent thunderstorms to be moderately fishable. It was - kind of.
There's not a ton of structure in this little river where it passes in a straight line through the defunct army camp. But there are enough little browns in residence to make for some halfway fun small rod fly casting. Before the rains started again in the afternoon, I released a half dozen or so and missed strikes on another bunch of about the same number.
We did camp in the van overnight and did a short hike in the morning before eating a quick breakfast and then heading home again. Not a great trip, but we did avoid the crowds of people for a few hours. Here's a very short video of the outing.
7/7- 12: We needed to take advantage of an old "use it or lose it" airline credit, so with Sue's birthday coming up, Hawaii was our best bet. With both of us having been to the North Shore of Kauai in days of yore, we opted for that area again especially since we could fly from our local Eagle airport to Denver and then hop a plane directly to Lihue, where we could rent a car and drive to the resort of Hanalei Colony Bay.
Sounds nice and easy, doesn't it? It wasn't.
To start with, after booking and paying for the resort, we found out that the NAAT Covid test the island requires for entry was not available anywhere locally. At home in the mountains of Colorado we can walk down the street four hundred yards from our condo and get a variety of Covid tests that will get us into any country in the world - but not to the USA state of Hawaii. (I wonder who got paid off on that decision.)
It took a 200 mile round trip to Denver to get the test taken and confirmed negative.
The flight to the island was fine except for the airline not providing even a modest meal on an eight hour trans oceanic flight. (We'll mention United's name again a bit later.)
Picking up a rental car at the Kauai was also no treat. How does the bargain price of $1500 for a five day rental sound?
Flying back home was another fine United experience when the airline didn't offer even a rag of a blanket to keep us comfortable on the overnight flight.
Once we'd picked up our rental car, the drive out the North Shore highway was OK until we hit the road construction just past Princeville. We probably got lucky with something less than an hour's delay due to the single lane of traffic up or down the hill caused by a giant mud slide back in March. Apparently it rained 27 inches in 24 hours, and the deluge was enough to trigger the mess that wiped out the road.
Finally arrived at the resort and checked in. We had a very nice room in this condotel. Absolutely on the ocean front with great views and breezes. Well laid out with open spaces that could be screened off for multi user privacy and a fully equipped kitchen, along with the other etcs. Here's a rough video of the unit and the experience.
Let's talk about the good stuff and then the less good about the place. The resort is a series of four unit buildings with two units on the ground and two units above. We were on a bottom floor unit which we preferred as we could be on the beach right away. The resort is an older one and apparently is highly venerated in the Hanalei area. It was first built roughly 50 years ago. Finishes and furnishings in the unit were dated but completely satisfactory, and the place was clean as a whistle.
Since there's no full service restaurant here, we bought and packed in food for breakfasts, lunches, and happy hours. To get other items locally requires a drive back down the nasty, narrow road to Hanalei. In theory the resort offers a shuttle service to the guests to do just that, but interestingly, the shuttle doesn't run every day. Hmm.
There is a dinner restaurant on the property named Opakapaka. In kind of a dingy, dark, uninviting building that we guess was built around the same 50 years ago, the output from the kitchen and bar was simply TERRIFIC. How about that? The menu was mostly simple comfort food and very reasonably priced as was the wine list. We'd highly recommend it and would go back in a heartbeat if we ever returned here.
OK. More about the hotel and the overall experience. The resort grounds were very well kept. Check in was friendly and helpful. The resort sits on a scenic point so the views along the ocean and towards Princeville were great. Parking was free.
On the other side of the coin - and I know these comments will come off as sounding mostly negative - it's not intentionally so.
There was no housekeeping provided. For the most part that didn't bother us. However, it did for other guests who inquired about the service. The response was that if you want your towels and sheets cleaned, bring them to the office and we will launder them. Then you can pick them up and make your own beds, etc. Hmm again. Ostensibly this had something to do with Covid issues, but I don't understand it. Smacks more of "let's cut some operating costs because of Covid."
Amenities? There is a shuttle service (but not every day). The spa (no mention of it at check in). Not much else to speak of. No kayaks or sups. That's about it.
Experience issues. The road is potholed and terribly narrow to drive in and anywhere around Hanalei. We couldn't drive to Haena Park or the lot where one starts the hike on the famous Kalalau trail as we could not get the required permit to do so despite having tried many times starting several months before the trip.
The ocean front by the lodge is not accessible for swimming as it's rocky and has dangerous currents at the higher tides when you might actually be able to get in the water. Hiking the beach (for me) was no fun either. The sand is coarse and soft and the shoreline would be described as "steep to". I took my pack rod along and tried some surf and off-the-rocks casting. It was a complete bust (which I actually expected).
The reservation permit issue kept us from accessing any number of hiking trails that we would otherwise have used each day. We did have one nice hiking experience on the Okolehao Trail - a short video of which follows.
So what's my post experience takeaway about the trip. The Hawaii Covid testing requirement is at best a joke, and at worst, I won't say the words.
Hawaii has become for us and for want of the less polite expression, simply a bad value. We spent north of $6k for a three full day trip. That's easily twice the cost of a more easily accessible resort with nicer accommodations and facilities in either Belize or Mexico. As much as we both had enjoyed Hawaii many years ago, knowing what we now know, we'll never return to these islands - and I'm sorry to have to say that.
6/19-21: Another kind of glass half full type of trip - this time in our local area. It's one we usually always enjoy as it gives us a couple of nice camping spots along with a variety of fishing streams. The Almont Triangle hill which is our main camping destination has terrific views up the valley to Crested Butte. Along the way to and from there, we normally will fish the Arkansas, the upper and lower Taylor River, the East River, Gunnison River, Anthracite Creek, and the Crystal.
We missed several of those streams on this trip for a number of different reasons, none of which are worth expanding upon here. It was still a fun trip though less so than previous years. The video below will partially explain why.
Last Logbook Entry � for previous day
6/27-28: Another of this drought-like summer's somewhat indifferent trips. This time up to the White River in Northwestern Colorado. Though the fishing wasn't really great, it had its moments on both the North and South Forks along with some minor success on Lake Avery.
The camping on the plateau above that lake is always enjoyable. Nice vistas over 360 degrees and decent privacy.
Both of the forks of the White were in decent shape and cool enough that whatever I released was not in danger of being overstressed. The main stem of the river was not good at all though I didn't have enough time to try a number of approaches to its denizens. Here's a short video of the fishing action and the camping out:
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