Hawaii Trip Polihale State Beach

Hawaii Trip (Day 5) Polihale State Beach

After leaving Spouting Horn, we made our way west, along state Hwy 50, or Kaumualii Hwy.

Day 5 and our ride towards Hawaii’s Polihale State Beach was mostly inland, with views of the countryside and mountains off in the distance. Soon we were passing the Russian Fort Elizabeth State park, then the town of Waimea.

There is a scenic overlook along this route that us our first glimpse into the future of our day trip, it looked up the Waimea canyon. We chose to take the State Hwy to the end, before coming back for our canyon tour. As we drove along the Kekaha Beach Park, we saw many people out enjoying the day, but continued on as we had our own beach destination in mind, one a bit more secluded.

Next, was Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range and airport, this looked to be a busy and bustling place.

Hawaii and Polihali State Park — This is on our way out of the park, next time we’ll plan better so we can spend the day here.

At what seems like the end of State Hwy 50, a small sign popped up on the left, indicating the turn towards Polihale Beach park. I had read about this road being rough, at times unpassable, it looked dry and we were in a jeep. We pushed onward, soon founding ourselves on a very rutted bumpy dirt road, I loved the ride as it was my type of adventure. The scenery to the right was the beginning of the Napoli Coastline and to the left what appeared to be an extra-large sand dune with lots of vegetation growing on it; every now and again you would get a glimpse of the ocean. We were temped to pull off the road early, instead continued on the full 5 miles to the very end and to the Polihale State Park.

Hawaii, Polihale State Park — We could have stayed here forever

As soon as we arrived, we knew we were in for a treat, the sands were nearly empty and the beach was expansive. Off in the distance you could see a few people. In a protected area a group of tents were set up, a child was playing in the sand. We spoke to the group asking a few questions about the area, they prepared their morning meal of coconut and fish telling us how they were living off the land.

Soon we were walking out to the water and across the large beachfront. The sands were loose so we walked along the trail of an atv that had passed some time ago,

a glimmer caught my eye.

Stooping over, I find a camera slightly driven over and pressed into the jeep track. I was sure it wouldn’t work; to my shock it was, quickly we reviewed the photos to see if I could find the owner. The camera revealed the owners were there days before we arrived and from another country as well.

This group had an excellent time driving up and around the dunes. We enjoyed their travel, vicariously, through their videos.