Kualoa Ranch

After having watched Lost I did some research on all the locations they filmed at on Oahu and one of the most stunning spots was the valley at Kualoa Ranch. But seeing it meant doing their movie tour on horseback. I loved the idea of riding horses through a jungle valley but I wasn’t as excited about the cost of said trek. We found a great discount on-line, not as cheap as I had hoped, but after some deliberation we bought the tickets and made our reservations…

The weather wasn’t perfect but I think God knew my sunburn needed a break from the sun and riding horses with no shade could be miserable.

We got there a bit early, so we stopped at Mokoliʻi (or Chinaman’s Hat) across the street from the ranch at Kāneʻohe Bay. It was a pretty little park and would make a great place to kayak and swim someday…

It started to sprinkle, so we snapped a couple of pics and headed to Kualoa Ranch…

the Kualoa mountain across the street 

  With some time to kill before our ride, we poked around a bit in the store and I picked myself up a bandana to wear on the ride and a Lost bumper sticker for my car…

they tried growing sugar cane on the ranch but it was too dry and one of the owner’s young sons fell into a vat of boiling sugar and later died from his burns. It was a very sad story!

   

The group before us was afraid of rain and opted to wear the provided bright yellow ridiculous looking rubber raincoats. As we watched them ride up the trail, our group opted to take our chances… ;)

Chris on Abednego

 

me on Kauai

It wasn’t a thrilling horseback adventure, but more of a leisurely tour of the breathtaking countryside. The horses pretty much knew just where to go and Kauai only paused occasionally to sneak a bite of grass…

the atv tour let us go on by

 

 

WWII bunkers (there were no trees during the war so they had a clear view of the ocean and skies)

 

approaching the Kualoa mountains

entering Ka’a’awa Valley

the log that they hid behind when the dinosaur herd was chasing them in Jurassic Park

  

ocean in the distance

 

you can’t really see them, but there are cows in this picture. Kualoa is a working ranch with about 400 head of cattle.

you see this line of palm trees many times in Lost!

  

heading deeper into the valley

when there have been very heavy rains, every crevice in the mountain holds a waterfall. I would love to see it someday!

just like me, Kauai doesn’t like going downhill… :)