Hawaii Diary: Kalalau Trail

Yes, I am still working on this project.

Wednesday was going to be an "off day", but it was the first day in a week that didn't have any rain in the forecast, so we decided to change our plans and hike the Kalalau Trail and Hanakapi`ai Falls.

The Kalalau Trail is a hiking trail that hugs the cliffs of the Na Pali Coastline, typically a couple hundred feet above sea level (when not crossing a stream or something). It runs from Ke`e Beach park at the north "end of the road" and runs southwest for 11 miles to Kalalau Beach, which we saw from above on the previous day. The state of Hawaii requires that you get a permit to go past Hanakapi`ai Beach (mile 2 of 11), both to prevent overuse and to have an idea of who is on the rugged and remote trail in the event of some kind of emergency. We were just on a day hike to Hanakapi`ai Falls, so this was no problem.

The first two miles are heavily used by all kinds of hikers, from flip-flop wearing beach visitors, to day hikers, to overnight campers. We saw dozens and dozens of people trying to pick their way along the very muddy trail either in pretty inappropriate footwear, or trying to keep their formerly white sneakers from getting too messy. It was worth dragging our hiking boots from home just for this trail.

Hanakapi`ai Beach, nestled between two cliffs at the mouth of Hanakapi`ai Stream, is a beautiful rest stop at about mile 2 of the Kalalau Trail. In the winter the beach is mostly gone due to heavy wave action, but in October, it was wide and sandy. We stopped here for lunch and took some pictures. We then ventured another two miles inland, up Hanakapi`ai Stream, to reach Hanakapi`ai Falls. The path was surrounded by guava trees for most of the length, and many of the trees had dropped a prolific bounty of fruit -- meaning the whole trip reeked of fermented guava. While this actually sounds kind of interesting to me, the smell can be kind of overwhelming, especially if you have a hypersensitive pregnancy nose. Or so I'm told.

Hanakapi`ai Falls, er, falls over 120 feet[1] into a large pool amid a lush green amphitheater. The weather had been pretty much perfect all day, but when we got to the falls, it was cloudy and started sprinkling. We watched a few groups of people swim around the pool before heading back.

On the return trip we took note of some evidence of when the valley was settled by natives. Aside from the guava trees which were introduced, there were several stands of bamboo along the trail, and unfortunately many hikers had scribed their initials or other graffiti into the stems. We did see some dated from the early 90s. There was also the remnants of an old coffee operation, including an old coffee pulping machine that is used to remove the outer casings from the coffee cherries.

The rest of the return trip was uneventful, although it was hot and we sort of ran out of water on the last 2-mile leg. The hike is highly recommended -- just bring your boots. Our car was rudely parked in at the Ke`e beach overflow parking lot, but we managed to get it out with some careful maneuvering. Rumor also has it that breakins are frequent in this lot, but we had no problem.

Dinner was homemade BBQ chicken breasts at the condo. We didn't go out every night.

Lots more pictures here.

[1] "over 120 feet" == Technically correct, the best kind of correct. My detailed map/guide of northwestern Kaua`i says 120 feet. Other Internet "sources" say 300 feet or more. It seemed higher than 120 feet to me.