After about 5-6 weeks in Kauai, I got an email from the guy that I sailed with from Miami to the Dominican Republic. He was getting ready to sail down to Venezuela and wanted to know if I was interested. This put a departure date on my Kauai stay, so I finally got off my read end and made plans to do what I'd been wanting to do for a while - hike the
Kalalau Trail. The trail runs along the Na Pali Coast and the views are beautiful.
The trail is also serious business. I tend to think of most hikes as just walks, and lol at people calling things hikes when really they are just walks. The Kalalau Trail is not just a walk, it is a hike. It's 22 miles round trip, and most people spend the night at the end of the trail to break it into two 11 mile hikes.
I was running very low on time because I had already bought my plane ticket and only had a few days left, then the park service closed the trail due to severe flooding. This was pretty heart-wrenching, and I was kicking myself for not getting off my ass earlier. I managed to luck out in that they re-opened the trail the day before I was scheduled to fly out.
Because I was in terrible shape, I knew there was no way I was going to do 22 miles in a single day, and I also wanted to do this thing where you fly in a little experimental plane over the island on my actual last day. I decided I'd hike as far as the Hanakapi'ai Falls, about 4 miles in, or 8 miles total.
This is a very challenging trail, and while I normally discount warning signs, having now hiked the trail, I have to say that these signs are all accurate and the hike can be dangerous:
Here's a look at the start of the trail:
Not too bad, right? It got much worse later on. I don't have photos of the really bad parts because I was using both hands and all of my balance to stay upright. At some points in the trail, streams or creeks merge with the trail for short distances or cross it. I was glad I was wearing my sailing shoes. It also didn't help that since the trail had just reopened from flooding that much of the trail was simply mud. This part was dry, as were the parts that had exposure to direct sunlight, but there was a lot of walking through 8 inches of mud.
Here's a dry section on the high ground:
and here's another dry section on the highest ground that gives a good view of the Na Pali Coast:
At about the 2 mile mark in, you get to Hanakapi'ai beach. You cross a stream to do so:
Once you are at the beach, you can either continue on the main trail toward Hanakoa, or you can be a dumbass like me and take the unmaintained "trail" to Hanakapi'ai Falls. I suppose I shouldn't say unmaintained, as they do have little fluorescent pink ribbons tied to trees ever so often to give you an idea of where to go.
Not too far off the beach is this sweet little helicopter landing pad for emergencies:
The trail leg to the Falls was pretty crazy. I've never been on a trail where I lost the trail, but there's always a first time, and this was mine. Lucky for me, I was near the stream/river that is fed by the Falls, so it was pretty easy to find the trail again once I lost it, because I knew it would be somewhere near the water.
It was two miles of trudging through mud, stream, and rocks in the jungle, but eventually I made it to the Falls:
They are about 300ft tall, and impressive:
I was getting pretty tired at this point, as the terrain was far rougher than I had expected. Even better, the light was starting to fade and I had 4 miles to go for the return hike. I knew I didn't want to be doing it in the dark more than absolutely necessary so I started double timing it back down the trail. I definitely didn't want to be in the jungley part (the last two miles) in the dark due to the condition of the terrain. Of course, the inevitable happened due to rushing, and I took a tumble. Landed on a nice big rock right as it started getting dark and hit my thigh pretty hard. I was cursing myself for not arriving earlier and allow more daylight. There was pretty much no one else left on the trail at this point, since I was the only one stupid enough to be there at dark.
I was feeling pretty stupid and somewhat sorry for myself at that point. It was now almost dark, I had just over two miles to go, and my thigh was hurting from the fall. My calves and the backs of my thighs were also on fire due to not doing any kind of training and not being used to walking this much over this kind of terrain.
I made it back down to the beach, back over the stream, then most of the way up a one mile incline before my legs gave out. I just literally could not walk any further. I was past feeling sorry for myself at this point and just laughing at how dumb I was. It was now fully dark, but at least I was back on the maintained portion of the trail. I had also been smart enough to at least bring a little head lamp, and I had a small flashlight as well.
I figured I just needed to take a rest, so I sat down on a rock and was immediately overrun by ants crawling all over me. That was the salt in the wound, let me tell you. I tried to find different rocks, but every time I sat down, there would be dozens of ant on me pretty much instantly. I didn't want to get eaten by ants but I also couldn't really move, so I ended up just standing there.
When I figured I was rested enough, I started walking again, and made it all of about 20 feet before I had to stop again because my legs just literally would not move. At this point I was trying to figure out if I'd be spending the night on the trail, which seemed super lol considering I only had like 1.5 miles left to go, and most of that was going to be downhill.
Staying on the trail seemed like a bad idea, so I kept on moving. My progress was basically trudging 15-20 feet, then resting for 5 minutes. Rinse, repeat. I looked for walking sticks but couldn't find any, and silently chastised myself for smirking at the people I had seen earlier using them. I would have paid like $1000 for a walking stick at that point.
Eventually I made it to the highest point and started downhill. I had thought this would be much easier, but actually it was tougher. If I fell going uphill, no big deal. Just dust off and pick myself back up. If I feel going downhill, that would be bad. Much greater chance of sustaining an injury due to an uncontrolled tumble over rocks along the side of a cliff.
I did finally make it back down to the trailhead, mostly intact. I was really happy to just sit down in the car and sit there for 20 minutes. It took me about twice as long on the return trip as it had to get to the Falls.
I've forgotten a bunch of hikes I've taken in the past but I doubt I'll ever forget that one.
If you are in good shape, I highly recommend it.