| Kalalau Trail, Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii BY MARTIN KUCERA & FLORIDALIGHTNING.COM |
| Strenuous hiking begins with the first light. It feels simply awesome to be back. So many old memories mixed with the anticipation of what lies ahead made me very happy. First one on the trail is the one to dodge all the spider webs sprung out across the trail. Two more miles and we'll be thousands of years back in time... |
| As usual, mud everywhere. First two miles up and down to the river felt easy. The hiking pace was deliberately slow, to enjoy the scenery, stunning ocean views, all the bugs, flowers and scents possible. Moistness of the surrounding environment added another level of connection with the trail. Five days like this ahead of us. |
| More mud. I like mud. It is far more interesting than a dry, scorched earth. More character. It is winter here after all and one of the rainiest months overall. Large amounts of rain mean more mystical fog, vivid rainbows, or thunderstorms. You also know the stunning, razor sharp green peaks will be shrouded in cold, cloudy mist. |
| Crossing the river at MM2. We stopped here for a short lunch and to admire the shoreline sea cave that is here near the beach. Great breaking waves. We camped here the last time. |
| The sea cave s right above the waterline on that cliff ahead. It fills with water during every large wave, especially during winter months when the surf is much higher than usual. |
| A lava rock on the Hanakapiai beach. If you are for shorter hiking and a stunning day trip, it is well worth to make it the first two miles. This beach is one of the best in the Islands. |
| Breaking wave action on the same beach. We had a great luck with weather during this trip along the Kalalau trail. Notice the crispy, blue sky. |
| Staring the real hiking. There is nothing easy after the first two miles. Or at least nothing should be taken easily. You are entirely on your own. No cell phone would work here. |
| Gaining elevation quickly. The worst part on the way there is that you have a lot of food in your backpack. On the way back it is all long gone. You must pump and purify water along the way. |
| One of the major cliffs you have to go around, many times you also go up and down the face of the cliff along the switchbacks. Some of these cliffs take hours to get around into the next valley. |
| Although you constantly check your progress since you don't want to run out of daylight along the way, it is not good to hurry along the trail at all. It help a lot to be in a great shape. |
| Somewhere along the fifth mile. You round one of the cliffs and get into this magical kind of forest with large boulders. The trail is hard to find but the shade and humidity is nice for change. |
| Approaching MM6 - Hanakoa Valley. This is a huge valley and the one with the beautiful Hanakoa Falls. We spent a creepy first night here. Seemed like a wild boar was sniffing around our tent for most of the night. |
| Crazy plants in Hanakoa Valley. It is scorching hot here. We could have made it further but it takes a lot out of you to do the first six miles on the first day. You can not push things around here. We played it safe. |
| An aerial view of Hanakoa Valley. We never made it to the Hanakoa Falls but next time will do for sure. We've seen them from the helicopter before though and these waterfalls are stunningly beautiful. |
| Crossing the river at MM6. A good source of water for quite a while. There is a bacteria called Leptospirosis caused by urine of wild goats and pigs. All water must be treated before drinking. We used professional camping filter and a couple drops of chlorine and water tasted great. Never got any problems with "Lepto". You can also contract it though your eyes, nose, mouth or minor cuts if you come in contact with contaminated water or mud. |
| Shortly after MM6. This is one of the most difficult sections of the Kalalau trail. You can see the trail exposed along the cliff. Nothing but sheer wall down toward the ocean. I would certainly not want to hike this part of the trail during or shortly after rain. On the other hand it is a welcomed relief to enter an open countryside with ocean breeze and wonderful views. It is easy to spot one of many humpback whales on the horizon from here. |
| A photo from the actual passage of this uneasy section. I loved every minute of it. That is why we came here. If you are lucky to have good weather while you are here, the difficult section is going to be just this one you see in the picture. If it is muddy out here, there is going to be many more difficult sections ahead that you might not notice during a sunny day. Some parts have this fine dirt on them and one can only imagine what that might turn into during a rain episode. |
| Meeting other hikers is always a nice change and a good experience. People along the trail seemed to be really nice. No stress out here. Unless you thing of this part of trail as stressful. This photo puts the exposed part of the trail into perspective for you. Good times. |
| Just before MM8. One of the finer view of the stunning Na Pali Coast. The green plateau ahead is still many hours away and it is about MM9.5. Up close it looks like Ireland of some kind with this smooth green grass and goofy wild goats all over it. |
| Very near MM8. That is an emergency helipad right ahead. What a great looking camp site here compared to Hanakoa Valley. It is more breeze here and you are right next to the open ocean or I should say right above it. Only a couple of miles left to go, too. |
| Upon nearing later parts of the Kalalau trail, the landscape changes dramatically once again. The trail seems to be somewhat easier. There is not that many switchbacks anymore. You kind of just rush ahead, excited of what lies around the next turn. Or perhaps it was the fact we made it this far for the first time. There is also one part of the trail near these overgrown guava orchard we never forget. We lost the trail here, it is marked but still quite easy to miss the critical turn. So many goat trails around they look like people trails. So we get off of the trail without knowing it, obviously. I follow the cliff into what now becomes several trail, still in this orchard. The one trail I chose to follow comes to this almost sheer drop leading down to the small river. We negotiated this drop by holding onto the roots of surrounding small trees, while partially hanging in mid air or sliding down this drop on our behinds, all dirty, frustrated and tired. Heavy backpacks on our backs. Beyond this little river there is a small trail hugging the cliff. We tried some more but it simply became insane to go on. So I undid my backpack and went on alone... followed the trail and when even that ended I simply wanted to see where the rest of the trail is, never wanting to admit to myself that this is not the original trail. So I climbed some steep cliffs ahead and finally got to the fop of one of them. Provided with a greatest view not usually found even along the trail I realized there was only a huge drop (click here) into the ocean ahead of me (I ended up on the very top right cliff in the photo). Climbing back down this cliff was quite a challenge, though. So we backtracked all the way up into to the strange orchard (this was a crazy undertaking) and finally found the original Kalalau trail. Ever since that day I keep calling this part of the trail "The Orchard Episode". One would have to be there to believe what kind of frustration we went through for about an hour. The left photo above is showing the overgrown section where the orchard is. Still gives me chills to this day to think about it... the smell of many different kinds of ripe fruit all over the ground during that hot afternoon... The middle photo was taken in the wonderland pass the MM8. The scenery becomes even more open and view are simply unprecedented along this part of the Kalalau trail. You see the valleys and river emptying into the wild ocean way down below where you walk. And you see the humpback whales jumping and flopping all over the ocean, they are everywhere looking like tinny waterspouts on the distant surface. The last photo above was taken at MM9 looking back along the Na Pali coast. This far along the trail, you are on top of the world, the trail only goes downhill toward the Kalalau beach from here (click) and you almost know for sure that you have made it. This is also a great place to take some final rest before approaching the river at MM10 and eventually making it to the Kalalau beach. |
| Enjoying views of the Kalalau Valley. Kalalau beach and the final destination the trail is easily visible from up here. You still have to cross another river and walk for about another easy mile. |
| The Ireland looking kind of place. Wild goats were everywhere along with several tents along the shore line. In this photo we are looking back at cliffs above the mile marker 9. |
| Kalalau beach. The most beautiful, calm and peaceful place I have ever seen. I'd live here in a heartbeat. Some nice people do. Some 3000 people used to. A pretty rainbow welcomed us. |
| A small shower, originating over the inland portions of the island of Kauai made it to the beach just before sunset. And the rainbow was only getting better. No money can buy a magic like this. Click Here for a short video. |
| Almost a sunset on the beach. You walk barefoot everywhere from now on, for almost three days. It seems like the trail took weeks to get here and you travelled a thousand years back in time. Wish this would never end. |
| Everything hurts. But I have never felt as great in my entire life. Time to make a quick walk to the nearby waterfall to get some fresh water, eat some small dinner and then enjoy millions of bright stars for the rest of the night. |
| Towering cliffs above the Kalalau Beach late in the afternoon. |
| A sea cave at the far end of the Kalalau Beach used to have a dweller. |
| Large waves during winter months make boat landing nearly impossible. |
| To be continued - with an account of a one day trip back along the Kalalau Trail... (c) 2007 - FloridaLightning.com |