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Published: June 12th 2013
Heaven on Earth
Ke'e Beach from aboveKaua'i is the oldest and most north-westerly of the main Hawai'ian islands, but is nowhere near as well known or popular in tourist circles as O'ahu, Mau'i or the Big Island. Yet from the moment I came up with the idea of going to Hawai'i and started to read up on the islands, it was the one island that I had been most looking forward to seeing. And wouldn't you know it, it turned out to be the most beautiful island of all! Now admittedly I didn't make it to Mau'i on this trip, but there's simply no way it could have been as amazing as Kaua'i. Roughly circular in shape and only about fifty kilometres across, it somehow manages to pack in the wettest place on Earth; one of the most spectacular stretches of coastline on Earth; a magnificent canyon; numerous lush valleys and beautiful beaches - and all without being over-populated (only about seventy thousand people live on the island) or over-touristed. So how about I tell you a little bit about the place?
Arriving at the airport in Lihu'e (meaning 'cold chill' in the Hawai'ian language) I took a bus half-a-dozen miles up the east coast to
Sleeping Giant
Approaching Nounou Mountain the largest town on the island: Kapa'a (meaning 'solid'😉, with a population of just ten thousand people! The first thing that became apparent was that there is only the one main road along the coast, and that it has an ENDLESS stream of traffic on it! And with roadworks seemingly taking place every few miles along the way, that constant stream of traffic moves very, very slowly! It's just as well the motorists on Kaua'i demonstrate the same sense of 'aloha' as on the other islands - drivers very rarely use their horns but ALWAYS stop to let other cars in from side streets or to allow pedestrians to cross the road.
Having checked straight into my hostel upon my arrival in Kapa'a, the rest of my first day on Kaua'i (monday 13th May) was taken up with boring but necessary tasks such as washing clothes, stocking up on groceries and catching up with e-mail correspondence (then racing back to the laundromat to find my fifty dollars worth of groceries still sitting exactly where I had accidentally left them half-an-hour ealier!); though I did still manage to find time to pick up a couple of bottles of Kona Koko
Brown (local beer brewed with toasted coconut) to take across to the beach with me, thus honouring the tradition of sunset beers on the beach that I had initiated on the North Shore of O'ahu and then continued with on the Kona Coast of Hawai'i! The novelty of drinking beers on the beach no more than fifty metres from the local police station wasn't entirely lost on me - especially coming from a country where public drinking laws are so strictly enforced - but judging by the diminutive size of the police station (it appeared to house only a single room) I figured the crack team of law enforcement officers inside would probably have more important things on their mind than a lone Australian quietly sipping some suds... quite possibly their own evening drinks for example!
The next day I was up early for what promised to be a long day of hiking, starting with the climb up Nounou Mountain (better known locally as the Sleeping Giant). This would have to rank as one of my all-time-favourite short hikes, for in just two miles (with 400 metres of elevation gain) I was treated to some extraordinary views of the
The end of the trail... supposedly
As if anyone would turn back and miss the best part!?! east coast, before reaching the 'Giant's shoulder' from where the views then extended inland towards Mount Wai'ale'ale (meaning 'Rippling Waters', and known as the wettest place on Earth) as well. And despite the presence of a sign declaring that people are forbidden from going any further, there was no way I (or any other hiker on the trail that day) was going to turn back without scaling the last part of the climb to the 'Giant's head' at the very top of the ridge, for the view from the top extended around for a full 360 degrees. And the feeling of standing on a narrow outcrop of rock no more than a metre wide, with an almost sheer drop on either side, was definitely proof positive that 'the greater the risk, the greater the reward'. Though in all honesty, you would have to be either careless, reckless or just plain stupid to hurt yourself on what is actually a pretty straightforward piece of scrambling.
After going up the Nounou Mountain East trail and then down the Nounou Mountain West trail, I had to follow the road mauka (inland) for a few miles before reaching the trailhead for the Moalepe
High above the Coconut Coast
A view to die for... and well worth the climb trail, which started out modestly enough along an old dirt hunters road, before narrowing to a grassy trail that climbed a forested ridge offering impressive views of the nearby Makaleha Mountains. Crossing a wooden footbridge and continuing along the Kuilau Ridge trail, I was just starting to get hungry when suddenly the trail emerged from the forest at a wide, flat, clearing with two sheltered picnic tables on one side - the perfect lunch spot! Joined by a presumably stray but nevertheless friendly cat, I gratefully stripped down to my boxers to give my sweat-drenched clothes a chance to dry in the breeze, before tucking into my salad in full view of the surrounding mountains... every fold and ripple of the earth completely covered in trees. It's not hard to see why Kaua'i is known as the 'Garden Isle'.
From the end of the Kuilau Ridge trail I had to follow the paved road for six miles to make it back to the coast, the monotony of which was finally broken after four miles when I was treated to an impressive view of a scenic bend in the Wailua (Two Waters) River far below on one side of the
High above Hanalei
View from the Hanalei Valley overlook road, and a view of Opaeka'a (Rolling Shrimp) Falls tumbling from a forested cliff on the opposite side of the road. Eventually I made it back to the coastal road and was able to take a bus back to Kapa'a, before this time trading the usual bottle(s) of beer for a tub of ice cream for my end of day seaside ritual!
The next day I took the bus to Princeville on the North Shore, from where a roadside pullout offers a magnificent view of the fertile and heavily-cultivated lower stretches of Hanalei Valley, where taro has been grown for centuries (and according to some researchers up to a thousand years). Dodging traffic on a two-lane road with no shoulders, I managed to follow the road on foot downhill past another roadside pullout - this time offering views of Hanalei Bay and the mountains behind it - and all the way down to the single-lane bridge at the bottom of the ridge that crosses the Hanalei River. From there I turned onto the narrow road that threads it's way up the valley before arriving at the trailhead for the Okolehao trail - which wins hands down the prize for
Golden sweep of sand
The beach at Hanalei Bay 'coolest hiking trail name'! Allow me to explain...
Okole meaning 'butt' and hao meaning 'iron' in the Hawai'ian language, Okolehao was the name given to a Hawai'ian liquor made from the Ti plant. Why? Because many, many years ago whaling ship crews would bring their large iron pots onshore to brew up a batch of this rum-like liquor (there being no sugar cane in Hawai'i at the time) before setting sail across the sea; and since most ships had two large iron pots that would be set down side-by-side, it was said that these pots looked like a huge 'iron butt' - and the name stuck! See, history can be informative AND entertaining!
Anyhow, while the 'trail with the funny name' might not quite have lived up to the Sleeping Giant trail from the day before, it did offer some pretty impressive views of the lower Hanalei Valley and the perfect crescent shape of Hanalei Bay. It also had me (once again) working up quite a sweat, so naturally as soon as I had made it back to the trailhead I made a beeline for the golden sweep of sand and sparklingly clear waters of Hanalei Bay. And
Soaking up the scenery
Getting wet at Hanalei Bay if the views OF Hanalei Bay from above were impressive, so too were the views FROM Hanalei Bay, with the jagged and jungle-covered mountains at the back of the valley appearing to rise straight up from behind the beach; while the shallow and sheltered waters of the bay lapped gently at the sandy shoreline. A picture postcard from paradise if ever there was one!
Having met a couple of girls travelling together back at the hostel that night (Stefanie from Switzerland and Marisa from Portugal), I was invited to join them the next day for what would prove to be one of the best days' hiking I have ever experienced - though it didn't quite get off to the best start! Setting out in their rental car bound for the end of the road on the North Shore, we had made it all the way to Hanalei (about three-quarters of the way) when it suddenly occurred to me that I had left my shoes at the hostel! Having no choice but to turn back so I could retrieve my shoes (though I wouldn't have blamed the girls if they had said 'well you're an idiot, so you'll just have
A Light Ahead
View from the Kalalau Trail to make do without them!'😉 we eventually made it to our intended destination about an hour-and-a-half later.
The first thing we noticed on the winding, weaving road that follows the coast from Hanalei to Ha'ena was that the scenery is fantastic; the second thing we noticed (upon arriving in Ha'ena, at the end of the road) was that we wouldn't be doing the trek alone - with the car parks at both Ke'e Beach and Ha'ena Beach already full, there were cars lined up along the side of the road for hundreds of metres. How many of these cars belonged to people who had simply gone to the beach, as opposed to gone hiking, we couldn't be sure; though judging by the relative attire that each of them were sporting - bikinis, flip-flops and beach towels in some cases; shorts, shirt, hat and hiking boots in others - we had a fair idea that it was about half-and-half! (Curiously we passed a girl about half-a-mile into the trail wearing nothing but a string bikini and a smile, proving once and for all that appearances can be deceiving! Needless to say, I returned the smile...)
The reason for the
Cliff-hugging Coastline
The incomparable Na Pali Coast crowds was simple - the Kalalau Trail, which runs for eleven miles along the cliffs of the Na Pali Coast ('Na Pali' literally meaning 'The Cliffs'😉, is regarded as not only the premier hike in the Hawai'ian islands, but indeed one of the most spectacular hikes anywhere in the world. It is also considered to be the most challenging and potentially dangerous hike in the islands, due to the exposed nature of the trail that skirts cliffs thousands of feet high which drop straight into the ocean below. And while there have been no confirmed fatalities on the trail itself (according to Hawai'i State Parks who maintain the trail), numerous people have been killed along the remote stretch of coastline, most from being swept out to sea whilst swimming at the notorious but beautiful Hanakapi'ai Beach only two miles into the trail... which of course is exactly where we were headed! For though the full eleven mile hike is solely the domain of backpackers prepared to camp overnight in either Hanakoa or Kalalau Valley, the four mile return hike along the first part of the Kalalau trail to Hanakapi'ai Beach - and from there the four mile return side-trip to
The Beach Below
View of Hanakapi'ai Beach from the Kalalau Trail Hanakapi'ai Falls at the head of the valley - are rightly regarded as the most outstanding day-hike on Kaua'i, if not anywhere in the islands.
So with high expectations - and with the sun shining brilliantly overhead - we set out on this most famous of treks, almost immediately being rewarded with stunning views of the coastline below... firstly in the form of Ke'e Beach and it's unmistakeable offshore reef back near the start of the trail; and then further along with sublime views of the serrated Na Pali coastline stretching out in front of us. And while the trail certainly featured it's fair share of ups and downs, every twist and turn along the way seemed to bring an even more spectacular view than the one before. Only in the Canadian Rockies last summer have I seen such breathtaking natural scenery.
About an hour in we caught our first glimpse of the golden sands of Hanakapi'ai Beach slipping gracefully into the azure waters of the Pacific Ocean, and before long we were hopping our way from rock to rock across Hanakapi'ai Stream and joining the throngs of people frolicking on the beach. The dangers of going in
Slender Beauty
Hanakapi'ai Falls the water were all too apparent after passing a knife-etched tally on a wooden board above the beach that puts the number of drowning victims at over eighty; though according to a local newspaper the number of drowings in the past forty years is closer to thirty. And if any further evidence of the power of the sea's currents along this stretch of coastline were necessary, the bodies of at least fifteen confirmed drowning victims have yet to be recovered. Fortunately for me (who, like most Australians, grew up near the coast and have enjoyed a life-long love affair with the surf), neither the surf nor the currents were particularly strong - so I was able to not only cool off with a relaxing swim, but also catch a few decent waves for probably the first time in about four or five years!
Having caught our breath and cooled down in the blissfully persistent sea breeze, Stefanie, Marisa and I then tackled the two-mile hike alongside Hanakapi'ai Stream through the forest to Hanakapi'ai Falls at the end of the valley - and what a stunning sight it was! Though presumably not flowing at full volume, watching this ribbon of
water fall 300 feet (almost 100 metres) down an almost vertical cliff-face before splashing into a serene plunge pool at the base of the cliffs was positively spell-binding! And to top it all off, despite the lingering threat of falling rocks and the admittedly-chilly nature of the freshwater spilling into the pool, it proved to be the perfect place for a refreshing swim... even if swimming underneath the waterfall proved to be a less than wise decision! (Note to self: when water falls three hundred feet, it's velocity increases SIGNIFICANTLY! At least until something breaks it's fall, that is...)
Well rested and well satisfied with our efforts, the girls and I eventually turned around and headed back the way we had come... or at least that was the plan! Following what we thought was the one-and-only trail through the narrow valley (which admittedly had a tendency to skip across the stream from one side to the other in places), we eventually found ourselves thinking 'I don't remember this part of the trail'. But since the young couple in front of us - and the two girls in front of them - seemed happy enough with the direction they were
Healing Waters
Hanakapi'ai Stream headed, we continued on our merry way. That was until the couple turned to us and asked 'do you guys remember coming this way?', at which point we admitted that we didn't; but pointed out that since the two girls up ahead hadn't raised any concerns, we must have been following the same trail as before. You can guess what happened next: upon descending to the stream again we noticed the two girls casting questioning glances at each other, before turning to us and, without saying a word, shrugging their shoulders! None of us had a clue where the correct trail was - but we were all sure that we weren't on it!
Thankfully there was little reason to panic as the valley was quite narrow and there was only one stream flowing through it, and no sooner had we crossed the stream than we found the proper trail angling away from the water; but it certainly brought to mind a somewhat humorous survival tip that I had been told whilst on the Big Island: 'If ever you get lost while hiking in Hawai'i, remember that you're on an island - so just follow the river downstream until you
Perfect end to a perfect day
View of Ke'e Beach from the Kalalau Trail hit the sea, and then turn left or right!' Paying slightly closer attention to where we were going for the rest of the hike, we managed to stay on the right path all the way back to the beach; before tackling the stiff, hot climb up onto the cliffs above, where the views of the coastline were even more spectacular than they had been that morning, as the sun slowly but surely arced it's way across the clear blue sky, it's rays dancing gleefully on the beautiful blue sea below. And just when we thought the scenery couldn't get any better (or our bodies get any hotter) we caught sight of Ke'e Beach far below us at the end of the trail - the crystal-clear waters of it's sheltered lagoon protected from the ocean's swells by a fringing reef, and beckoning us seductively with the promise of a cooling dip.
Naturally, we obliged. And if there's a more satisfying feeling than throwing yourself into the sea for a swim after you've spent a large part of the day hiking in the heat and humidity of the tropics, then it must surely be turning around whilst you're in the water
Coastal Cliffs
Na Pali rising up sharply behind Ke'e Beach and marvelling at almost-sheer cliffs behind the beach plunging straight down towards the water, while tropical fish swim excitedly around you. If there is anywhere else on Earth as beautiful as the Na Pali Coast of Kaua'i on a sunny spring day, then I'd certainly like to see it.
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