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Published: August 21st 2009
Approximately 13 months ago, I had my first Kalalau experience over a long July 4th weekend. Since then I have spent seven months backpacking in South America and seen many amazingly beautiful things, but all that has only convinced me further that Kalalau is perhaps the most beautiful place on the planet.
Throughout my recent travels abroad, I have looked forward to my next Kalalau journey. Anticipating minimal employment and ideal summer weather, I dreamt of a week long camping trip, but little did I know I'd be thrown right into a relatively busy work schedule. Finally, a date was picked for a three day weekend Kalalau trip, but as the date approached, it became an inconvenient time for almost everybody who had talked about possibly going. Having not been in over a year and not wanting to pass up an opportunity, Drew and I decided to go anyway. I guess one benefit of going with a small group is that it makes all the planning that much easier... we bought a little dried food the night before, packed our packs, hit the sack early and got on the trail close to first light.
I'm always an advocate for
getting started early in the day (although I occassinally second guess myself when my alarm goes off at 4:30 in the morning). Here on Kauai the mornings are cool and comfortable. Gradually, the sky lights up and subsequently ignites all the colors of Kauai's landscape. It's a time when you can get to experience places uncrowded and all to yourself. And... you have the whole day ahead of you to enjoy and make it yours.
We pulled up at the end of the road at 5:45 in the morning and set off on the 11 mile hike to the most beuatiful place I have yet to see in my life. The usually high-traffic stretch between Ke'e and Hanakapi'ai was all ours, muddy and wet from rain and morning condensation. A half-mile in at a spot we call Windy Point, the trail provides its first coastal views. Though I had seen this view a hundred times, I had never seen it at dawn, and certainly never with a nearly full moon in the sky. We took our mighty time on those first few miles as we worked into our rhythm and set the tone for the rest of the day.
While much of the rest of the island was asleep, we were rounding Hanakapi'ai and well on our way.
(A pause here for any of you reading this who aren't familiar with the Kalalau trail. The 11 mile long Kalalau trail has two stops along its way. The first being Hanakapi'ai beach, two miles in and notorious for its sometimes dangerous waters but gorgeous nonetheless, and the second being Hanakoa Valley, six miles in, where there is a campground for those who choose to break the hike up over a couple days. Other spots like Windy Point, Stoner's Rock, the sketchy section between miles 7 and 8, and Red Hill, are all milestones along the way to the grand destination.)
As the island came into full light, we continued on from Hanakapi'ai. An intense half mile climb of switchbacks lined by ferns, ti plants, and hala trees eventually leveled off, at which point I really found my rhythm. With only small inclines and declines over the next four miles, the trail winds its way around seemingly endless ridges in what feels like a purgatory routine in the sense that as we round the bend of every ridge and
peer down the coast, another ridge is staring us in the face. And most of the time, you can't see further down the coast than the next ridge, leading hope to creep into your mind that around the next bend lies Hanakoa or Red Hill or whatever milestone was in mind as the next rest stop. We made our way in and out of the Napali's valleys and rounded its ridges until, at last, we turned a corner to find ourselves staring at Hanakoa Valley. Though the entire coast is spectacular and every valley gorgeous, its not until Hanakoa that things become mind-bogglingly beautiful... where the jaw drops and one can only feel humbled by mother nature's artwork created by hundreds of thousands of years of erosion. Hanakoa is deep and between its dramatic cliffs, Hanakoa falls drain from Kokee. We marched into Hanakoa three hours into our hike for our roughly-halfway rest.
After a brief break and water refill from Hanakoa stream, we continued on our way. A half hour further into the hike we reached the next noteworthy section, a one mile stretch along the steepest cliffs of the trail on a very narrow path of loose,
dry, washed out dirt. Drew is a mountain goat and ran right through this section, but I have a fear of open heights. I won't hesitate to jump out of an airplane, but when I'm on a cliff's edge and one slip, trip or false step can mean death, my knees start to wobble. I took my time though and safely made it across this section that is more of a mental hurdle than anything else. Soon after this section, Kalalau comes into sight, but it is quite deceiving as its still miles and hours away. We pushed through the last few miles as the early day heat came on and pulled into Kalalau right at noon and with the whole day still ahead of us.
We threw down our packs and headed straight for the ocean. Not much can compare to frolicking in Kalalau's waves with the sun on your face while you stare back at inspiring Kalalau... the beach, the waterfall, the cliffs... Having explored the beach, valley and caves in Kalalau adventures past, we had a lackadaisical mentality towards the rest of our day. We went to and fro between naps in the shade and the
ocean throughout the rest of the day.
Finally, the relentless heat of the midday hours backed off as the sun began its descent in the sky. The waning hours of the day are the best of all in Kalalau. The open ocean sunsets are breathtaking, but its hard to even focus on the sunset as the sun lights up the setting behind you. High on life (and with some help from mother nature) I experienced the most beautiful sunset of my life. Overwhelmed by beauty in all directions, the sunset was a show that seemed to last forever and unlike any other. Unable to focus my attention on one aspect of my surroundings, I laid on my back in the sand. Tilting my head back I caught the fire in the sky, filled with bright oranges and reds over the ocean. Turning my head to the left I saw thin clouds caress the tops of Kalalau's perfectly highlighted cliffs and watched a sea of a million shades of green treetops dance in the trade winds, entirely in rhythm with the music playing on my iPod. Turning my head to my right provided views down the beach and the coast
line. And looking straight up was a perfectly blue sky with only an occasional wisp of a cloud blowing through. Every direction was so beautiful. For literally hours, I laid in the sand rolling my head in all directions around me... taking everything in. While the trees partook in an off-the-wall dance party and the uniformity of the blue sky above me became a kaleidescope of shapes and textures, I took a brief journey through the universe as it all appeared to me in mapped out grid lines, full of warbles and ripples created by gravitational fluctuations! As the sun finally set below the horizon, stars appeared in the sky one by one until the entire milky way became so vividly clear. Stars sparkled across the sky in a new manifestation of unfathomable beauty. I was so grateful to have photons, traveling thousands, millions, and billions of years across the universe, end their journey on the back of my eyes. As fellow campers retreated to their tents, we stood our ground at "our spot" in the sand. Finally the stars began to fade, as a nearly full waning moon rose into the sky... the beauty again evolving. After nearly six
hours of blissful rolling around in the sand, exhaustion won out, and I retreated to the tent for a well earned night's sleep.
As is customary when camping, we were up early. With the winds quiet in the early hours, the down coast current was minimal and we decided to swim to the next beach along the coast. We swam the few hundred yards around the bend at the end of Kalalau beach and stepped ashore at Honopu. Though different than Kalalau, it is equally as magnificent. The cliffs surrounding it rise straight up hundreds of feet. The sheer face of these cliffs feels like a fortress around you. No way in or out except the ocean. A rock archway seperates two sections of the beach, the further section of which has its own small waterfall. Though obviously not the case, walking along Honopu felt like walking on uncharted lands that had never before been set foot upon. We walked the length of the beach and briefly explored the waterfall before swimming back to Kalalau.
So what I have failed to mention so far, is that when we set forth on Saturday morning, there was a Tropical Storm
forecast to bring weather to Kauai by Monday morning. We had decided to hike out to Kalalau despite this and play things by ear based on news from inbound campers or boaters. Well news proved hard to come by. The influx of people never ceased on Sunday which was probably a sign that the weather would not be a factor, however, the only news we received was that heavy rains were supposed to start on Sunday night. Well shoots... what to do? Not wanting to get stuck in Kalalau due to heavy rains, we decided to pack up and make our way to Hanakoa so that we could wake up early on Monday and have far less ground to cover in the rain. We left Kalalau at noon, having spent a very full, and seemingly much longer, 24 hours. I certainly don't regret the decision, but hiking 11 miles on back to back days, with weight, is not easy. Its not a good sign when your legs feel heavy one mile into the hike! Nevertheless, we charged on and made it to Hanakoa a few hours later. After a long rest, we decided we could trudge through another 3 hours
of hiking (with the incentive of a bed and hot shower waiting for us at home). We picked up our packs and charged our way to Ke'e.
Kalalau is simply amazing, and though challenging and exhausting, it was worth the hard work for 24 hours there. I'm already excited for the next journey to Kalalau (and beyond)!
For those of you who are unfamiliar and as I mentioned earlier, there is a beautiful jungle valley to explore at Kalalau. I've included some stock footage of the valley from past Kalalau adventures.
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louis
non-member comment
pasionflower
Beautiful flower I believe it was some type of lilikoi flower. It was certainly spectacular i respond to this text of you : because if you want to know or are still interested to know the name of that flower !? it is a "pasion flower " ; family of all kind of "climb up's" !! i was watching your fotos ; because i was looking out for the site of a diving school " octopus " Santa Marta " Taganga " colombia ... and there i passed by those fotos of you including this flower (wich i have in my garden) ; there reading that you didn t knew the name of that flower !! and thought to let you know ... well anyway nice site of you and as i see you had a great time overthere as well as i did!!! friendly greetings ..... louis.........