You say Na Pali, I say No Problem

What an unbelievable island.

Today we hiked the Kualolo trail along the Na Pali coast of Kauai’s north shore, easily regarded as the best hike to be found in the Hawaiian Islands and regarded as a strenuous walk even for experienced hikers. Starting off at our usual hour of 6:30 AM, we headed from Poipu (south side) to the Lihue (east side) to garner ourselves a few park permits. Officially, visitors to the Na Pali coast are required to have hiking permits, but from the sounds of it, very few people actually come and get them before heading out on the trails. During the discussion of whether or not to get a permit, my dad pointed out the kind of luck he has had in situations like this which convinced the rest of us, rather quickly actually, that playing it safe and getting a permit was going to be infinitely preferable to getting stopped along the way and forced back just because we don’t have a stinkin piece of paper.

Arriving at the office for the Division of State Parks, I bounded into the building and up the stairs to scope out the situation. The people who work in this particular Hawaiian government office have got to be the least helpful, slowest employees I have ever seen. It took me a good 10 minutes just to get somebody to tell me that I needed my ID to get a permit and that my family needed to be there too. Once we were all there, it was another 10 minutes to get somebody to talk to us again (bear in mind, wee were the only non-employees in the whole place) and begin processing our request. All in all, it took us a little over 35 minutes to get a free permit and a map, literally 30 seconds worth of work on a laser printer and a quick wrist motion to open a drawer and grab a map. Unreal.

Unnecessary permits procured, we struck out north in search of mountains and high adventure. Along the way, we drove through endless scenic towns including Wailua, Kilauea, and Princeville. The most enjoyable town along the way, hands down, was the small town of Hanalei, a scenic valley town situated on a sweeping beach with pictureseque rivers and taro fields around the southeast side of the town. Hanalei has a unique characteristic that makes it instantly endearing, a charm that oozes out its buildings, into the street, and straight to your heart in a way that is hard to describe as anything but magical. One of the unique things about Hanalei is that it is connected to the rest of the island through a series of one-lane bridges, bridges where the etiquette is to allow an entire line of cars to pass before the other side gets to cross (as opposed to alternating crossings on each side, which is much more common).

Just outside of Hanalei, we drove through the towns of Wainha and Haena, the last specs of civilization on our journey, and arrived at Kee Beach or, “the beach at the end of the road,” the starting point for the Kalalau Trail. Once there, we parked the car, used the beach’s bathroom, and geared up for the long hike ahead. Our path for the day was to be a two mile hike from Kee Beach to Hanakapiai Valley, the first and easiest leg of the Kalalau Trail, followed by a second two mile journey from Hanakapiai Valley to Hanakapiai Falls. Dad, Drew, and I were committed to making the entire 8 mile round trip hike, while Mom was going to hike the first leg of the journey to the valley and see how she felt. The first portion of the trip was a fairly steep incline at first over relatively rocky terrain, hiking conditions that are unquestionably my favorite since you get to basically bound up the mountain leaping from boulder to boulder, which really gets the blood pumping. Andrew and I, like yesterdays hike, quickly distanced ourselves from the folks, which was just fine since they wanted to go slow and we wanted to go fast (it wasn’t like ditching, more like you go your pace, I’ll go mine sorta thing).

We met up at Hanakapiai Beach, which has this super scary sign just above it tallying up the number of visitors killed by the dangerous waves and currents that can be found at this beach. The tally’s current count is 84, which pretty effectively communicates the signs message: STAY OUT OF THE FREAKIN WATER!!! Anyway, down at the beach, Mom decided to turn around and head back to the car, assuring all of us that she would be fine and that continuing on without her would not be the end of the world. Parting ways, we headed off to find the falls and immediately encountered the sweet aromas of wild ginger growing along the path. The path wound up and through the valley along a river, passing through different types of flora including some rather spectacular patches of bamboo and rich patches of ferns. Eventually we came to a series of rather difficult river crossings requiring good sized leaps from rock to rock over rushing water. Fun stuff. I should note that along our way we encountered many people that had already reached the falls and described it as breathtaking, which encouraged us to continue on despite the difficulties of the trail.

Hanakapiai Falls truly is an amazing site; 800 feet of waterfall dropping off into a deep, cool pool set in a deep valley with incredibly green, lush sides. After a quick snack and drink, the three of us dove in the pool and swam under the falls, enjoying the brisk, cool water after our difficult hike. Having enjoyed the waterfall and its invigorating pool, we headed back for the beach 4 miles away. It was a tough hike back, but fun because of all the views and the terrain. During the return trip, I met two people from the Park Rapids (Minnesota) area, the part of the state our cabin is located in, and talked with them at great length about Hawaii and the hike we had just completed. Just another example of what a small world it can be sometimes.

Hike finished, we took a quick swim at Kee Beach to cool off and wash some of the trail grime away. From there, we headed back down the highway to a small burger joint, Char Ono Burger, and had a few hamburgers and brews before viewing the Kilauea Lighthouse and the view from Hanalei Overlook, a great view of the valley floor. Seeing as how it was right around 7 PM by this time, we decided to head for home and get some much needed rest. Tomorrow will feature Dad and Andrew’s first attempts at scuba diving and my first unassisted dive as a certified diver. Pretty exciting. Hopefully I’ll have some more good updates to add tomorrow! Aloha!