Wailua River Mouth

June 17, 2008 | In Beaches, Kauai Style | 3 Comments

Speaking of scooping, I saw and odd sight at Wailua beach last week and went home to get my camera. I parked between the two bridges and walked across the road next to the one-lane bridge:

Is that another courageous surfer trying to stop a super Caterpillar from invading Kauai? And just what exactly is that excavator doing on the beach? Perhaps a little context will help:

After a day of rain, and with more in the forecast, the county (or maybe the state, I’m not sure) dredges out the mouth of the Wailua river to keep the water from rising inland.

Most rivers in Hawaii still have a natural outflow to the ocean, and the beach sand acts as a natural dam that creates a wide lagoon inland. And right now at the beginning of summer, ocean currents and wave action deposit more sand on the beach, which is why most of the beaches are wider in the summer. But that creates problems when there are out-of-season rain-storms as we’ve had.

But what about the surfers?

When the lagoon is breached, the strong flow of water creates standing waves coveted by the surfers—the mythical infinite wave. Because these waves are usually too small for surfing, body-boarders flock to the site to jump in and try to ride one until the sands shift and the wave forms elsewhere. From what I could see, the waves weren’t very convincing and none of them had long rides. I’ve heard of surfers digging the channel themselves to drain the lagoons at the smaller river-mouths, trying to create their own wave. I don’t recommend the practice, because storm runoff and standing lagoon water have high levels of bacteria and pollutants.

It looks like the body-boarders weren’t the only ones having fun. Who would not want to play with such an enormous sand toy—and get to dig real channels with it? When he was done with the channel, he spent some time flattening out the piles of sand, so the beach looked natural again.

After watching them for a while, I found another spot to view the river and noticed that there were two channels for the river to flow in. I had assumed that the sand had blocked the river almost completely, as happens on the smaller rivers, and the excavator had to create or enlarge it. But the natural channel is the one on the right, and they doubled the outflow of the river by creating a second channel through the sandbar.

It’s a good thing too, because we had over an inch of rain a few days later.

While I was down by the bridge, I saw this strange sign warning paddlers about dangers under the bridge. I think that the old reinforced concrete on the bridge was flaking a bit and pieces would fall off. That would explain the stucco coating you see here, to protect the remaining concrete from the salt spray. But why then did they leave the sign?

Not to fear, the bridge was recently tested and still found to be very solid. Originally a railway bridge for sugar cane hauling trains, it will be retrofitted with two lanes of traffic and the future bicycle path.

Moving around a little, I found another little strip of land that is seldom seen. This triangular area is hidden between the access to the one-lane bridge, the river, and the Aloha Beach Hotel. I had never noticed the nice little grove of palm trees here. Off to the left in the distance are the ruins of the Hikina a ka la heiau and Hauola, the place of refuge, at the edge of Lydgate park.

The only reason I took this picture is because this is undoubtedly where the future bike path will go, when they managed to connect downtown Kapaa to Lydgate park. So this is the “before” picture, and I’m anxiously awaiting the chance to take the “after” picture.

Kipu Kai, Finally

March 10, 2008 | In Beaches, Kayaking | No Comments

Kipu Kai is a large cove on the south-east coast of Kauai, between Lihue and Poipu. It has about 2 miles of shoreline, more than half of it sandy beach. This area is nearly cut off from land access by two ridges that go down to the ocean at right angles from Mount Haupu. The wedge of land in between the ridges, as well as the only access road over them is private and closely guarded, but the beach up to the high wash of storm waves is public by law.

The combination of remoteness, seclusion, and sandy beach makes it one of those mythic “forbidden” places, coveted by modern-day explorers. Needless to say, I’ve always wanted to go there.

Few helicopter tours fly over Kipu Kai, but you sometimes get a glimpse of this coastline from commercial airlines landing or taking off at Lihue airport. This image shows the series of cliffs that reach down to the ocean, making access along the shoreline impossible.

This photo shows how Mount Haupu towers 2300 feet (700m) over Kipu Kai, and how the ridges wall it off from the rest of the island. Remember, all images can be clicked on for larger size.

You can also see Kipu Kai from some of the boat tours, as well as one of the ATV rides, but all of them from a distance. Fishing boats must go by here all the time, but to stand on the beach, you have to either jump from a boat or paddle in on a kayak.

With the calm seas we’ve been having recently, fellow adventurers and neighbors Randy and Ronnie proposed we do just that. It was so calm that my wife and I brought along our 2-year old daughter. We had two choices for which route to take, either from Nawiliwili harbor area or from Kawailoa bay at the end of the dirt road in Mahaulepu. It’s about 2 miles of paddling from Mahaulepu and 4 from Nawiliwili, but coming from Kapaa, we figured we’d rather spend the time in the kayak rather than in the car.

That was actually a fortunate decision because we were experiencing Kona weather, with the wind and the swell from the south. That meant that we went against them when they were mild in the morning, and they pushed us along when they both picked up in the afternoon. Here’s the map of our route, which you can download if you have Google Earth.

The easiest place to lauch a kayak at Nawiliwili is at the beach park on Niumalu road, behind the small boat harbor. We had a later start than planned, so to save a bit of time (about half a mile each way) we drove through the Marriott Resort, parked at the bottom and carried the boats onto Kalapaki beach. From there, we had a straight view of our intended route across of the shipping channel, behind the behind the breakwater, and beyond to the farthest point where we turn for Kipu Kai:

The ocean was perfect for kayaking and we were soon out of the harbor and going past the first point. High above us was Kalanipuu (780 ft, 240m), which has an aviation beacon because it’s so close to the airport. From here on, all the ridges and coastline were unseen terrain to us.

Before making the turn around the next point, there is this cove and small valley. The valley is somewhat of an oddity because it is nestled into what looks like a single ridge from either side, splitting it in two. The cove only has a rocky beach, which would make it hard to land and explore the valley.

When we rounded the “furthest” point we could finally see towards Kipu Kai. The waves and wind picked up a bit, now that we were more exposed to the southerly pattern. The coastline here consists of steep ridges, with rocky cliffs that face the sea. After passing the point of the next cliff, we caught good views of the beach already, looking like they were just beyond the next point.

But looks are deceiving from sea level, and we were barely more that half-way there. It took another hour of paddling into the wind and waves to finally reach the small bay at Kipu Kai itself. Mahaulepu is another 2 miles beyond the furthest point in the photo above.

The swells going into the little bay were almost surfable size, which is way too big for a kayak. You can see on the map we got pushed in and had to turn around to avoid getting swept up. Waiting for a lull between sets of waves, we then paddled straight through to the lee of the rocks in this photo.

As we paddled in, we got a good view of Mt Haupu looming over the private residence. I was a bit disappointed to paddle so far and have such and “intrusion” on my adventure, but I told myself it meant this was the more sheltered and more scenic of the three main beaches.

We land at last, after 2h15 of paddling it felt good to stretch our legs and rest our arms. We had a picnic lunch in the shade of the rocks of the picture above, since it’s forbidden to walk off the beach into the trees above. There is also a sign that says not to climb on the rocks—I don’t think steep rocky coasts have a public right-of-way like beaches. I have heard they keep a keen eye on visitors to make sure no one is tempted. We did see someone leave the house on an ATV, but I never saw whether they came to watch us or some other ranch business.

Speaking of ATVs, the private dirt road to Kipu Kai goes through the low notch in the ridge above the house. One of the ATV tours goes up to that col, but not down into Kipu Kai, click for the view from up there, and then tell me where you’d rather be.

Then we went to expolre all the beaches we could walk to from here, which included the main beach above, and some smaller ones we saw on the way in. You can see where we went in the yellow path on my Google Earth file. The people on the beach above retreated to the house after we landed, so we had the place to ourselves. They must have been members or guests of the family who own the land, but I’m not sure if anyone lives in the house permanently or wether it’s just a weekend retreat.

At the end of the first beach is a wide expanse of extremely shallow reef. It is very flat and had less than an inch of water, none in places so we walked carefully on it. In little pools that were deeper, there were intact pink coral, sea cucumbers, and in one, juvenile pennant butterflyfish.

After the shallow reef, we climbed through some short rocky stretches to access the further beaches. Here were some nice stretches of sand without footprints, at least until we arrived. These beaches are at the foot of steep slopes reaching up to the high ridges. In places where runoff usually flows down from theses slopes, it has carried the green olivine crystals from the volcanic rock down to color the beach. The reef still continues here, so there is no swimming, just laying on the warm sand and staring up at the cliffs, in a way that reminded me more of Kalalau than any other place.

On the way back to the kayaks, we stayed in the rocky areas instead of the reef and found the two large pieces of maritime trash—yet both very artistic in their own way. My first impulse was to want to take them home, then I realized that I could never carry them on a kayak, and secondly it was their contrast with the relatively pristine surroundings that gave them their character.

Back on the main beach, we could look back and see the other beaches we had walked to. We could also see that the waves were getting larger, so we had better not linger:

With over 4 miles of paddling ahead of us, we never even considered going to the two other main beaches to the south. Those would have to wait for another flat ocean day, and probably be wiser to attempt from Mahaulepu. The swells were noticebly larger than in the morning, perhaps the largest I’ve done in our little kayak. We pitched and rolled a little, but no waves were breaking on us and we were never in any danger of tipping over.

On the first leg of the return, the waves were coming mostly from behind, but at angle. The caused the kayak to turn, and since have a rudderless kayak that the rear paddler steers by changing the stroke, I was working extra hard. Now I understand why ocean kayaks usually have little rudders that can adjust for this. Still, the wind was at our backs and really helping us along the whole way. Plus, once we turned past the big point to head for the harbor, the waves were straight behind us and we could surf a little down each wave. In the end, it only took us 1h30 to paddle back, 1/3 less time than going.

But just because I’ve gotten into the habit of finishing with the bad news, here are two views of the development going on at the Marriott Lagoons, between the port and the airport. You can see the little detour we made on the return paddle in green on the map above.

What a pretty little waterfall I had never seen before, splashing down under the palm trees onto the rocks. Then I realized there is no stream here, and it must either be golf-course runoff or overflow from the artificial lagoons. Our friends thought they might be working on the Lagoons and draining them.

Manmade, yet nowhere near as pretty nor as ephemeral, we could also see one of the developments under construction. This used to be practically a blighted area. In the excess of the 80’s, there had been an ocean-front luxury shopping center for the resort guests. Later it was boarded up and the parking lot overgrown with weeds, only the brewpub survived but they no longer brewed their own beer.

So it was little surprise it was being redeveloped. And from one of their ads, it seemed they were offering low-rise condos, from an aestethic viewpoint better than 4-story boxes or spread-out luxury homes. But on the picture above, you can clearly see that they’ve created a huge artificial hill, to create more valuable real-estate overlooking the ocean. In my mind, that should not be permitted because it destroys the natural topography, crowds the shoreline, and runs the risk of eroding faster. I’ve never been to Ninini (running waters), the little beach you can see below the development, but I’d be willing to bet that many more buildings will now be visible from that beach. And now those visions of Kipu Kai seem even more precious.

Salt Pond Surprises

November 13, 2007 | In Beaches | 1 Comment

We finally got out of the house last weekend for two nights of camping. This being almost winter already, we chose Salt Pond Beach Park near Hanapepe to be on the warm west side, and it didn’t disappoint. We arrived Friday evening, and put up the tent just before sunset.

We didn’t plan on doing much, but not having plans left us open to whatever came up. First was the Hanapepe Art Night, like every Friday night from 6 to 9pm. All the art galleries and shops stay open late, many have snacks or cheese and crackers with wine (or juice or water) .

There is usually a musician playing in front of one of the stores, last Friday it was Westside Smitty playing some “Kaua‘i blues, folk, harmonica and steel guitar” in front of the Talk Story bookstore. He wrote some Kaua’i-flavored lyrics to some old classics and was a lot of fun to listen to. Unfortunately, he’s off to the east coast nursing home circuit for a few months, but he’ll be back next year. Of course, I could not resist going into the bookstore and buying a book.

We tried to eat at the Hanapepe Cafe, a casual restaurant serving simple yet creative food with lots of vegetarian choices, but reservations are a must on Friday nights (335-5011). We ended up a the local eatery next door which looked like a greasy spoon. But they were very friendly, and the food was greasy but good. And they obviously cater to vegetarians who were turned away at the Cafe.

The next morning, we got up in time to see the sun rise over the salt ponds just behind our tent. In the winter, the ponds are flooded from the rains, making it a photographer’s joy to shoot the reflections.

This was the view from our tent, looking out towards the beach. There are no marked camp-spots, but there are plenty of picnic tables, pavilions, sinks and water faucets around.

Salt Pond beach is a big crescent of sand on a rocky coastline, so monk seals come ashore to rest. This one spent the whole day on the beach without moving much, behind a rope barrier set up by lifeguards to protect the endanged animal from harassement.

From further back, you can see the sugar cane fields so typical of the west side stretching up the lower slopes towards Waimea Canyon. Since the west rim is higher, you can see most of it stretching 12 miles up the canyon.

To the right and left of the beach, an old reef creates a barrier to the incoming waves and harbors lots of tidepools. There is actually another pocket beach to the right, created by a second break in the barrier. This shallow and protected water is great for children to play in.

The most common inhabitant of the tide pools is the hermit crab. In one section where the large pools were separated by smaller dry ones, lots of little crabs gathered for some reason known only to them. I must’ve scared them, because they all ran away when I got near. I call this movie March of the Crabs (20MB—please be patient):

Snorkeling is not spectacular, but there are some fish in the shallow rocks to the left inside the exposed rocks. The lifeguards advised me not to go outside the inlent due to strong currents in the opening. The water can be murky due to the wash over the reef, mornings are usually calmer and clearer.

You’ll see a good variety of fish, just not many of each. I saw some bluestripe and milletseed butterflyfish, some kihi kihi (moorish idol), and one Hawaiian cleaner wrasse. On a previous trip, back before my underwater camera broke, I saw this odd fish called a flying gurnard. The “wings” are spread to scare me away, but the fish does not fly:

It seems like we filled up the day just walking a little, going for a swim, and relaxing. The next day, we set out to explore around Hanapepe again.

First we went to the well-known Glass Beach near Port Allen (see if you can find the other Glass Beach on Kauai). It’s in the guidebooks, so despite the short dirt road and the industrial scenery, there were up to a dozen people collecting glass the whole time we were there.

There are tons of the glass mixed with some light sand, easily visible on what used to be a black sand beach. At least I assume it was a black sand beach from the name of the town nearby: ‘Ele’ele means dark or black.

Being November still, it was hot in the sun all afternoon, so we went shopping. Hanapepe has the only thrift stores south of Lihue, and we love to check them out. There is a small—and somewhat grimy—Salvation Army store (turn makai next to the Shell station), and Habitat for Humanity, the house building organization, has a store in a large warehouse right near the trun-off to Salt Pond. This is the best thrift store on the island, the perfect antithesis of the other Habitat, a trendy European competitor to Ikea. In the end, we found some really cheap clothes and some good children’s books.

Back at the campground, the late afternoon sun was making the salt ponds very photogenic again:

I’m not really sure how the salt ponds operate, but I think I heard that salt water seeps in under the sand from the ocean nearby, and then it’s concentrated into smaller and smaller pans shaped directly in the red clay. The clay keeps the water from going back out, and in the end the brine dries up leaving the coarse salt crystals. The salt is scraped out of the pans and left unwashed, giving it a pinkish color, though not nearly as red as the “commercial” ‘alaea sea salt in which red clay is added to coarse white sea salt.

I believe that the Hanapepe salt ponds are the only traditional salt-making ponds remaining in Hawaii. The right to make salt there is restricted to several families, like a guild, and passed down though the generations. Additionally, this salt cannot be bought or sold by these families, only given away. In addition to seasoning, the salt is used for Hawaiian blessings and ceremonies, at least it was in the old days and I assume some people still honor the practice.

So the highlight of the weekend was receiving a small bag of the salt from one of the more-or-less homeless campers who live around the beach park. She had let us share her picnic table, we offered her some of our food and chatted with her occasionally, and by the end of the weekend she gave us some authentic local salt to take home. I suppose she belongs to one of the families or knows them well. I don’t want to make too much of the gift, but it does feel special to us.

Then a double rainbow appeared over the salt ponds:

It sprinkled a little, but not enough to get the tent wet, which was fortunate because it was time to pack up. After that, the nice sunset was a bit anticlimactic, but I won’t complain.

We stopped at Grinds Café in ‘Ele’ele for dinner. I have been dissapointed by their pizza before (too much greasy cheese), but their sandwiches and breakfast-anytime dishes were very tasty this time. Their homemade bread was so good, we took a loaf home with us.

In the end, we went to places that we knew from before, but each in its own way had something new for us. It was nearly the perfect weekend, with the right mix of rest, relaxation, and mini-adventures, right in Kaua’i’s backyard.

The Other Glass Beach

October 26, 2007 | In Beaches | No Comments

Update: now with pictures!

Today, I want to have a little fun with my readers—I hope it is fun for you, too.

I was reading a thread about the Glass Beach at Port Allen on Trip Advisor where they cover pretty much all the details: dirt road access past industrial area, old dump site by the coast, a beach literally covered in beach glass (depending on the season and tide), plenty of blue guide toting tourists by day, probably scary at night. I was thinking of replying that there’s another “glass beach” on Kaua’i, but then I figured I’d have to give detailed directions, and in a way I’d be responsible for revealing it to the hordes.

It’s another dump by the sea (probably sounded good at the time), though it has a lot less glass. But it does have lots of other little treasures reshaped by the sea, and a few engine blocks encrusted in the “limestone.” Locals probably know about this place, but for the rest of us, I lead you there in a riddle:

Go back to the place from whence you came
And follow the way to the pier.
If you get locked in, you’re only to blame
The sock and the mushroom are near.

I had actually planned on making the riddle easier, but to make it ryhme, I had to change it. To make up for that, I’ll give you a few clues (stop reading if you really want a challenge). To know what part of the island, you need to decipher the first line or recognize the vague landmarks in the other lines. Then, unless you know the area, you’ll actually have to go there and look around for those landmarks. But it should all make sense as you find your way there.

The beach itself is rather ugly, though most of the trash you see here has washed up from the sea.

If you’re not into beachcombing, there are some cool rock formations further south along the coastline, if I remember correctly.

There are some patches of “glass sand” here, just nowhere near as much as at the Glass Beach near Port Allen.

Here are some “treasures” we took home, I’m sure there are plenty more.

Let me know if you follow the riddle and make it there—or if you don’t. But if you do find it or already know where it is, please keep it a challenge and don’t reveal it here or elsewhere.

More Kalalau Questions

January 10, 2007 | In Hiking, Beaches, Waterfalls | 4 Comments

First a couple of announcements:

• We’ve had a week of off-and-on heavy rain showers, and the newspaper reported today that the State Parks have stopped issuing the remaining permits for Hanakapiai and Kalalau campgrounds. The trail itself is not officially closed, though it is sure to be muddy, so existing permit holders may come and go. However, all hikers should weigh the conditions against their abilities and be ready to cancel their hike. The article mentions hazards such as rising streams, flash floods, and trees falling across the trail.
• I have found a few more accounts and descriptions of the Kalalau trail online. I will continue to add them to my existing post titled Kalalau Trip Reports as I find them.

My first post about the Kalalau trail has generated the most comments of any so far. It is after all the highlight of any trip to Kauai for the physically inclined. But from the emails I keep receiving, it seems like details are scarce. The discussion in that post has turned to the “hippies” who “inhabit” Kalalau valley, so I’ll start a second post with another set of questions. Rachel asks:

Q: I am determined to make it to Honopu Beach, what is the best way to get there, some places say you can walk along the rocks, while others say to swim. We will be there the second week in June ‘07. How hard is it really?

A: You must have been reading the “Ultimate” Kauai Guidebook where Honopu beach is called “the most beautiful beach in all the islands, maybe in all the Pacific.” Now I have a lot of respect for the guidebook authors, with all the places they’ve revealed and all the great photos they’ve published, but they do have a tendency to hype (and brag about) the most deserted and most difficult places to access (remind me to blog about the “tunnels” hike someday). What you should know about Honopu beach is that although it is beautiful and unique, sitting at the base of sheer cliffs and bisected by a towering arch, I don’t find it as aesthetic as Kalalau beach (see the first two photos in that other post). At Honopu, the cliffs are a bit foreboding, the arch is massive and asymetrical, the waterfall is mostly hidden and the beach itself has no trees, no shade and only a few dunes to add interest.

But the attraction of Honopu is undeniable: a deserted beach whose isolation almost guarantees you’ll be alone (though not unseen from kayakers and helicopters), and exploring it gives you a good adrenaline rush. There is only one legal way to reach Honopu beach, and that is to swim there. Landing a craft of any sort at Honopu is illegal, even a surfboard I believe. Be aware that the swim involves choppy waves, currents and unpredictable conditions, even in the summer when the ocean is relatively calmer. You should not even consider this swim outside the summer months.

During the summer, the relatively calmer seas bring sand onto Kalalau beach, making it walkable for almost a half mile past the campground. You will go past several sea caves on the beach, some with small lagoons trapped inside by the enlarged beach. The last cave opens where the rock face blocks the beach, but you can go through the cave (usually dry) out to a small beach on the other side. There seems to have been some sort of rockslide that opened up this beach from the cave, and there are huge boulders strewn on the beach. When I went, I swam from here:

You might be able to hike a bit further along the rock face, but I believe you will reach a point where it will be impossible to pass. Anyways, you would be battered by waves, even small ones, making it safer to be swimming in the water. So, if the seas are not rough, if you feel confident in your ability to swim in the ocean, and if you agree to not hold me liable, here is where you start swimming. From that last beach, you cannot see Honopu beach, it is around the corner of the cliff. I estimate it’s about 150 yards to the corner, and another 150 around to the beach. That’s 3 laps in an olympic pool (50 meters in length), so I recommend you be able to swim 10 laps to give yourself a large margin of safety. Also, you will be swimming against the current when you return, so you should be prepared to swim about 15 minutes continuously. Please do not attempt this if you have no experience swimming in the ocean.

Two suggestions: if you are determined to make it, bring a snorkel and mask or at least some fins. That should make the swim easier though you will curse the extra weight on the Kalalau trail. I suppose you could also bring a small inflatable device (children’s floats or camping pillow) for safety. If you collect sea shells, bring a small ziplock bag and make sure you have closable pockets to put it in, because deserted beaches are your best chance to find sunrise shells.

A friend here on Kauai has written about his adventures in Honopu, sometimes known as the Valley of the Lost Tribe. It’s the only other account I’ve found on the web about swimming to Honopu, and I do not recommend you follow his lead and climb into the valley. Remember that the main reason for going to Honopu is to explore further off the beaten path, but that involves further risk. So if conditions are not favorable or you are unsure of your ability, it is best to just stay and enjoy Kalalau Beach.

Update: I just found another account of swimming to Honopu on a new blog. It pretty much confirms what I say here.

Q: I am trying to fill out my camping permit, but am not sure what campsites we will be staying at each night. We plan to backpack for 5 nights and really enjoy the trail, do you have a suggested itinerary for me?

A: In the other post, I gave my ideal schedule for 4 nights and would just extend that with an extra day and night in Kalalau. But that supposes you are a strong hiker (hiking every week, backpacking every month), so if you feel you can’t hike out in one day, reserve the last night at Hanakapiai Hanakoa again. Or even if you are a strong hiker, you might want to add the side trips to Hanakapiai falls the very first day and Hanakoa falls on the way out, and thus plan to stop at Hanakapiai both ways.

Update July 2007: camping restrictions have changed, and permits are now given for Hanakoa instead of Hanakapiai. I had previously heard camping was restricted at Hanakoa to preserve the archeological sites (rock walls and terraces), but Hanakapiai was becoming so overused that the park managers decided its sites were now more at risk. Hanakoa is the more logical half-way point to camp, and people were camping there anyways, but I still find it to be too muddy, muggy, and buggy.

See the official Na Pali permit procedures webpage if you haven’t already. Hanakoa camp at the 6-mile marker is closed, and so Hanakapiai is your only legal option. In case of an emergency, and that would include getting caught by darkness, I think you would be justified in bivouacking at Hanakoa Hanakapiai. There is also a heliport near the 8-mile marker, with small terraces on the other side of the trail where you could set up an emergency bivouac. The section of trail beyond that point is the worst eroded, so you really don’t want to do it in the dark even if you have head-lamps or flashlights.

As long as you have a paid permit for a given night, you will most likely be forgiven if you camp in the wrong place and get caught by a ranger (let me know if that’s not the case). That means that if you plan to hike out in one day, but then realize after the hike in that you’d rather not, it’s better to leave a day early and spend that night in Hanakapiai rather than make an unpermitted stop there.

Personally, we don’t camp at Hanakapiai when hiking out because by then we just want to get back to our home. But those last two miles are hard after the first nine, and the throngs of day hikers returning from Hanakapiai don’t make it easy to maneuver a large pack. So you should really evaluate how you handled the hike going in and decide if you’d gain anything by pushing yourself to get out in one day.

Q: Are there any places along the way we should make it a point to stray off the trail for that the books don’t tell you about?

A: The major side trails are Hanakapiai and Hanakoa falls, which are in the guidebooks, but I’ll mention them here as part of a Kalalau trip. As nice as they are, I usually don’t recommend them for people only going for 2-4 days. However, you will have extra time, so you could fit them in. Hanakapiai falls are 4 miles roundtrip from the beach, on a muddy trail and rock-hopping a bit in the stream. That’s a good half-day hike in itself, so I recommend you do on the first day if you leave early and camp at Hanakapiai afterwards. You could always go on your last day if you camp at Hanakapiai, but like I said, you might just want to hike out and rest by then.

Hanakoa falls are only a half-mile (less than 1 km) from the main trail and well worth the detour (see photo on the right below). The problem is that you may not have time for that extra hour if you’re behind schedule going in or trying to get out in one day. My recommendation is to skip it on the way in, to make sure you reach Kalalau before dark (not only for safety but also for the views), and do it on the way out if you have time (based on your schedule going in). The trail begins near the shelter on the SW (Kalalau) side of Hanakoa stream. You can go through the shelter and out the back to the left, but I think the real trail starts one or two terraces below the shelter. The trail is unnmarked and faint, but it’s the only way to go (it crosses a side stream but stays on the left bank of the main stream). At one point near the falls, the trail is eroded on a ledge high above the stream, so step carefully.

Hanakoa valley also has two viewpoints that reward the adventurous hiker. At both points where the trail turns to go into and out of the valley, there is a small ridge that continues toward the ocean. Leave your pack by the trail, grab your camera, and scramble through the bushes onto these rocky outcrops. You can’t go too far until it gets steep, narrow, and dangerous, but that extra perspective gives you great views up and down the Na Pali coast and into the valley. I believe the photo on the left above is from the NE ridge, and you can see my wife hiking further down the trail towards Kee, itself visible at the end of the cliffs.

In the original post, I mentioned Space Rock, which I call the Gate because that’s more what it looks like. It’s where the trail squeezes between a large boulder and the cliff face, around the 3.5 mile-mark, after leaving Hanakapiai and just before entering the first major valley of Hoolulu. This is the highest point on the trail at over 700 feet (over 200m), and if you are not subject to vertigo, you can walk around the rock and look straight down into the ocean.

In Kalalau valley, I’ve also described how to get to Big Pool. Several sources mention Davis Falls, which are the major falls on the N wall of the valley that you can see from the Kalalau lookout and from one point on the trail to Big Pool. The Boy Scouts actually built a trail to the falls but it was cut off by damage from the hurricanes, and then lack of use made it disappear. I have explored some other trails in the valley, and people have told me where to find that one, but I’ve never really looked for it. Maybe some of the “resident” hippies can tell you, and then you can share it with us here.

One place to find those “residents” and more views of the Na Pali is on the bluff between Red Hill and the stream crossing. The easiest way to find it is to walk back to the base of the eroded Red Hill you descend on into the valley and then cross the grassy bluff to the cliff edge. You can get down to a boulder beach to the right, and there is a faint trail that loops around to left on the bluff, joining the main trail just above the stream.

Finally, there are many views from the trail itself, just look up and look back often to see them. There are also some possibilities for exploring elsewhere off the trail, but I don’t know many of those and none lead to new viewpoints. If you do feel like exploring off trail, please walk carefully to avoid causing erosion and killing plants that prevent erosion, and do not disturb any ancient rock walls you might find.

Q: Is catching fish a feasible feat? We obviously don’t intend to base our food supply on that, but something sounds cool about catching a fish for dinner while on the trail.

A: The only places you reach the ocean are at Hanakapiai and Kalalau Beaches, so you’d most likely be fishing from your base camp in Kalalau. Shore casting is practiced widely throughout Hawaii, from both rocky shores and sandy beaches, and I suppose Kalalau would be as good a place as any. I am not a fisherman in any way, so I have no idea what fish would be worth catching, nor how you would go about it. I do see that most have long poles and weighted lines, neither of which are practical for backpacking, and to be honest, I’ve never seen a shore-caster catch anything (in Hawaii, night fishing is legal but sleeping on a beach is not, so I think that catching something is not always the goal). Come to think of it, I did see someone taking a pole into Kalalau, but I have no idea if they were successful. Another option if you snorkel is to go spear-fishing, but I don’t know anything about that either.

Food for long backpacking trips is always a problem. The two hiking stores in Hanalei, Peddle and Paddle and Kayak Kauai, both carry freeze dried meals, though it will be cheaper to bring from the mainland I imagine. Because those are usually bland and oversalted, we have moved towards other calorie-dense foods. The organic food store in Kapaa (Papaya’s, near Safeway) has powdered soups, hummus, and refried beans in bulk (be sure to pack them in stronger bags before hiking). Mix those with filtered or boiled water and some olive oil, and roll inside tortillas, for a hearty and healthy meal. We also take ramen soup packets and add garlic, peanut butter, and oil to the cooked noodles.

Q: How busy is the trail at this time of the year?

A: The trail between Hanakapiai and Kalalau is never busy. I think there are 60 permits per night in the summer, but many are kayakers. So you probably only have 10-15 people going each way beyond Hanakapiai each day. It’s enough to make you feel secure knowing that if you have a problem, someone will be along in a few hours, but not so much that you loose that sense of getting away from it all. If you stop at the places I mention above, you will most likely have them all to yourself for a while. The rest of the year, there are even fewer people on the trail, but between all the people I hear from and the “hippies” who hike it regularly, I doubt you’ll ever be all alone.

I have mentioned the throngs of day-hikers between Kee and Hanakapiai above, probably 100-200 on a sunny day. Between 10am and noon, most are hiking in, and from 2pm to sunset, they all hike out. You probably can’t avoid them, so it’s best to know you won’t be making good time on that section, either getting behind slow people or having to stop when crossing large groups. After the splendid solitude on the rest of the trail, it can be annoying, but you can see it as a preparation for getting back to “civilization” and feel a little smug knowing that those 2 miles are what 95% of the tourists consider the Kalalau trail experience.

Q: I keep seeing over and over that the beaches along the trail are not safe and not to go in them, is there any good swimming/snorkeling along the way?

A: Again, the trail reaches sea level only at Hanakapiai beach and Kalalau Beach. Anywhere else in between there are dangerous cliffs below the trail, and the coast inaccessible for all intents and purposes. Hanakapiai is the treacherous beach with the most drownings on Kauai, so no one will suggest you go swimming there. It is a tiny bay between large cliffs, and the offshore currents combine with the large stream to create unpredictable rip currents in the bay. People die because they get swept out to the open ocean, not back to shore, and even if they do reach the rocky shore there is no way for a weakened person to climb onto the wave-battered cliff.

Kalalau is a different story. It is a long sandy beach where you can see up and down the coast. There is still a current going left as you face the ocean, but it will take you down the beach before carrying you offshore. I’m sure rip currents are possible with any size wave, but I have swum here when the waves weren’t too big, 2-3 foot (up to 1 m) face max. I am a medium swimmer, and although i could feel some currents and some churning, I was able to handle it.

If you want to go in the water, watch the waves for a while, throw a stick in the water, see if others are swimming, go in slowly to get a feel for the currents, and stay alert at all times for drift and undertow. One rule of thumb is that a steep slope on the beach indicates a steep slope in the water, so go in the water where the beach has the gentlest slope to avoid deep water. But once you’re comfortable with the conditions, jumping and bodysurfing in the waves is a blast. Again, bringing fins could give you an added margin of safety.

As far as snorkeling, Kalalau isn’t known as a great destination. It lacks a fringing reef, so there is no shallow lagoon where fish frolic. I’ve noticed two areas with potential fish habitat: the rocky bottom of the beach towards the Kalalau stream and the boulders and cliff-face on the swim to Honopu. Of the two, the rocky bottom around the stream is shallower and has calmer waves, but it will be murky after rains due to run-off. The rest of the beach is all sandy and drops off relatively quickly, so I don’t think there is much to see (but let me know if you try it).

In the end, the best swimming and snorkeling along the Kalalau trail is Kee beach at the trailhead. It gets “crowded” on summer afternoons, but there’s a reason.