Historical Moloaa Trail

Hawaiians historically had footpaths for getting about on land. On Maui and the Big Island, some of those paths that traverse ancient lava flows have been preserved, but on Kauai, vegetation and erosion have erased all the paths that fell out of use. So, several years ago, I was excited to hear that one of these historical trails was preserved near Moloa’a Bay.

To understand why there is a trail along Moloa’a Bay that still exists and why it is still important to local people, you have to look at the geographical history of the area. I am just an amateur geographer who has read some history books, so this is no more than my speculative history of the area.

Historically, pre-contact Hawaiians lived in ocean-side communities, farming the low river valleys, gathering seafood inside the reefs, and fishing out beyond them. Thus it is likely that Anahola valley, Papa’a valley, and Moloa’a were all farmed and inhabited. Of those, I believe that only Anahola has a shallow reef area, but it is rather small. Much larger is the reef area at Larsen’s beach, further to the north. The calm, shallow waters inside reefs were important sources smaller fish, shellfish, and limu, the edible seaweed.

In order to reach the resources at Larsen’s, the coastal residents would likely walk the easiest and most direct route to get there along the coast. Thus the coastal trail they established probably followed inland of the beaches and up over bluffs on the easiest route. I am not sure if this path was the main passage for travelers going around the island, but seeing as how it connected populated areas, it likely was. Since Moloaa stream forms a wide valley over 200 feet deep further inland, the coast would probably be the easiest route.

This photo shows the bluffs on the west side of Molaa Bay. The coastal trail stays near sea-level until the middle of the picture, then it climbs up to the middle “bench” on the right:

After western contact, land ownership became established in favor of agricultural ventures. Initially, only the flat land at the tops of the sea-bluffs was useful for sugar cane or ranching, and that’s were the land parcels were sold. As transportation developed, new roads were needed to connect the new towns, and the shortest way was no longer along the coast. For example, I believe that Koolau Road which switchbacks down into Moloaa valley from the main highway was part of the original road between Anahola and Kilauea.

However, these new roads cut through the flat agricultural land. To compensate the owners, the government gave them the marginal coastal land in exchange. This is the sloping bluff area that extends from the original parcels down to the high-water mark along the shore, where the tail weaves up and down along the safest route. The land was unusable to the government anyways, and the ranchers could use some of it for livestock grazing.

Despite all the changes, a few people still lived in the coastal communities and found it easier to go fishing and limu gathering on the established trail. One kupuna (elder) resident of Moloaa recalls taking part of the trail to school, which used to be located on Koolau Rd, near the cemetary, as well as bringing limu back from Larsen’s with a mule. It was this continued use that preserved the trail for everyone. Fortunately, the government of the time recognized the use of the trail that existed at the time and created a public easement in the deeds of the land that was exchanged. Unfortunately, they ignored the existing trail and reserved the right to create an easement at the high water mark. When the land was just pasture, the ranchers were longtime neighbors of the limu gatherers, and so this easement was not enforced and the original trail was still used.

Fast-forward to the present, and now the land is prime ocean-view real-estate. The owners are mainland developers seeking to put what must be luxury estates on the bluff-top agricultural land, which implies keeping the public as far away as possible to ensure privacy. Although the days when local residents would gather limu and carry it back on a mule are long gone, the public is still entitled access to the original coastal trail created over generations (see my updated conclusion regarding access).

When I first became aware of the Moloaa trail in 2005, the landowner was asking for landscaping permits on the slopes. Hawaii law recognizes the sensitive nature of coastal bluffs, mostly due to the impact that erosion and runoff can have on the reef and ocean, and landowners need special permits for landscaping in the area. Evidently, the landowner’s plans did not even recognize the existence of the historical trail. When faced with the legal obligations of the deed, the landowner followed the letter of the law and proposed creating a trail at the high water mark, in other words, at the foot of the bluffs, through the rocks in the photo below:

Earlier this year, with the permitting process dragging on, I heard that a new trail had been created, parallel to the original one and pushing the public to the edge of the bluff. Worse, the trail was to be landscaped uphill with a low hedge, to delineate the trail they argued, essentially overgrowing the original trail and denying the public a safe passage. What’s so galling is that the landowner has been told the original trail is a catalogued archeolgical site, as shown in the map below, and that it must be preserved. The way to preserve a trail is to keep it open, have people walk on it.

To be continued…

Additional Reading:

• Malama Moloa’a is a website that catalogues the actions of the landowner against neighboring property owners as well as citations issued for permit violations. I have focused only on the trail, but there are many contentious issues surrounding the development of this property. When you follow the link above, just click the Cancel button when prompted to enter a password—that must be for the site administrator.
• The recent article in the Garden Island newspaper (Sunday, February 10, 2008) about the trail, which I have blogged about before.
• A later article in the Garden Island newspaper (Tuesday, February 12, 2008), summarizing the mixed results of the last planning commission meeting regarding the permits.

Washed Out

A neighbor and fellow explorer of mine told me about a practically unknown waterfall that he visited recently. It turns out that I had spotted it on Google Earth already, and he confirmed that it was nearly as tall and impressive as Wailua Falls.

It’s called Kaholalele Falls, and it’s practically in our backyard on the north fork of the Wailua River (actually, if you look at the houses nearby in Google Earth below, it is literally in someone else’s back yard). In fact, Wailua Falls and Kaholalele are both just within the Wailua River State Park, on the South Fork and North Fork of the Wailua River, respectively. Here is the view in Google Earth, with my GPS track (click here to open my track in your Google Earth):

So I had been pushing my friend to take me there, but I should know better than to push my luck with the weather. The Wednesday before Christmas was the only free day before my vacation to the mainland, so we went despite a night of moderate rain (only 1/2 an inch at my house). I did consult the online data for the Wailua North Fork stream gauge, and I saw a moderate peak starting to subside. Unfortunately, I did not take into account the fact that the early morning rain had not peaked yet, which you can see on this graph I downloaded later:

Source: USGS

And so, we didn’t really know what we were getting into. On top of the weather, we were trying out a new access (I didn’t say trail) that someone had told my friend about. Before I continue, a little reminder:

WARNING: hiking off-trail and crossing rivers are dangerous activities. Unmaintained use-trails have many hazards including but not limited to: eye-level sticks, slippery mud, drop-offs concealed by vegetation, and rotten wood that looks like a hand or foothold. Rivers can flood quickly to trap you on the other side. Never cross high water (above your thighs), you can be swept away and trapped underwater by rocks or logs. Fresh water, especially flood waters, can carry leptospirosis, a fatal parasite, so do not enter water with open wounds. Waterfalls sometimes carry rocks with fatal consequences. Exercise caution and proceed at your own risk.

The access to the river from the rim of the valley is down a steep gully on the west side of Puu Pilo, the little peak with a water tank in the Wailua Homesteads. Here is the view up from the cul-de-sac, right next to a property that is being developed.

First we slogged through a thick forest of guava…

…then we slid down a steep muddy gully, trying to find a way through the tangle of hau trunks.

We did see trail markers most of the way, but as usual, never rely on them.

We pushed through the dense growth on the riverbank only to find the river running high and full of brown water. With anyone else, I would’ve turned around, but these guys were half-way across the river by the time I had time to think about it.

Once on the other side, we could see from the streambed up to the water tank at the top of the hill (just behind a tree in this photo).

We walked up the other river bank a ways, but in these parts, the river cuts through some vertical cliff. So we waded on some submerged rocks at the foot of the cliff. Then we needed to swim. Before taking the plunge, I took this last photo and hung my backpack on an aerial root. That’s where the GPS track stops in the Google Earth image above. We climbed back up on some rocks, around another corner and then started wading again. As it got deeper and we tried to swim again, we realized we were on the outside curve of the river, and the current was too strong against us. Progress was just gettting more and more difficult as the river got narrower and stronger closer to the falls, and so we turned back, having gone barely half of the distance along the river. We floated with the current back to my pack and managed to cross the river without falling in.

Here I am, happy to have trudged through the mud, swam up a river, and turned around with out seeing the falls. Climbing up the steep muddy hill was even more difficult than going down, and you have to watch out for the glass and other sharp trash buried in the mud of the ravine. At one point, I was almost caged in by the branches of a hau tree, but most of the time, those branches were crucial to pulling ourselves up—but do watch out for dead and rotten branches that will make you fall.

Overnight Hikes

In an email, Brian asks:

My wife and I will be visiting the island for a little over two weeks from the end of December-January, and except for a couple of days at the beginning and the end of our trip, we’d love to spend the rest away from the crowds, in our tent, soaking in as much nature as possible.

We’re definitely going to do the Kalalau hike; are there other “must do” multi-day hikes on the island? If so, how would you prioritize them?

While Kauai has a vast interior mostly untouched by people, it does not have a network of hiking trails like other wilderness areas on the mainland. There are many reasons for this:

• Several large valleys such as Wainiha or Olokele Canyon are private land-holdings, making them off-limits.
• Other areas are too steep to create trails that wouldn’t erode.
• Some areas such as the Alaka’i swamp are too fragile ecologically to support much human intrusion.
• Also, the interior is much wetter than the coast, meaning the trails would be expensive to maintain and not very popular.
• Finally, hunting is permitted in many areas around the island, further dissuading many hikers.

While never a pre-contact Hawaiian practice, hunting has become engrained in local culture now, either as sport or as sustenance. I’m sure that hunters outnumber recreational hikers on Kauai, and certainly they outnumber recreational backpackers. As a result, all of the backcountry campsites outside of Kalalau and the Na Pali coast are hunters’ camps, and the trails to access them are mostly used by hunters.

Because of the wetness factor, these camps and trails are mostly located in the Waimea Canyon area that tends to be drier. There are also a few in Kokee due to the rich hunting grounds up in the forest. These camps all have a roof shelter and sometimes a table. While many hunters use other trails on the east side such as the Powerline or Tunnels hike, there are no established camps on them.

Here are the possible overnight hikes and backcountry campsites that I know of:

• The one most worth doing is to hike down into Waimea Canyon and following the river down to Waimea Town. You can do this as a 10-mile single-day hike, but staying overnight lets you break it up and have time to explore. The trail is fairly good and not difficult, but there are several river crossings so you cannot go when rains or storms will create flash-flood conditions.

  When you go down the Kukui trail into the canyon, there are two camps on the Waimea river, two in the Koaie side-canyon, and one near the Waialae side-stream. Koaie is upstream, so you could hike up there the first day after setting up your tent in Wiliwili camp right at the bottom of the Kukui trail. With an early start the next day, you would catch the beautiful morning light in the lower canyon, and still reach the road-end by early afternoon.

  

  From the road, it’s 2 miles to Waimea Town past the Menehune ditch and the swinging bridge, so you either have to have a car shuttle set up or take your chances hitch-hiking back up to the Kukui trailhead. You cold also camp at Lucy Wright county campground in Waimea Town and set out the next day back up to your car, either hiking along the canyon rim road, or again hitch-hiking.

• There is a trail called the Mokihana Stream route on the east side of Waimea canyon, on a ridge that eventually goes up to the forest highlands. There is a cabin in the forest, called Waialae cabin on Waialae stream far above Waialae falls that are visible from the Kukui trailhead. The cabin is over 15 miles from the end of the road at the bottom of the canyon, but there are several shelters at lesser intervals along the ridge that would make a fine camp.
  

  This is an out-and-back hike, but the views will be up into Waimea canyon one way and out to sea going back. To the east is the rarely seen Olokele canyon. The only problem with the Mokihana Stream route is that it is misnamed and remains on the ridge with no access to water other than catchment tanks from the shelter roofs (water availability is therefore uncertain, and purification is a necessity).

  

• Kawaikoi Camp and Sugi Grove are located on the Mohihi-Camp 10 dirt road that begins in Koke’e state park. They are heavily used by hunters who drive in with their trucks, mostly on weekends. It should be relatively quiet during the week, but you should double-check by calling the Koke’e museum. I believe these two camps have toilets, but you should confirm that too.

  You could drive in yourself if you have a 4x4 or hike in on the road. You could also hike in or out on the Pihea trail from the 2nd Kalalau lookout or any number of trail and road combinations from the main parking lot at the Koke’e museum and lodge. Once there, you could use it as a base to explore further canyon-side on the Kohua Ridge Trail or into the forest on the Mohihi trail (be very careful with your route-finding on that one). The Koke’e museum sells a small map with most of these trails, and they should be able to give you updated trail conditions.

These camps and trails are open to everyone, no hunting permit is required. You do need a camping permit that is free and easily obtained from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR: 3rd floor of the state building in Lihue). Like other campsites there might be quotas, but I’ve never had trouble reserving, even for a weekend night. Anyways, they can tell you if another party, most likely hunters, have registered, in which case you may want to choose another camp to have peace and quiet.

Camping in the backcountry anywhere outside of these designated campsites is illegal, according to the DLNR. I’m sure there are many illegal hunter campsites all around the island, and I have seen places you could easily hide a tent off most of the trails. However, I don’t think visitors can plan any multi-day hikes without knowing were camping is possible, so I think it’s best to have local knowledge before trying to sneak around like that.

While hiking, camping and hunting can and do co-exist on Kaua’i, non-hunters should be prepared to respect, or at least put up with, local hunting practices. I have seen hunters shooting at goats from the trail. The worst is a habit of leaving animal carcasses to rot near campsites, not to mention lots of litter, sometimes even bags of trash. The only thing you can really do about it is look further for a tent-site, or go to the next camp. Remember, these backpacking opportunities probably exist only because of the hunters in the first place.

One last bit of advice: you can also set up a base camp at the county campgrounds, which are all beach parks, and do day-hikes on all the regular trails. That requires a rental car, but you would need to get one anyways. This is how I visited Kaua’i for the first time, what better way to discover the island than by camping at all the beaches.

Opaekaa Falls Trail Still Closed

Paul writes to ask:

We were also hoping to hike to the bottom of Opaeka’a Falls via the short, standard trail/route that starts just upstream of the falls. However, I recently found out that the state closed this trail because two women fell to their deaths from the top late last year. Are folks still using this trail? Is the state serious about enforcing this closure? I have never been a fan of blanket trail closures by the authorities in an attempt to “save competent outdoors folks from ourselves”. Any insight you could provide on the status of the Opaeka’a Falls Trail would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a Honolulu Star Bulletin article about the closure.

The public land around Opaeka’a Falls is still closed by special decree of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Personally, I feel the closure is unwarranted, though I have been too busy to address my concerns to the state or even to blog about it. I don’t know what it would take to get it open again. When it was open, it wasn’t even a real trail and certain sections are hazardous, I guess it was just too close to the road and too easy for non-experienced hikers to get into dangerous situations.

The photo above shows the fence and signs that the state installed all along the trailhead area (with a memorial to the women—click to enlarge). I have seen state rangers there enforcing the closure, and I assume fining the people they find. However, looking at these photos I took a while ago, there is no mention that the area is off limits. I have heard that residents nearby, for whatever reason, report cars parked there, so you don’t have much of a chance of sneaking in.

I think the DLNR made a big mistake installing the fence. It is obviously easy to hop over or go around. If you went around on the left side, you’d end up on the right trail. But if you went around on the right side as it looks possible to do in the photo above, you would find yourself on the steep slope with slippery vegetation that is precisely the spot where the women fell to their deaths.

One website I found suggests hiking to the falls from the bottom, after kayaking up the Opaekaa stream from the Wailua River. I have paddled up there, but the stream is blocked by trees in a way that seems to make it impossible to just get out and walk. There may be a way to hack through or maybe land elsewhere and walk up, but I haven’t found it.

Kalalau Trail Conditions

There has been some discussion in the press and on this blog recently about the condition of the Kalalau trail. An article in the Garden Island newspaper paints a scary picture, one letter to the editor concurred and another admitted to cancelling a hike due to that information. While I personally know most of the people quoted in the article, I think they are over-reacting, perhaps in order get the state department of Land and Natural Resources to take action.

I disagree with this approach, and I’m writing this article to inform people so they can be better prepared. There is no doubt that the trail is not maintained regularly. There are many sections where hikers must pay attention and a few that require caution. But except in the case of vertigo (fear of heights or exposure) mentioned in a comment, the trail is passable. At least two other comments agree with me.

So when I hiked the Kalalau trail back in May, I took photos of the difficult sections to post here. I haven’t heard that the trail has deteriorated significantly or been repaired either since then, so I would assume it’s about the same.

Note: Please do not rely too much on this information. Trail conditions can change at any time. My experiences and opinions will necessarily differ from yours.

First of all, here is what the owners have to say about their trail:

This picture is characteristic of the first two miles to Hanakapiai. This is the wet side of the island, and there are springs on the slope that keep the area wet, so there is usually mud. The fact that these two miles are very popular with tourists makes it even muddier. In a dry season, as was the case here, it’s easy enough to get around the mud. But sometimes the mud is unavoidable and you have to get dirty.

The first big stream crossing is Hanakapiai stream. Here the water was very low and it was easy to cross on the dry rocks. On a normal wet season, you will probably need to remove your shoes to walk across in the water. After big rains in the valley, the stream will flood with brown water and strong currents. My rule of thumb is when water is flowing higher than your thighs, do not attempt to cross.

In the mile after leaving Hanakapiai valley, the trail is significantly overgrown. Bushes are usually only a nuisance, but on a slope, they tend to push hikes towards the edge of the trail, which then erodes. Here you can see one short section where this has happened and the tread is no longer flat. There are also several places where the trail is near a high drop-off, but it’s not intimidating because the slope below is well vegetated.

Here is the first half of the Hanakoa stream crossing, which is the deeper and stronger of the two. Again, in dry conditions such as those pictured here, crossing is not a problem. In normal conditions, you may or may not make it across on dry rocks, and it’s usually simpler to remove your shoes. When walking in a stream, a hiking stick really helps. Do not cross when the stream is deep and brown. I am including the major stream crossing because they are more dangerous than any part of the trail. One woman was swept away to her death several years ago. I have never heard of anyone “falling off” the scary sections of the trail.

Speaking of scary sections, they are next, as soon as you climb up and out of Hanakoa valley. Here is a photo looking down on some dicey switchbacks, an eroded section and the narrow ledge.

The switchbacks are in the lower-left of the image above. This is a small, steep gully, and what little dirt has accumulated is slowly eroding. Please walk carefully on the last switchbacks and across the gully, the dirt and rocks can be loose, and hikers are the main cause of the trail erosion here. The the slope is not a danger if you fall, but you don’t want to knock rocks onto other hikers below nor destroy the trail. Next are the two most impressive passages:

First is a short traverse on a packed dirt and rock ledge. The slope below the ledge is significant and consists of loose rock, so falling off the ledge might be fatal. However, the ledge is sturdy and the tread is flat exept in one short, easy section that hops over a boulder (see overview picture above).

The second is what I call the balcony. The slope below is steep and goes down practically 100 feet (30 meters) to the ocean, so falling off would likely be fatal. However, the ledge is solid rock and the tread is generally flat, though narrower than the dirt section. There are a few steps up and down on this balcony, but nothing that would throw you off balance.

There are two dangers that you should be aware of. The trail is narrow next to a rock face, so turning around with a large pack, while feasible, could throw you off balance if you bump the wall. Then, I have experienced strong wind right around the corner in the photo above. Again, if you have a large pack, it could throw you off balance in this critical point, or it could blow your hat off. This photo is looking back at the balcony section, with a backpacker for size.

At around 7.5 miles and several small valleys after the balcony above, is a heliport. The landing pad is a grassy ledge to the right of the trail, and there are old terraces, sometimes with makeshift tents, to the left. I consider this an emergency campsite (on the old terraces, not on the helipad). Should you get caught by nightfall here, I would advise against hiking either way, even with flashlights, due to the trail hazards.

Immediately after the stream by the heliport is what I consider the most dangerous part of the trail. Erosion by goats and water here has made the tread of the trail slanted, on gravely dirt, above a steep dirt slope that goes down perhaps 200′ (60m) to the ocean. While it doesn’t look too scary, please pay attention to where you place your feet because one misstep could be very dangerous.

There are several small eroded places for a quarter-mile ( 400m). You can see several of them in the photo above, where the trail curves inward and upward to avoid them. If the dirt is dry, and you step confidently but carefully, you will get by without a problem. If weather conditions are not ideal, you should definitely slow down and step ginergly to get by.

Update: here is a helicopter’s view of this section of trail. The helipad is almost perfectly centered, the part to the right (towards Kalalau) is the eroded part I show above. The part to the left looks similar but for some reason it didn’t have those same problems. And yes, that waterfall does splash directly into the ocean above a sea arch, but you can’t see it from the trail.

After the eroded section, you climb through several small hanging valleys where the bushes grow over the trail and push hikers towards the steep edge, so pay attention to your footing. And just before you reach the top of “Red Hill” where you can finally see into Kalalau Valley, there is another similar eroded section that requires you to step cautiously because of the exposure. The trail on Red Hill itself is eroded and washed out, but there is no exposure to speak of.

At the bottom of Red Hill, you cross a small forest and arrive at Kalalau Stream, the last major water crossing. Use the same precautions as when crossing the other two streams. The 10-mile-marker is right at the stream, next to the big boulder.

This warning sign used to stand at the bottom of Red Hill, for the benefit of those hiking back, but I didn’t see it last time. It acurately sums up the dangers of the trail, except it forgets to mention that the trail can be overgrown, which is both a nuisance and sometimes a hidden danger.