Lucky you to be hiking the Kalalau trail next week. Some answers for you:

1) It totally depends on whether you’re used to hiking with a pack in a humid climate. You do get hot and sweaty, and you’ll want to drink a lot to avoid dehydration. I tend to sweat a lot, but I’ve done it with 2 liters at a time by stopping at every opportunity to drink up AND fill my bottles. Remember you must filter or purify all surface water on Kaua’i.

There are permanent streams at Hanakapi’ai (2 miles), Hanakoa (6 miles), the heliport and the next valley (8 and 8.6 miles), Kalalau Stream (10 miles), and Kalalau Beach (the waterfall at the exact end of the trail: 10.5+ miles). The longest stretch is between Hanakapi’ai and Hanakoa, where there are 2 smaller valleys that sometimes have a trickle, but not reliable and not always inviting.

2) I’m surprised they gave you a permit for a single night in Hanakoa, since that is usually considered a stopover on the way to Kalalau. Did you say explicitly that you’d camp at Hanakoa and then hike out? If the rangers do come, and summer is the time they check most, I believe they are very strict. This means they will tell you to leave, though I’m not sure if they’d fine you the way they do when you don’t have any permit at all (those who just flaunt the system). On the other hand, it sound like you’re going for just one night (sadly), so really, they’d have do a patrol between 4pm when you would arrive and 8pm when it gets dark, and you’d be leaving the next morning anyways.

That said, Kalalau is full so all the good spots will (or should) be taken by permit holders. Please do not set up camp in the waterfall area, but instead in the forested area near the helipad by the rocky beach. Or sleep on the beach near the vegetation line, that should be safe in June. Help alleviate the “overcrowding” by not clearing out a new campsite or trampling the vegetation off the trails.

3) Was that you asking about mosquitoes on tripadvisor.com? Kalalau might have a few mosquitoes up in the valley, but not much at all by the beach. I would save your skin, your back, and the environment and not bother with it.

Have fun.

Thanks,
Wes

At first I was a bit skeptical about Kristina’s intentions to hike with a cell phone, but she emailed me with more detail: “kind of defeats the purpose of being remote – I know, [but] I am a mother of two, so I would feel better if I knew I could be reached in case of emergency.”

Like it or not, I am fairly certain there is no cell phone coverage on the trail or in the Kalalau Valley. I say it that way because I have always assumed there is none and never carried my cell phone with me. There is no coverage up in Kokee, at the Kalalau valley lookouts, nor are there cell towers on Niihau, the only places in the line of sight. There is a small chance that the military personnel at Makaha Ridge use cell phones, but they probably get their signal from Kekaha or the PMRF near Polihale. I’m no telecom engineer, but I don’t think the signal could reach over or through all the ridges of the Na Pali coast. If anyone is willing to carry a phone and report back here, that would be helpful.

There are emergency communications in Kalalau, but they are very limited. In case of imminent hurricane or prolonged storm damaging the trail, the State Parks will dispatch a helicopter to warn hikers and campers, and possibly evacuate them. That’s one reason a camping permit is necessary, to know how many people need help. I don’t know if tsunami warnings come early enough or if they have a protocol for warning hikers–it’s less likely. If you see the ocean recede, run immediately back to the valley and up the valley trail.

I suppose if someone needs to reach you for a life-threatening family emergency, they should call the State Parks office on Kauai at 808-274-3444. I do not know if they have a policy of contacting campers, but they might be convinced to send out a ranger to notify you. Obviously, they are only open during business hours, I really don’t know what to recommend on nights and weekends. If you are really worried, or have reason to suspect issues, you may want to draft some sort of power-of-attourney statement to be left with someone you trust.

As for communications in the other direction, in case of life-threatening medical emergencies, people have been known to signal sight-seeing helicopters with an SOS written on the beach. In case of other injuries or medical issues, talk to the people around you and see if anyone can hike out for help. Whoever hikes out should have 2 quarters to call the State Parks deparment at 274-3444 for advice, or 911 after hours, I suppose. There is a payphone at Kee Beach park, by the restrooms, and a mile further at Haena Beach Park, by the parking lot. There is no cell phone reception until you can see Hanalei, near the trail to Lumahai beach.

Otherwise, you just have to accept that you are out of touch and out of reach in Kalalau. As a parent myself, I understand Kristina’s concern, but that is just the reality, and for some the appeal, of Kalalau.

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2007/07/30/news/news02.txt

I’m an avid hiker, but I’ve only hiked the first two miles in and then back. I was a bit unprepared with water at the time, so it kicked my butt.

Thank you for documenting this trail in such detail.

PS – In the old days, my ancestors ranch cattle in Kalalau Valley and took them out via the trail. Imagine that. They said that if a cow got turned around on the switchbacks, all you could do was to push it off.