Hiking the famous Kalalau Trail

If you have ever been to Kauai and are a hiker there's a good chance that you didn't pass up hiking at least some part of the Kalalau Trail. There was no way I was going to miss it. Why fly 4,600 miles and pass it up? But pass it up is what we almost did. We saved the hike for the last day of our trip. We woke up early that day and it was raining like every other morning but you could tell this rain was set in and it sounded like it could rain all day. (The other mornings it would stop by sunrise and didn't do much harm to our plans.) I was thinking I should have listened to my wife who said "You shouldn't wait until the last day, what if it rains?" We went back and forth and ultimately decided to just go for it. The trail in its whole length is 11 miles. We had decided to do the first two miles to Hanakapi`ai beach and then take a two mile spur trail to Hanakapi`ai falls, 8 miles round trip. It was sprinkling as we started on the trail but the it soon stopped as we gained elevation. The start of the trail is very rocky and gradually goes up and then you reach the dirt or in our case the muddy part of the trail. The trail hugs the cliffs for awhile offering views of the coastline and the cliffs ahead. After a few slips and falls and crossing the river for the first time of many, we made it to the beach. The ocean at the beach is very dangerous to swim in and there was actually a sign that was notched every time someone drowned. We took a break and then hit the trail to the falls. Pretty quickly the trail became narrow and muddy.

I had warned my brother-in-law and sister-and-law, who had our 7 and 4 year old nephews with them, that the trail was dangerous. I just knew after seeing this section of the trail that they would be turning around soon. There was a hint of discussion about that, but we traversed on. The trail travels trough thick forest and through the river several times. I think we crossed it more than we were supposed to because there are all these little side trails that we followed. We often ran into other hikers ans asked them which way to go. Most of the time the trails hit the main trail and you got your bearings back. If you ever get truly lost just follow the river. You will hit the beach or the falls eventually but I can't say you will have all your limbs. It became pretty apparent of the danger of the last mile of our hike when people saw the kids and told us "your gonna wanna hold on to them". The trail became a narrow rocky path and kinda got sideways a few times on some wet rocks with water flowing over them. It was pretty scary. When we reached the falls there were fewer people than I expected. We ate lunch and then discussed if we were going to swim or not. Again, I didn't travel 4,600 + 4 miles and risk my life and not swim in the falls. The water was cold and we stayed in about 20 minutes. We packed up and made our way back to the car. The whole hike took about 9 hours. We were all tired but glad we decided to do it. I would definitely recommend this hike. Just be cautious because it can be very treacherous at times. It is ranked as one of Backpacker Magazines 10 most dangerous hikes, a fact that I failed to mention to the other members in my party or maybe I just forgot, I don't remember.  :)

Brett Bishop - Mitigation Manager