Na Pali Coast / Kalalau Trail Backpack

Angie and I backpacked on the Na Pali Coast of Kaua'i from October 20-24th. Our destination was Kalalau Beach at the end of the 11 mile Kalalau Trail. The Kalalau trail provides the only land access to the Na Pali Coast and is one of the most difficult trails in the world. The trail winds in and out of 5 major valleys and numerous smaller valleys over the 11 miles. Na Pali literally means "the cliffs" in Hawaiian.

Monday, October 20th

At 5AM on Monday we awoke in our hotel room in Kapa'a, Kaua'i. Getting up wasn't too difficult since we had just arrived in Kaua'i the day before and still were on "Oregon time" (3 hours later than Hawaii). We quickly finished packing, showered and started to drive to the trailhead. There were a few light rain showers on the way, but nothing out of the ordinary for the northeast side of Kauai. We were hoping no heavy rain would fall while we were out. Heavy rainfall usually floods the streams along the trail and makes travel impossible.

Many different sources advised us to pack light for this trip. Including our food and water, Angie's backpack weighed in at ~30 pounds and Scott's at ~40 pounds. We wish it could have been lighter, but there wasn't much more we could cut out.

We parked our rental car at the trailhead and crossed our fingers that no one would trash it while we were away. By 7Am we were finally on the trail. Here is a picture of us at the trailhead.

The first section of the trail travels 2 miles from Ke'e Beach (mile 0) to Hanakapi'ai Beach (mile 2). We had read that the trail is never flat at any point along the way, but I'm not sure we believed it. From the trailhead, we immediately began to climb and reached an elevation of ~500 feet after the first mile. The trail was a mess of roots, large rocks and mud. It was amazing how warm and humid the air was at 7AM. We started sweating instantly and were soaked after a half hour.

Here is the elevation profile of ~9 miles of the trail. (notice that it is never flat!). This image is from Backpacker.com.

At 8:30 AM we arrived at Hanakapi'ai stream. We were glad to see the water level was low in the steam.

There is a handmade warning sign which strongly advises against going into the water at Hanakapi'ai Beach. This sign is the real deal. A man drowned here on Oct 13th, 2008, when a huge north swell rolled in. Notice the "slash marks" for each of the people who have drowned at Hanakapi'ai. Very sad.

There is no bridge to cross the Hanakapi'ai Stream, (see below) so we basically had to hop across the rocks in the stream. I made it without slipping in, but Angie lost her balance just enough to end up with two very wet feet. After the stream crossing we took a break to re-hydrate and dry Angie's feet.

The next section of the trail travels 4 miles from Hanakapi'ai Beach (mile 2) to Hanakoa Stream (mile 6). After Hanakapi'ai the trail quickly rises almost 800 feet. Here are some pictures of us on the way up (Hanakapi'ai Beach in the lower left corner). This section of the trail got very hot since the sun was now beating down on us.

The trail surface improved significantly after Hanakapi'ai. It was still somewhat muddy, but didn't have nearly as many rocks and roots to climb over. Wild guavas grow abundantly in this section of the trail and provided us with many refreshing snacks along the way. Here are some pictures from the trail. When we sat down for lunch we thought we had already passed Hanakoa Stream. We were actually closer to mile 5, which left us one more mile to go just to reach Hanakoa. We were already starting to get fatigued, and finding out our true location didn't help.

We finally arrived a Hanakoa Stream at 2PM and we couldn't believe how slow we were traveling! The combination of the heat, the trail and our backpacks was crushing us. We filtered several liters of water in Hanakoa Stream and took a quick 10 minute break before setting off. We knew we would need to pick up the pace to make it to Kalalau by sunset (~6 PM).

The toughest part of the trail sits between Hanakoa Stream (mile 6) and Kalalau Stream (mile 10). This section is home to a stretch of trail that is known as Crawler's Ledge. The trail here is very narrow and extremely exposed. One side of the trail goes almost straight down to the sea, which is 500 feet below. The other side of the trail goes straight up. To complicate things further, there are tons of wild goats in this area. When the goats move, they send rocks and pebbles raining down below them. When we arrived here, we told ourselves to not look down and went for it. The trail wasn't actually as bad as it looks! Goats!

After Crawlers Ledge we decided to take a quick break at one of stream crossings. Here we met our first "local" of the trip. He didn't wear shoes and only wore a towel like wrap for clothing. He quickly welcomed us to Kalalau and told us, "Slow and steady wins the race on this trail." We all laughed. We asked him how he could walk around on these trails without any foot protection. He replied, "It takes a few days for your feet to toughen up, then it's easy." He suggested we try it sometime.

At 5:30PM we arrived at "Red Hill." From here it is all downhill to Kalalau Stream and Kalalau Beach.At 6 PM we arrived at Kalalau Stream (mile 10). Since daylight was fading fast, we decided to find a camping spot in the Kalalau Valley, instead of going 1 more mile to Kalalau Beach. We set up camp, ate dinner and were in bed by 8PM. Total hiking time was 11 hours to cover 10 miles!

Tuesday, October 21st

While eating breakfast, we noticed our shoeless friend from the trail sitting on a rock in the middle of Kalalau Stream. He sang a short little song while playing a homemade bongo drum. A few seconds later we heard the sounds of the first helicopter of the day. The helicopters provide sightseeing tours and run almost nonstop from 8:30 AM to sunset. Initially we found them annoying, but quickly tuned them out.

This was our camp in Kalalau Valley.

After breakfast, we broke down our camp and headed down to Kalalau Beach. This was our first view of Kalalau Beach from the trail. Absolutely stunning!

We spent almost an hour searching for the perfect campsite. We found a great one near the beach, but couldn't quite get our tent to fit. At this campsite we encountered another "local." Unfortunately we never learned his name (we affectionately called him "Newman" from Seinfeld - if you are not familiar with Newman see the very bottom of this post for a description). "Newman" approached our campsite and asked if we minded if he sat down on some rocks near us. It seemed a little odd that he wanted to sit on a rock 5 feet from us, but we invited him to have a seat. He quickly started to tell us how he really liked to camp at this site and subtly implied that this was his site, not ours. Then things got really interesting when he started asking why, "America is full of voyeuristic perverts who only want to see themselves in satellite photos." Dumbfounded, we told him that we didn't follow his logic or what he was trying to get at. He said, "I think you do." Then promptly left. We hoped we wouldn't see him again, but we both had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time.

Since we couldn't find a campsite at the beach, we decided to head back up into the valley were we had camped the night before. We couldn't believe we had broken down camp only to setup again in the exact same spot! We decided we liked the valley better than the beach. The beach was a bit crowded and we liked having a valley site and a waterfall all to ourselves.

Later in the evening while eating dinner at our campsite, someone approached on a trail coming out of the valley. It was "Newman" who promptly extended his middle finger at us, then walked away. Angie and I quickly looked at each other and said, "How did he already find us?"

Wednesday, October 22nd

The following morning we got up early to go exploring in Kalalau Valley. The valley is a huge maze of unmarked trails, most of which lead to backcountry camps. Most of the locals live in these camps and some have reportedly been living in the valley for up to 18 years. We wondered if we would stumble across "Newman's" camp.

Our goal was to get to Big Pool on Kalalau Stream. We definitely didn't take the direct route to Big Pool, but our route was much more interesting. On the main trail we passed through hundreds of agricultural terraces which the Hawaiians used to grow taro. We somehow ended up off the main route and the trail soon turned into a narrow footpath. At the end of the footpath we approached a small backcountry camp. We soon noticed the "inhabitant" of this area sitting on a rock staring at his North Face tent. He honestly looked like a wild animal and we wondered if he was going to start growling at us. Angie could smell his dreadlocked hair from 50 feet away. He never acknowledged our presence and we quickly turned around to give him his privacy. We later found the "sweat lodge" (below) and the local garden. We never found the library. Inside Kalalau Valley.

After several hours, we finally found Big Pool.

We spent an hour or so at Big Pool and then headed back down to our camp to rest. Not more than 10 minutes after we arrived at our camp,"Newman" strolled past proudly displaying his middle finger.

Late in the afternoon we decided to head down to the beach to swim and make dinner. The ocean was very calm so swimming was safe. We got to watch a couple launch their sea kayak from Kalalau into the calm seas. We were surprised to find an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal sunning himself on the beach. The picture was taken with a 10x zoom lens, so we were nowhere near him (Federal law states you must remain more than 100 feet from them at all times). He would occasionally get in the water to eat, but mostly he just slept on the beach. What a life!

Kalalau Beach sunset. Definitely one of the most beautiful sunsets we have seen.

We met another local guy on the beach who spent the whole afternoon balancing rocks at the east end of Kalalau Beach. His commitment to his job was very admirable. Here is one of his best works of art.

Thursday, October 23rd

We spent the entire day on Thursday lounging on the beach. We couldn't go in the water because the waves were huge. A big north swell came in overnight and was generating 10-12 foot waves. The day was very relaxing, but we both were obsessing over the hike out the following morning.

We walked down to the extreme west end of the beach to check out the wet cave. This is a very interesting cave which is filled with a mixture of salt and fresh water. In 1997 a group of locals including Ron Saya recorded a live music album called "Kalalau Stew" in this cave. The album is quite good and is a mix of flute, guitar and drum music.

Looking out from the wet cave.

Before heading back to camp we visited Ho'ole'a falls. This double-tiered waterfall is a great place to take a shower. The waterfall is not actually vertical, so there is no way to get under the falling water. To solve this problem, the locals brought in a 2 foot piece of bamboo from the valley. The bamboo is hollow and basically acts as a big tube to redirect the water flow, so it's easier to take a shower. It's hard to explain, but it works very well. If you look closely you can see the bamboo to the left of the base of the waterfall.

Back at our camp, we were able to get this picture of us near Kalalau Stream using the Gorilla tripod. A few minutes later "Newman" walked by us again, but this time he wasn't flipping us off. We wondered if he was starting to warm up to us after 4 days. Too bad we had to leave early the next morning.

Friday, October 24th

We woke up at 4:45AM to break down camp and get an early start on the hike. We were worried about having to spend 11 hours to get back to Ke'e beach. We started hiking out at 5:50AM using our headlamps to light the trail. Getting an early start turned out to be an excellent decision. We made great time in the cool early morning air.

We passed through Crawler's Ledge at 7:30AM. Angie on Crawler's Ledge.

We arrived in Hanakoa at 8:15 AM and were cruising on our way out. We found the trip out to be much easier. The packs were significantly lighter since all the food had been eaten and fuel had been burned. It also didn't seem to be as warm on Friday. When we arrived at Hanakapi'ai Beach on the way out, we were surprised by how many day hikers were headed into Hanakapi'ai Falls/Beach. Most of them carried no water and some even wore flip flops on this very difficult trail.

We stepped off the trail at Ke'e Beach at 12:55PM. Total time out was 7 hours 5 minutes. We felt this was as fast as we could have done it and were happy to be finished. We were sweaty, covered in mud and very tired, but we had a great sense of accomplishment.
Backpacking the Kalalau Trail was one of the best experiences of our lives. We were constantly amazed by the beauty of the Na Pali Coast of Kaua'i. During our 5 day backpack, we realized the people you meet along the way are what make Kalalau such a special place. We feel very fortunate to have had the chance to experience Kalalau and can't wait to do it again. See you again soon, "Newman"!!!!

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Aloha and Mahalo, Scott and Angie

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Recomended reading/listening.

"On the Na Pali Coast, A Guide for Hikers and Boaters" by Kathy Valier

"Dramas of Kalalau" by Terrance James Moeller

"Kalalau Stew" by Ron Saya

Description of Newman from Wikipedia.

Newman (portrayed by Wayne Knight)—An overweight and despicable though curiously well-educated postal worker. He is Kramer's accomplice and Jerry's nemesis and is a neighbor of both (Apartment 5E). He will go out of his way to make Jerry's life miserable. He is usually greeted contemptuously by Jerry with "Hello, Newman" to which he also mostly responds with "Hello, Jerry" in similar fashion. He is typically found plotting against Jerry, eating, and being obnoxious in Jerry's apartment. Newman has an infatuation for Elaine, who finds him repellent but occasionally exploits his attraction to her. He is the most frequently recurring male character, from his first appearance in the show's third season all the way through the last episode.