Our next adventure!  Kyle and I planned to spend our honeymoon exploring Kauai, HI.  Two of our friends live there and were always telling amazing stories about the sights and activities.  We had to go!  Kyle is the research man in this duo so it was his job to find our fun on Kauai.  While researching, he came across a few blogs about the Kalalau Trail.  The blogs he read said the hike was very difficult and dangerous with tough terrain and possible flash floods.  Despite that, everyone said the hike was worth it because of the overall experience and gorgeous views.  The pictures they took were so breathtaking!  Sounded like a great next challenge. We had to say “Yes” to adding the Kalalau Trail to our itinerary despite the difficulty.  Thanks to the tip from our friends on the island we learned that we should reserve our permits early,  so that’s what we did.  Kyle and I never backpacked before but we figured we’d be ok.  We’re fit people; marathons, Tough Mudder, hiking Glacier National Park, keeping fitness in our regular activities and so on.  We’ve also been camping plenty of times so we’re no novices there.  We’ve just never over night hiked with packs.  How har could it be?  You know those adventures you plan thinking, “no problem, it might be on the difficult side but we just have to be smart about it”?  I feel like we do that a bit more than is healthy.  What we experienced was a way more difficult trip physically than we expected.  But no matter, the experience was ridiculously awesome and I would have to admit the difficult journey was the best part.  Don’t get me wrong, the Kalalau Beach was beautiful, restful and extravagant like you would expect but the journey there and back taught us and shaped us the most.  I’d like to tell you now how the journey on the Kalalau Trail to the beach and back impacted us intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Hopefully what we have to say will motivate you to go there yourself and prepare you with what to expect so the journey is just impactful for you as it was for us.

The Logistics

Kyle and I planned a 10 day trip from January 3^rd to January 12^th 2018.  This time of year is “winter” or rainy season for the state of Hawaii so we packed expecting rain to be sprinkled into each day of our trip.  Being from Minnesota, we also packed mostly summer clothes because 75-80 degrees is very hot to us.  Three of those days would be devoted to hiking the Kalalau Trail.  Our plan was to hike the 11 miles out to the Kalalau Beach on Friday, hang out Saturday and hike back on Sunday.  Each of us would have a backpack for the hike and that was it.  I have an Osprey Ariel65 and Kyle has a North Face Crestone 75.  Not knowing exactly what we would need considering it was our first backpacking trip, we packed as little as possible to coer every situation we would come across.  Oddly enough, that can add up to a lot.

Here’s what we packed:

• (1) MSR Whisperlite Stove
• (1) White Gas MSR container
• (1) nForm ultralight – kitchenette
• (2) Sawyer water filtration systems
• (2) sleeping bags
• (1) blow up mattress (Kyle rented one from Kayak Kauai)
• An assortment of clothes for warm and cold weather, swim suits
• Rain jackets
• (2) backpack rain covers
• Snorkels and goggles
• (2) cramp-ons
• GoPro and 70D camera
• 2 person tent
• (2) neck pillows (doubled for plane ride comfort)
• An assortment of toiletries, dishwashing stuff, and sunscreen, bug spray and wipes
• First aid kit
• Knives, flint, headlamps
• Food

Here was our food list:

• 2 dry meal dinners
• 1 dry meal dessert
• 4 packed sandwiches (for first day)
• Instant oatmeal
• So many cliff bars!
• Avocado (the big ones!)

When I go through this list, it doesn’t seem like that much.  But it was.  Each bag was around 40lbs especially after we filled the water bladders.  Within the fist few miles of our hike we were already thinking of ways to eliminate weight and this is what we concluded.

If you are only hiking for three days like we did, you only need one outfit good for hiking.  Any extra clothing should be a rain jacket.  It’s warm enough that you won’t need cold weather clothes, especially if you go in in the summer.  You could even forget the swim suit because Kalalau Beach tends to be a nude beach.  Who needs the swim suit then?!?  Definitely forget the snorkeling gear especially in the winter.  The surf is way to big and strong that season.  You won’t need the cramp-ons.  Your hiking boots will do just fine even when the terrain is very muddy.  Don’t bother with any toiletries aside from a toothbrush and toothpaste.  Oh and wipes or TP.  These are pretty nice if you want to feel a little clean.  There’s no need for dishwashing items.  A little warm water to rinse the dishes will do the trick until you get back.  Half the time we ate out of the packets instead of using our dishes anyway.  You may also be able to get away without pillows.  I have a bad neck so wanted to have one but probably could have brought something that packed better.  Lastly, I probably would have carried less water.  We could have stopped and refilled our water filter pouches in the many little waterfalls that we passed.  I’m pretty sure having full water bladders contributed to most of the extra weight.  I will say the one thing we could have packed more of was food.  We burned through calories so fast we could have eaten six meals in a day.  A little side note, make sure you bring some sort of water filtration system.  There is no clean water on the entire trip.  Your only sources are streams and waterfalls.

These were all probably rookie mistakes but we know better know and why not pass our new knowledge along!  So those of you that have done this before, if you have any good advice, let us know!

Now for the hike itself.  I’ll just say this.  Expect to be physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted (But if you backpack complicated trails frequently, you might be just fine.).  Always expect to either be going up a mountain side or down into a valley.  And most importantly prepare to have your mind blown.

Day 1:

Kyle and I got started on the trail at 11:30am on Friday morning after a few stops to pick up ore food, get breakfast, pick up his rental mattress and drive an hour from Kapaa to the trail head.  Because we had gotten there around the height of tourist activity, it was really hard to find a parking spot.  There is a small parking lot right off the trail head and another just down the road.  We ended up parking down the road so we started our trip by walking about a quarter mile to the rail head.  In that short walk I knew we were in for a tough trip.  My pack felt so heavy on my back already.  If you can, I would recommend trying to get there around 7:00 or 8:00am so you can find a parking spot in the close lot.  Less time with heavy packs on your back is good.  After filling up our water bladders, water bottles and taking one last bathroom stop we were ready to start.  Kyle took a selfie of us in front of the Kalalau Trail sign and off we went.  I was eager to get started.  There was amazing feeling of anticipation of what we were about to experience but I was also worried.  We had gotten started a couple hours later than planned and my pack was so heavy.  I felt like Kyle had jumped on my back for a ride.  Eleven miles of this?!?  Yup. 

The trail went into an immediate incline.  I’m pretty sure we were climbing up a hill for the first mile of the trip.  That’s a great way to warm up your legs.  I was pouring sweat by the time we got to our first peak.  Our legs hut already.  We were sweaty and breathing hard.  This was only the first mile?  I just laughed at that thought.  But when I looked up to see the view, all those thoughts and the exhaustion fell away.  Before us were lush green mountain peaks dropping into the roaring vibrant blue ocean below and joy filled my chest.  We stood there in awe.  Or I did while Kyle was snapping tons of pictures.  Everyone was taking pictures.  So beautiful!

We continued along the path with many other travelers up ad down the mountain a couple more times until we reached the river at the two mile mark.  Most people stop here and either go back, go inland two more miles to the Hanakapi’ai Falls or go down to the beach.  Now it was time to leave the people and the well groomed trails to the real Kalalau Trail.  From here on is only for the committed.

We took a moment to rest, ate a cliff bar and started our next incline up the mountain.  Right as we were starting off again, we ran into a couple coming back from the Kalalau Beach.  They told us we were in for a treat.  The destination is amazing and well worth the trek.  W asked about the trail and they said we are about to get into muddy rain forest conditions.  The girl said the trail gets really good when we get out of the forest.  What we didn’t know is the rain forest covers the first seven miles or so of the trip.

So we pushed our way through tall brush creeping into the path (I kept getting smacked in the face!”, watched our footing on muddy rocks and endured the constant uphill climb or decent into another valley.  I’m not sure how many peaks and valleys we walked but there were a lot.  You end up ascending and descending around 200-600 feet for each peak and valley.  To say our legs were tired would be an understatement.  They were being ripped to shreds.  When we got to mile three we met another couple coming back from the trail end and they looked beat.  They were so glad to hear they were only about three miles from the finish line having started early in the morning to complete the whole eleven miles in a day.  We had discovered not too much earlier that it was taking us around an hour to complete a mile with water stops, rest stops and picture stops we were taking.  The couple confirmed that was how long it was taking them as well.  But they too said it’s all worth it and I wasn’t sure if we would even have enough light in the day to get there.  We wished the couple good luck and went our separate ways.

Despite being tired and sore, all of our other senses were alive taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the landscape.  Every time we came around the side of a mountain or reached a mountain peak, a new and even more beautiful sight would stand before us.  I couldn’t believe the landscape kept getting more and more beautiful and extravagant with each step.  At one point Kyle asked me if I heard thunder.  Looking around there didn’t seem to be a storm in sight.  The sound wasn’t an incoming storm, it was the waves crashing against the mountain cliffs.  The crashing waves were so loud hey were like claps of thunder.  Not like distant ones from an approaching storm but like close ones when the storm is right on top of you.  There were times when you could even feel them shake the ground beneath you.  So awesome.  We also heard many new bird songs.  Apparently mot of the birds on Kauai are not native to the area.  I’m sure we were hearing the cardinals and mockingbirds that were brought here long ago.  Their songs were so melodic.  Kyle would whistle along as we walked, I didn’t want them to stop singing.  While walking through the dense forest, the smell would become very rich.  I can’t describe the exact smell.  I suppose it’s close to the smell of wet dirt but way better.  Wet dirt laden on wonderful smelling flowers.  Something like that.  Simply rain forest.  Either way, it was a wonderful smell.  It would stop us in our racks and we’d have to take a moment to enjoy it.  All of this and more surrounded us as we hiked the trail.

Close to the six mile mark, exhaustion had set in for the both of us.  Kyle was still dealing with his legs cramping and it was getting pretty late.  Because of this, we decided to stop and camp at the campground there instead of going the full eleven miles.  I’m pretty sure our legs wouldn’t have held out anyway.  Initially, we thought we had missed the campground but another person we passed said it was still ahead.  Apparently our sense of time was getting skewed as we got tired.  We came upon the first camping spots not too much later.  There are some before and after another set of falls.  You’ll also find two cooking shelters and a toilet.  You can’t miss it.  We crossed the falls to the second set of campsites, found a spot, refilled our waters, set up camp in a clearing of coffee bean trees, cooked dinner and went straight to bed.  I think we fell asleep at 7;30pm.  A rain storm came through during the night but it was a short one.  Loud but short.  We got a pretty restful sleep that night.

Day 2:

The next morning we woke up with the sun.  It was around 7:00 in the morning.  The birds were singing their morning songs, livening our spirits for the last leg of our journey.  Our first task was to pack up the tent and backpacks before cooking breakfast.  Kyle and I worked together on that and as he finished up, I went to get breakfast started.  A group of three guys and two girls had come in the camp after us the night before.  We cooked breakfast together in the cook shelter and got to hear their stories.  The group came from all over the place.  One of the girls knew a tone about native culture and had apparently done her work studying up on the people of Kauai.  She knew so much about the history of that little island, I’m pretty sure native culture was a passion of hers born a long time ago.  Apparently her grandmother was a member of the last clan living in Yellowstone National Park before they were kicked out.  I believe in the 70’s.  I think that’s where her passion comes from.  One of the guys in their group was from Minnesota too.  I loved hearing how they all had gotten to this place.  Kalalau Trail happened to be one thing they all needed to check off on their list of life things to do.

As we finished up breakfast, you could hear the first helicopters begin their flight for the day.  We learned they started flying at around 8:30am.  Some are for civilian use and others to monitor us crazy hikers on the dangerous Na’ Pali Coast.

Though we had planned to get started early, we didn’t get on the trail until 10am.  But we had heard this part of the hike was the easiest.  Less ups and downs.  Less forest, which meant less plants whacking me in the face.  Yeah!  I was excited to get moving, we both were.  A gentleman who had posted himself in the cooking shelter as a temporary living space made me a walking stick which I was very grateful for.  That small bit of support helps so much when your legs are tired.  Off we went, it took about the first mile for our legs to warm up again, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday.  We could already feel our legs getting stronger and adapting to the strain.  After about the first mile, we were out of the forest and only reentered it here and there when dipping into valleys.  We were now into the most exposed part of the trail.  The little path was cut into the side of the mountains we were trekking around so there is about a 45 degree gradient above and below where you are walking.  It’s important to focus on sure footing because one false step and you would be tumbling down hundreds of feet of mountain straight into the ocean.  We were careful, very careful, but fear was never there.  We knew hundreds if not thousands of people had walked these cliffs/mountains before us and survived.  We were also completely enamored with our surroundings.  I couldn’t believe the landscape could continue to get more extravagant, but it did.  The mountains became more and more severe in their shape.  Bright green spires stood over us as if God had picked up spears of rock and threw them down to earth to land in a cluster on this island.  Awesome.

At about mile 8 we got to a point where we were practically bouldering around a cliff face.  The trail turns into a measly goat path with a cliff above you on your left and below you on your right straight down to the ocean.  Those mean, raging waves reminded you to be very careful in this spot.  If you are at all afraid of heights or get vertigo, please make sure you go with someone that can help.  Or find another way to get to the Na’ Pali Coast.  Your safety is not worth the risk.  But if you are good with heights and don’t get vertigo you will love this spot.  Kyle and I did.  You can see everything.  The full length of the shoreline, the heights of the mountain peaks and the distant horizon of the ocean.  If it wasn’t for the desire to reach our destination I would have stayed and enjoyed those scenes all day.  But the call to finish was always there, so we pressed on.

The last three miles went by quickly.  We passed a gentleman who said we were almost there and that once we started heading downhill, that’s the end.  Well, downhill was pretty much the whole final two miles.  Our legs were pretty sore by this time and getting weak.  For some reason when your legs are tired it’s harder to go downhill than up.  It was a struggle.  I’m pretty sure I jammed up all my toes too.

As we descended, the landscape went from a little bit of forest to a barren sandy mountain side to a bit of forest again once we hit the bottom.  The end of the trail was marked with another river/waterfall and we were there.  Another hundred yards and w started seeing the first campsites.  We had arrived!!  The Kalalau Beach was just in front of us; so peaceful and serene.  We walked down to the beach to officially mark the end of our hike and arrival to the coast.  Kyle and took a moment to breathe it in and then went straight to finding a campsite.  It was time to get the packs off our backs.  We found a spot that was elevated a little off the main path and near the bathrooms.  There weren’t very many other campers around.  The only other ones seemed to be some of the people that have made this place their home.  What we discovered later was that most visiting campers picked campsites closer to the beach.  But we didn’t mind, we like being where less people were.  Kyle got to work setting up the tent while I got lunch started.  It was around 1:00 in the afternoon.

Now it was time to get the beach and enjoy it.  We put on our swimsuits, grabbed the cameras and water and sauntered down there.  The sand was light and smooth under our feet.  What a comfort after being stuck in hiking boots for a day and a half.  There were people scattered here and there;  Some on the beach, some in the water.  It was by no means crowded like the popular tourist beaches we had seen on Kauai.  Now that’s our kind of place!  We took some time to take pictures of the beach and small water fall but soon decided to put the cameras away.  We almost felt disrespectful of where we were by trying to capture it in too many photos.  Na’ Pali Coast is meant to be experienced and so we did.  Kyle and I found a spot on the beach to rest and take in the whole experience.  Kyle decided to join the other people there who had taken the liberty of no rules to be completely naked.  I decided going topless was good enough for me.  That was our first experience of being on a nude beach and participating!  I’m not going to lie, it was quite enjoyable.

This is the part of the story where I want to g into so much more detail about what we experienced, saw, and the people we met but I’m not going to.  For those of you that will one day go to the Na’ Pali Coast, I want there to be an air of mystery for you; knowing you’ll experience much more than I have detailed in this blog.  And for those of you that will never go to the Na’ Pali Cost, I also want you to experience an air of mystery out of respect for the place and those who have gone there.  There are things you can only know and experience by going there and conquering the hike.  In saying that, Kyle and I went to bed as the sun set and fell asleep to the roaring sound of the ocean waves.  The next day would be very difficult and we wanted plenty of rest.

Day 3:

I had set my alarm for 6:00am but didn’t get up until 6:45.   I didn’t hear it.  With eleven hours of sleep, we were well rested and started packing up right away.  Our goal was to get out of camp by 8 or 8:30 because we needed to make the whole eleven miles today.  I was hoping we could complete it before 6:00pm at the latest.  Kyle and I worked together to pack up the tent and get breakfast started.  Our plan was to fill up our waters at the larger river as we were leaving the coast.  To my surprise we did pretty well and were heading out of camp by 8:30am as the first helicopter began their daily flights.  By the time we got hiking back wasn’t a whole new experience but it was different.  You saw everything from a different perspective (Hmmf, lesson for life maybe?).  The sun was rising behind the mountains which cast a beautiful glow over the peaks.  The uphill climbs before were now the descents: the descents now your uphill climbs and there were some really tough ones! It all went much faster because we knew where we were going and what was coming up next.  The 6 mile mark came fast.  We took a break to eat lunch which was a dry food pack we prepared at breakfast.  Kyle and I didn’t hang out long.  There were still six miles to the finish line.  Fatigue really started to set in at around our 8 mile much like the last few miles when running a marathon.  To make it worse, the rain we had gotten the day prior had made the path extremely muddy.  Every stop was tread in care so as not to slip.  So much for clean hiking boots.  They were caked in mud and so were we.  I can’t tell you how happy we were to reach the river/falls at the 2 miles mark.  We were back in civilization.  People were everywhere and we definitely stuck out.  I think our stink alone said we had just hiked the whole trail.  I was surprised how many people asked us about it and encouraged us along the last leg of our trip.  We walked with a family for almost the last two miles that were planning to hike the full trail a few days later.  The dad had a million questions but I was glad to answer them.  Talking to him distracted me from my exhaustion and hurting legs.  Kyle on the other hand was glad I talked to the guy because he wouldn’t have had the patience to answer all his questions being as tired as he was.  What a team we make lol!!

We took one more rest before making our final descent to the trail head.  A young couple walked with us the rest of the way and cheered us along.  I really did feel like we had just run a marathon and had the amazing spectators at the end to give us the little energy we needed to finish.  As we reached the end, relief and joy swept over me like an unexpected rush, I’m sure Kyle felt the same.  We had just accomplished an amazing feat.  Neither of us had gone backpacking before but even so we were able to complete a 22 mile hike over three days on one of the harder trails in the world.  Heck Yeah!!!  The young couple took some victory pictures for us and we parted ways. 

We took some time to clean up a little at the bathrooms before leaving.  Our plans for the rest of the evening were to get food in town and then head to Poipu to stay with our friends Will and Laura.  And that’s our story.  One that will be remembered forever and will always put a longing smile on my face.

Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, tell us how your trip went and/or give us advice for our next hiking excursion.

Take Time To Live!