Warning! This hike is for very experienced hikers only.
Trail conditions and weather can cause dangerous or deadly conditions.
The Kalalau Trail on Facebook
In January of 2015 I hiked the Kalalau Trail with my son. This was the first time on the trail during the off season and also the first time I had hiked all the way to Kalalau Beach with any of my kids.
We got off to a very delayed start as someone had grabbed our suitcase at Lihue by mistake. Our bags looked similar but not identical, and their bag had the bright red tag shown above, so it is hard to imagine how this happened. Despite heroic efforts by Alaskan and ourselves to contact this individual, we did not hear from them until the next morning. At that point it was too late in the day to make it to Kalalau Beach, so we decided to hike as far as Hanakoa, roughly at the midpoint of the trail.
Fresh water on the trail can be contaminated with Leptospirosis and must be treated. We like to use the Steripen as it is very fast and allows for easy water bottle fills right on the trail. This photo was taken at Hanakapiai Beach. After this point the number of humans decreases radically.
After a great start on the trail, trouble struck again at Hanakoa. Crossing the stream there I slipped and fell completely into deep water. My entire pack was submerged. I was lucky not to get injured, but my beloved Canon t3i camera was soaked and never came back to life. Right after I picked myself out of the water a lovely young lady sitting on a nearby rock informed us that the “easy way” to cross was just a little ways upstream.
Hanakoa is not the best place to try and dry out after an event like this as there is virtually no sunlight. In fact Hanakoa is not my favorite spot on the trail. It is dank and dark, the campsites are just average, and the jungle location means there can be a lot of bugs. Nonetheless we did enjoy camping here and we were visited by a very friendly — and vocal — cat.
One benefit of camping at Hanakoa is that you can get an early start to Kalalau. We ate and got on the trail as soon as we could. Most of my gear was dry but the camera was still dead, so pictures from here on are iPhone 4 only.
We arrived at Kalalau Beach well before lunch. It was deserted, at least as compared to the other times I had been there. We set up in the trees and there were very few other people in the area. Later in the day it filled in a little, but overall things were very quiet. Even during this time of year though many of the best campsites were taken up by long-term campers — something I don’t like.
I attribute the fewer people to the fact that, during the time we were there, the only way to enter or exit was by hiking. The waves were far too big for any of the (illegal) shuttle boats to run, and kayaks are not allowed to land at all this time of year. When hiking is required, the numbers are kept much lower.
Kalalau Beach was as beautiful as always. Many things were the same in winter as the are in the summer. The tour boats and helicopters are as present as ever, and I recognized several resident campers that I had seen or met on previous visits, including Griz.
The beach was much smaller this time of year. Swimming to Honopu, which was not that hard in summer, would be a real challenge in winter. Also, the dry cave that is popular for camping in summer was flooded and would not be possible to camp in.
Three years after my first hike on the Kalalau Trail, I am finding that the trail is getting more eroded over time. There are several sections that are pretty crumbly. Even in dry weather it demanded constant attention. A little slip off the trail could result in a 1000-ft plunge to a rocky shore.
Water levels at the stream crossings and waterfalls were pretty low for this trip. A massive storm a couple of weeks earlier had stranded hikers and many had been choppered out, but during our hike some streams were totally dry.
After the hike we went straight for a Feral Burger at the Feral Pig, then we spent several nights at Poipu Makai. The whale watching was insane during these three days. We could see multiple pods at the same time, and the whales above came incredibly close to the coast and our lanai.
This trip to Kalalau was a little too short for my tastes. I would like to go and spend a week or so next time.
