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 May of 2011 I hiked the Kalalau Trail with three friends. We had hiked the Haleakala cabin loop on Maui immediately prior to this outing. After flying to Kauai from Maui we spent one night at a cheap hotel (for Kauai at least), and then made for the trail very early the next morning. This is a photo of my friend Glen. He looks good but he actually was feeling pretty ill at the time.
The Kalalau Trail, on the Na Pali coast of Kauai, is 11 miles in total, ending at Kalalau Beach. The first two miles of the trail do not require a permit and are very popular with day hikers. This first stretch ends at Hanakapiai Beach. Although the trail is popular, it is pretty rugged and hikers should be prepared for all conditions. The views even in this first two miles are spectacular.
At the two mile mark is a stream crossing and Hanakapiai Beach. When we stopped there some people were camping, however I don’t believe this is allowed. The beach here is not safe for swimming.
The middle section of this trail is famous for its narrow pathway and steep dropoffs. Although we felt fairly safe, there was little margin for error and a slip would be fatal. When we passed through the trail was totally dry; in rain it would be quite scary.
Another shot of the trail — look for the hiker far below. This trail is constanly gaining and losing altitude, in fact it never seems to have a flat section. It is a lot of work the entire way to the beach!
After a long descent over steep, slabby sand shelves, the trail finally arrives at Kalalau Beach. We arrived fairly early in the afternoon as we had launched just after dawn. We had our choice of campsites and did not see many other people until much later. Despite the stories of the beach being a nudist nirvana, we only saw one naked person and she was kind of wandering in the woods. We were also surprised to find many vines of very tiny tomatoes running along the beach. I threw some of these into a Mt House backpack meal and they helped out the taste.
This waterfall at the far end of the beach is the easiest place to get water. We saw several people rinsing in the waterfall directly, however we later saw a grapefruit-sized rock come down directly in the path of the water, so keeping a distance from the flow is a good idea. All fresh water here is subject to Leptospirosis and should be treated. We used a SteriPen for the first day or so but then had to switch to boiling when the SteriPen battery died.
When we were at the waterfall there was a PVC pipe to make funneling the water into a bottle easier. Unfortunately someone had used soap in the stream below the falls, making a nasty trail of bubbles that went down to the ocean. Even Dr. Bronner’s camp soap causes this kind of mess. No soap should ever be used directly in rivers, streams, or lakes.
We camped up in the trees, about 100 feet back from the beach. Some of the sites are closer to the sand then this. Our area was very nice however it did get crowded over the day and a half we were there. There are no distinct sites in this canopied area, people just fill in wherever they can. There was one very large, seemingly abandoned camp here with lots of semi-permanent gear. It seems the rangers had come through and chased many long-term (illegal) campers off of the beach. It really was a mess, and we did not take a picture of it.
This is the view looking up from the water towards camp, near sunset when the cliffs almost glow. Yes, we had carried our SlingLightchairs with us. Sadly the SlingLight company is no longer around.
While we never found the “large” swimming hole, we did find a place to swim. I think we scared away a young couple that had been swimming when we arrived. The trail that we were following seemed to end at this spot.
Late in the afternoon on our second day we had a massive rain shower. The rain came down heavily for about two hours and the sunset was very colorful with the clouds. I was using a Sublite TarpTent, which is an ultra-lightweight, single-walled tent that uses trekking poles for the tent structure. This was the first time I had it in rain and it did not leak at all. This is a great tent for backpacking as it weighs only 1 pound total. It’s small inside, but I usually sleep outside anyway so it is perfect for me.
We departed for the hike out before dawn. That is our normal approach — getting an alpine start so that we miss any afternoon weather, we miss hiking in the hottest part of the day, and we get to our next camp nice and early. This worked well for us at Haleakala as well.
The hike out was absolutely gorgeous, perhaps the best of the trek. The combination of the rising sun, the sparkling clean air from the rain the day before, and the feeling of being on the trail made for an amazing morning.
