Warning! This hike is for very experienced hikers only.
Trail conditions and weather can cause dangerous or deadly conditions.
In June of 2021 one of my sons joined me for three nights at Kalalau. During the summer months you can hike or kayak to Kalalau. We hiked it as my son likes to backpack. That turned out to be a good choice, as the ocean went from very calm to fairly wild during the three days we were there, and kayak launching from Kalalau would have been tough. Below is the “very calm”.
At around the 3.5 mile mark is the famous Space Rock. At this spot there is a flat rock that sticks out over an abyss that ends at the sea. I think this is the highest point on the trail. It definitely feels that way as it is a grunt-fest getting from Hanakapi’ai to Space Rock.
My memory may be cloudy but it seemed like there were a lot more flowers on the trail this time. Maybe it was the late-spring, early-summer timing but there were quite a few very showy plants. On the other hand there was less fruit around than when I have hiked in the fall. Fruit and flowers are both great things to have on such a difficult trail.
Each day the ocean would create a “second beach” by water from high tide rolling over the sand and filling a pool towards the shore. This pool got pretty huge, not very deep but almost the length of Kalalau. The beach at Kalalau builds in size over the summer and this seemed to be that process at work. It makes for a nice splash pool when the ocean is too rough for swimming.
We found a lot of trash in the camping area. The photo below is from one of our neighbors, they packed up early one morning and left the tarp. Presumably they thought someone might need it, or maybe they just forgot, but either way it is a huge piece of trash that nobody is likely to carry out. There was a lot of larger stuff like this around camp. Like on past visits I saw many people get dropped off from boats, which is not allowed, and I think some of them bring much more stuff than a backpacker might bring. Maybe they are leaving some of the larger stuff. It’s hard to say. Leave No Trace should be everyone’s goal.
OK here is a question for backpackers. This nice bowl was left in a campsite, along with a similar-looking necklace. They were made of natural items from the land. Is this “leaving a trace”? I think it is, but at the same time they were both very beautiful. The colors matched the moss on the rocks perfectly. I think if the trash issue was non-existent, we might be able to offer flexibility for things like this, but it’s also easy for things to get out-of-hand. For example, rock stacking is popular with hikers, but it is visually disruptive and also offends the Hawaiians. My motto — Leave No Trace.
Kalalau is a high-risk trail and the goats once again made it more sporty. Near Crawler’s Ledge we ran into a small group that were moving around right above the trail. You can just barely see two of them in this photo. We waited for them to finish what they were doing and then we booked through the area as quickly as we could.
The Kalalau Trail and Kalalau Beach are lovely places. Whether you visit from the water or the trail, and whether you camp or simply sail past, I hope you will consider that they are more than just photo opportunities or bucket-list items. The greens of the Na Pali, the infinite shades of ocean blue, the reds of the earth — these are more than just colors. Put your camera down and let them wash over you. You are in a sacred and special place.
