Greetings and welcome to the next installment of Quickstride & Shambler’s Adventures around Kauai! I hope you enjoy!
Our first trip to Kauai had thus far been jam-packed full of adventures. When we woke up the morning after our boat tour of the Na Pali Coast, we were ready to try something on dry land for the day. As the crow flies, the first stop wasn’t all that far from our cottage at Barking Sands on the Pacific Missile Range Facility. Driving time, however, was another story.
Kauai is a tiny island, and the road that took us to the PMRF ends shortly after the turn for the PMRF, instead of continuing around the whole island. Instead of driving just a few miles further West/Clockwise, we had to drive East/Counterclockwise until we were driving West again. In order to make it to our reservation on the Na Pali Coast shuttle, we had to get up and on our way well before the Sun rose. Our first stop of the day: Safeway for breakfast.
The four of us wandered around the ready-made breakfast section of Safeway, selecting our own breakfast burritos and sandwiches wrapped in foil paper. With breakfast secured, it was off to the in-store Starbucks to procure caffeine. After securing the proper nourishment it was time to get back on the road.
Jenny drove our rented Subaru around Kauai, at first the road was typical highway, two to four lanes of traffic moving along at a good clip. Suddenly, we left the towns and plains of East Kauai and found ourselves on a narrow, winding road that shrunk down to one lane whenever we needed to cross a river. A few more miles of winding road and Jenny turned into a shale parking lot half-full of rental cars. We parked and joined the gaggle of fellow tourists waiting to board the Na Pali Coast shuttle.
The bus was completely full of eager tourists, and our little group of four ended up sitting near the driver. Bo chatted with our bus driver as he maneuvered the large vehicle through the last few miles of winding, one-lane road to the Na Pali Coast wilderness trail. While Bo and Blaine chatted up the bus driver, Jenny and I focused our attention out the window on the passing jungle.
We arrived at the Na Pali Coast wilderness trail parking area safely, and immediately could see why Bo had highly recommended we use the bus service. The parking lot was tiny, only about a dozen parking spaces, and even at this early hour the lot was completely full. There was a small bathroom, a small parking monitor station, and the trail head and that was it. Past the bathroom, you could see the shoreline. A fair number of our bus companions headed straight to the beach. We hit the bathroom first, then went straight for the trail head.
The Na Pali Coast trail, also referred to as the Kalalau Trail, is quite long, a twenty mile round trip. Hikers who want to hike the whole trail need to acquire a permit from the Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources. Hikers without permits are supposed to turn around at Hanakapi’ai Beach, about two miles into the trail.
Our little quartet of hikers were among those without permits to traverse the entire trail. Which was fine by me, because nothing sounded worse to my torn up ankles than a twenty mile hike up and down jungle-covered mountains. A four mile round-trip was going to be good for me, thank you very much.
Anyway, we set off on our hike of the first 20% of trail. Right off the bat, the Na Pali Coast trail gives hikers a little cultural treat. We walked away from the parking lot, and right onto a raised boardwalk that took us over/through an irrigated Taro field. Taro is a staple crop of the traditional Hawaiian diet. A starchy root vegetable, Taro is turned into poi, taro chips, and lu’au leaf to make laulau. Poi is pureed taro paste, purple in color, porridge-like in texture, and bland in taste. Laulau is steamed or boiled Taro leaves served with some sort of meat, usually pork.
We trudged on, past the Taro field and into the meat of the trail. While our hike was only two miles out, it was fairly rugged. For about the first half of the trail, we predominantly climbed up. Seasonal rains made the trail muddy and slippery. Up we climbed, about as fast as the trail would allow.
We passed several groups of hikers who paused to take in the view at any of the many scenic overlooks. Those were the smart hikers, the ones who paused to take in the natural beauty of the Garden Isle. Our group did not do that until we reached the apex of the hike, about halfway to Hanakapi’ai Beach. Sucking wind, we finally paused to look out at the Na Pali Coast, which we had seen from the ocean the day before.
Then it was time to head down to Hanakapi’ai Beach. The last half of the trail was just as treacherous as the first half, except this time we were heading down. If you’ve done any amount of hiking, you know that heading up sucks because your legs and lungs are straining to push you higher, but going down sucks because your knees and ankles are fighting to keep you from succumbing to gravity.
We arrived at Hanakapi’ai Beach without falling too much or too hard. The last part of the trail to the beach was crossing a river, which a hiker can do either by walking through the water or trying to “rock hop” on the stones sticking above the water. Bo chose to rock hop across, making it look quite easy. I tried, but then ended up wading across the water anyway.
Finally at the beach, we took the chance to relax and catch our breath. We took our hiking boots and socks off, stretched our toes in the sand, and waded into the ocean. There was ample shade in the tree line at the top of the beach, where we rested until the beach started to fill up with tourists.
By late morning, the beach was nearly full and we had rested enough for the return journey. Back across the river we went, this time I managed to get all the way across without falling into the river. Into the trail we went and back up the way we came.
This time around, there were a lot of hikers heading towards the beach. We amused ourselves by giving many groups friendly but odd greetings. My favorite was “Good Noon!” shouted at a hiker at exactly 12:00:00 PM. That greeting prompted the hiker we shouted at to pause and check his watch. “I suppose it is,” he said with a look on his face that asked us what was wrong with us.
Eventually, we made our way back to the parking lot, boarded the shuttle bus back to our car, and headed off to find lunch. We stopped in Hanalei, found a miraculous parking spot when a car pulled out right in front of us, and walked around a bit before settling on a lunch spot. Treating ourselves to a few drinks and refueling with a heavy lunch, we ate fast, then headed down to Hanalei Bay to relax on the beach.
Our last full day on Kauai was finished. We drove back to the cottage on the PMRF in the dark. By the time we arrived, the stars were full out, and we spent the last night sitting on the lanai, looking at stars and drinking most of the rum we had left.
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