Thoi & Bill's Hike of the Kalalau Trail, Kauai, May 2007

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Thoi and I were finally able to do our Kalalau Trail hike this past week.  This hike has been in the planning stages for a couple of years now and almost happened in August 2006 but had to be cancelled at the very last moment due to bad weather. 

We arrived in Kauai on Saturday May 26^th, 2007.  Late that afternoon Thoi and I went up to “Kayak Kauai” in Hanalei and picked up a gas bottle for our camp stove (you can’t bring this sort of thing on an airplane, even in your checked luggage).  On Sunday we did a bit of grocery shopping for the rest of our stay there. 

The statistics regarding the Kalalau Trail in Kauai are as follows:

-  The trail head begins at the end of the road on the north side of the island, at Ke’e beach.  (Pronounced Kay-ay).   The road does not go entirely around the island. 

-  There is one trail, but it can be broken up into several segments, depending upon where you want to go and what your goal is. 

-  At 2 miles in is Hanakapi’ai beach, a very nice beach with pounding surf which could be dangerous to swim in.  It also has a rushing, refreshing, fresh water stream with large boulders, running into the ocean.  This is Hanakapi’ai Stream.  From there you can go inland (up-valley) 2 more miles to Hanakapi’ai Falls. 

-  Back on the main trail, at mile marker 6, there is a closed campground (Hanakoa) with a stream where you can get water or refresh yourself in it.  It’s fairly dark and covered so not much sun gets in.  There is certainly no beach here as you’re in an inland valley, up about 650 feet above sea level.  Despite being closed, people camp here anyway and it’s not just because they wanted to defy authorities, but because they had to stop to rest. 

-  At mile marker 8 there is another nice stream, an emergency helipad and some flat spots where people sometimes camp, despite it not being an official camp site.  Again, this is inland and not very pretty, but could be a very welcome resting point if necessary. 

-  At mile marker 10 is Kalalau Stream…you’re almost there.  This is a very nice stream to cool off in and just set amongst the large boulders and rushing water.  One more mile to the beach and campgrounds. 

-  The entire Kalalau Trail is 11 miles each way and depending upon your pace, may take anywhere from 3 hours to 12 or more hours.  Some of the people living in Kalalau Valley know this trail so well that they run the trail, hence the 3 hour time.  Obviously you can’t run the entire thing, but there are portions where you could make good time if you’re in great shape, you know the trail very well, and it’s not wet or slippery. 

-  The highest elevation point on the trail is 850 feet, but you’re going between that and sea level continuously. 

-  The Sierra Club rates this trail either 9 or 10 out of 10 for strenuousness, depending on where you look, and is in the top 10 of the best hikes in the entire world.  See the following quotes from the Sierra Club: 

1.)  “The Kalalau Trail rates as one of the most beautiful hikes in the world, and one of the most difficult -- earning a Sierra Club rating of 10 on its difficulty scale.” 

2.)  “It's (the Kalalau Trail is) a classic and rated as one of the 10 best hikes in the world by the Sierra Club.”

We had camping permits beginning on the night of the 28^th of May and running through the night of the 1^st of June.  We did this because of last years weather “surprise” and hoped that this way we could get at least 2 or 3 good days out of the week.  As it turned out, we had excellent weather for the entire time we were there.  We had a little sprinkle on Wednesday afternoon, but it was certainly nothing to write home about.  We really did luck out with the weather as on Monday and Tuesday of the following week it rained most of both days. 

The weather report for Monday the 28^th of May sounded good, so we planned to get up early that morning so as to be at the trail head by sunrise, 5:55AM.   It is a 30 mile, 50 minute trip to the trail head.  We clocked it on Sunday.  By the time we got everything ready, we ended up leaving the condo around 5:10AM.  We arrived at the trailhead at 6:05AM.  However, over the years of doing the first two mile portion of this trail and usually arriving early, we have seen too many cars obviously left there overnight, up on blocks and without their wheels.  So we were not going to park and leave the car at Ke’e beach, rather I decided to park at Ha’ena Beach/Campground a mile up the road, towards Hanalei (a lot more people around both day and night).  So I dropped Thoi and the packs off at the trailhead, gave her a walkie talkie (I had the other) and proceeded to drive back to the Ha’ena Beach to park the car.  I arrived there and immediately called Thoi to tell her that I was on my way back by foot.  There was no response.  I kept calling every few hundred feet until I finally got hold of her.  I was only about ½ mile from the trailhead by then.  These Motorola GMRS “12 mile” walkie talkies may work if you’re on one mountain peak and the other person is on another mountain peak, with nothing in between but thin air, but they certainly don’t work well if you have a mountain between them. 

It took me about 17 minutes to walk back to Thoi at the trailhead as I didn’t want to risk ruining my feet before this hike by running. 

We found that the use hiking sandals for this hike worked best because of the wet and muddy conditions with lots of stream crossings.  But apparently Thoi hadn’t broken in her new hiking sandals with bare feet well enough before this trip, as the day before “The Hike” (on Sunday), we went for a little 4 mile walk behind the condo and up the coast.  When we got back, Thoi showed me two huge blisters on her toes that she didn’t have before this little stroll. 

Monday morning came way too early.  We got things ready, including Thoi using Spenco’s “Second Skin”, Moleskin, and bandaids on her blisters and on potential future blister sites.  I just wrapped my feet with white medical tape as I had been doing for the past couple of years when I do a hike with my hiking sandals.   It’s worked well in the past. 

We had tried to limit our backpacks to about 30 to 35 pounds.  And to be honest, we really don’t know what they weighed as we didn’t have any way to weigh them, but they both were likely around 5 to 10 pounds more than our goal when everything was all packed up. 

We each had around 2.5 liters of water (5.5 lbs) in our integrated 3 liter water bladders (can’t fill them all the way to 3 liters), blow-up mattress pads, poncho’s, emergency space blanket, walkie talkie, flashlight, toothbrush and paste, inflatable pillow, dried food, etc.  I also carried the tent, the stove & fuel, the cookset, GPS, compass, flint/magnesium firestarter, digital camera, spare batteries for all of our equipment, Gerber Multi Tool, sunscreen, glasses, contacts and solutions, water filter and treatment tablets, and the infamous “orange shovel”.  Neither of us brought a sleeping bag, at the recommendation of Micco, our friend who runs “Kayak Kauai” in Hanalei, and we were glad we didn’t as we would have over heated and carried in an unnecessary item.  I brought a “mummy liner” which is basically a cocoon-like sheet and Thoi brought a large piece of silky material from a fabric store that worked well in these conditions.  Thoi also carried two sandwiches for our lunch on the first day and three oranges.  Although heavy, we have found that there is nothing quite so refreshing during a strenuous hike as an orange. 

Oh yeah, I’m sure you’re wondering what the “infamous orange shovel” is all about.  Well, it’s used to make a hole in the ground to “do your business” in, if you get my drift.  But when we got there we found that there was a self composting outhouse so we never needed to use the “orange shovel” on this hike.  Maybe next time. ;)

The first ½ mile was not as difficult as I had expected.  I’d figured that this would be the most difficult portion as we had not yet gotten our heart rates up and were still getting used to the packs, not to mention that the first 15 minutes is all uphill.  During the hike, I was thinking of ways to accurately describe the strenuousness of this hike to a person who had not experienced it.  I think that the best way to describe it is to take a “StairMaster” (a continuous stair stepping workout type of machine at most gyms) and double the standard step height to about 24”, then do that continuously for 11 hours straight with only a few breaks.  I think that this pretty much sums up this hike. 

Because of having to park so far from the trailhead and walking back before beginning the hike, we didn’t actually begin the hike until 6:40AM, which we will later find out was a mistake as it didn’t give us enough leeway before sundown.  The entire way there, we were concerned about not making it to the beach before sundown. 

We used our trekking poles all the way which made things MUCH easier as they provide balance, extra push when going up hill, and additional stability when in a very precarious location or going downhill.  I also swear that trekking poles, used correctly, help to prevent blisters as you don’t have to use your feet to try to stabilize yourself, rather you can use your poles for this while the feet set flat on the ground as much as is possible. 

By the time we got to Hanakapi’ai Beach, (first 2 miles) in 1 hour and 15 minutes, we were happy to see the stream and splash water on ourselves.  Thoi also took this opportunity to adjust her foot protection and apply more moleskin.  The Spenco “Second Skin” just squishes out uselessly and makes it so that the moleskin won’t stick on.  At this 2 mile point, I was thinking to myself that I still have 9 more miles of this grueling trail and was wondering how we were ever going to be able to complete it.  Normally getting to the 2 mile point is not “grueling”, but add a 35 (or more) pound pack in the equation and it changes everything. 

Right after Hanakapi’ai Beach you go from sea level to the highest point on the trial of 850 feet by way of a series of switchbacks.  In other words, continuous up hill for a time.  Then after a short flat section, you go back down several hundred feet through another series of switchbacks.  This sort of thing is repeated over and over throughout the entire trail. 

Starting at Hanakapi’ai Beach and much of the way thereafter, we heard from different people coming back, telling us about a certain section of the trial at around the 7 mile marker.  Or rather they were warning us about this section of trail.  One person told us to try and make it across this section before the winds pick up in the late afternoon.  Several other people told us that they turned back at that point and camped at 6 mile (they never did make it).  They also told us not to cross that section.  They were not just warning us, they stated that we should not continue past that section.  Then another younger guy coming back told us just to be careful and we’d be fine.  Then after we passed the 6 mile marker (prior to the dreaded 7 mile section), we stopped at a precipice and overlook that had a wide spot before a long downhill section where we decided to eat our sandwiches.  There we met another young hiker coming out from Kalalau Valley.  He just plopped himself down on a rock next to us and began talking.  His name, as we would later find out, was Joey.  We asked him about the dreaded 7 mile section.  He took us up to the ledge and pointed WAY DOWN at a section of red, crumbly dirt that looked impossibly far down.  He said, “…That’s it, but it’s really no big deal.  Just don’t look down or you might get vertigo.” 

Also at the Hanakoa Stream at mile 6, we met a man and his three adult sons who were also doing the trail.  They were parked there in the stream, tending to blisters on their feet.  They said that they just finished doing a 13 mile hike on the Big Island in the Hawaii Volcano’s National Park 3 days earlier.  They said that they do a LOT of hiking but agreed that this trail was something else.  He said if he were to take his wife on this hike (referring to Thoi and I as husband and wife), he’d have to find a good divorce attorney when he got back.  We ended up passing them, then they would pass us, and back again all the rest of the way to end of the trial.  They arrived at Kalalau Beach only a few minutes before us. 

After lunch we continued down the switchbacks to the dreaded 7 mile section.  It was somewhat treacherous because it was downhill, it had marble like, crumbly, volcanic gravel and sand.  The “trail”, if you can call it a trail, was only about 4 inches wide (one sandal width), it had a steep slope to the ocean three or four hundred feet below, and there was no vegetation to stop your fall should you loose your footing.  It resembled a Martian landscape.  We just got down to the business of doing it and it didn’t seem all that bad.  This section, as it turns out, was not the worst part.  We got out of the gravel part and into solid rock by now.  But when we were mostly through it, we rounded a corner to the next valley and we were hit by a blast of wind.  This was the worst portion as it was only about 1 foot wide or so and goes straight down for about 300 feet on one side and has a vertical wall on the other side.  Going back, we will discover that we barely even noticed this section.  I guess we got used to it.  Certainly we now knew what to expect, so it really was no big deal. 

By mile 8, Thoi was beginning to show signs of the stress of the trail.  She said that she nearly gave up at this point but was too stubborn to stop after getting this close.  I have to admit, though, she was remarkable to continue at this point as I felt pretty bad by then too with too much weight on my shoulders and realizing that we still had 3 miles yet to go.  All I wanted to do at that point was to take off my pack and set there for a long, long time.  But I knew that if we did that there, then we might never get to the beach which was the “pot of gold” that kept us going all along the way. 

Finally we came up to a sign that said “Kalalau.  This is sacred land.  Give it your utmost care, respect and leave knowing you have preserved it for future generations.”  But we weren’t there yet!  Although we had a nice view of Kalalau beach, we still had to do “Red Hill”.  This was a steep downhill section of red dirt and gravel before we got to the beach.  About half way down Red Hill, we stopped for a break and to take pictures.  Then we got to a flat section that crossed the mouth of Kalalau Valley…but we’re still not there yet!  This broke out to a stream that we would later find out was Kalalau Stream and a mile marker that said “Mile 10”.  We saw a woman camping there and thought that maybe this is it, but where’s the beach and where are all the other campsites???  She told us that we had to cross the stream and pick up the trail on the other side and continue about another mile.  STILL ONE MORE MILE TO GO!!!  I thought to myself, it never ends!  So we stopped there for a moment to scoop up water in our hats and put it on our heads to reduce the possibility of heat stroke.  I also carried Thoi’s backpack for a little while here to help her out. 

Just after we picked up the trial on the other side of the stream, we saw a sign that had arrows and miles listed.  To our left was a 2 mile trail up the Kalalau Valley, to the right was Kalalau Beach and the campgrounds.  It didn’t list a distance.  But it turned out to be about 0.8 miles or so all the way to the end of the beach where the waterfall was, the only source of water other than this stream.  Just a few minutes later I ran out of water so I used Thoi’s water for a while and despite that there were many campsites along the way that we passed, I was on a mission to hit the waterfall where we could drop our packs at a nearby camp site, get into the water to cool off, and make more water to drink.  Just as we arrived at the waterfall, Thoi ran out of water too. 

The campsites here at Kalalau Beach are not numbered or structured.  You just take a flat spot that seems like a campsite when you get there.  Some also had obvious fire pits, as did ours.  Just about 50 feet from the waterfall were a couple of flat spots that obviously were camp sites.  So we decided to drop our packs there to “stake our claim” and head to the waterfall.  When we got there, there were several naked people already in the water, bathing and gathering water. 

The man and his three sons who we kept passing on the way in, had taken a camp site much nearer to the stream but further away from the waterfall.  They obviously got so tired that they just took the first campsite that they saw.  Luckily for us, I had water on the mind and headed to the end before selecting a campsite.  Theirs was in a dark area covered by trees, with lots of leaves on the ground.  Our camp site was just about perfect.  We had a nice, bright, open area of dirt with several rocks to set on, overlooking the beach, and we were less than 50 feet from the waterfall.  The trail leading to the waterfall ran right by our campsite, so we were able to see and talk with a lot of people on their way either to or from the falls.  The location of our campsite also had the benefit of the continuous sound of the water falling into the pool below and the ocean surf crashing.  We had a perfect place to watch the sun set each evening and we could look straight up to see the moon and stars at night.  The only downside was that it was incredibly hot during the day.  But that too was alleviated by the fact that our campsite really was two sites and nobody took the second location where there was nice shade that we used for much of the time during the heat of the day. 

Earlier I mentioned that I was going to “make water”.  What I meant by that was that the water here in Kauai is allegedly contaminated by Leptospirosis from the urine of sick goats upstream.  So after much research I found that simply filtering your water did not remove the Leptospirosis, but that you had to treat it with Iodine as well.  So I ended up filtering, then treating all of our water.  Sure you could boil it, but that takes lots of fuel and then at the end, you have hot water to drink.  It’s very hard to cool it off to a temperature that makes it thirst quenching in a tropical environment.  Making water turned out to be nearly a full time job for me while we were there.  It would take 15 to 30 minutes to draw and filter 4 liters of water, then 30 minutes to treat it, then 5 more minutes with the neutralizing tablets to remove the iodine taste.  It was also a good thing that I filtered it as by about the 5^th time I used the filter, it was taking an inordinate amount of time and effort to fill our 4 liter water bladder.  It turned out that the ceramic filter was clogged.  I cleaned it and the filtering went much faster and easier from then on. 

A factor causing stress to our hike in to Kalalau Valley was to get there before sundown at 7:15PM.  So it was a relief when we finally arrived at the campground at 5:30PM.  It took us 11 hours.  The tent went up easily and without incident.  Now that we had water and shelter we could relax.  Thoi and I decided to take our showers at this point.  We did so “in” the waterfall.  Although it was initially a shock to us because it felt so cold, it eventually felt wonderful.  For you environmentalists out there, this stream flowed about another 50 feet to the beach where it just dissipates into the sand.  Also everybody else was bathing in this waterfall with soap and shampoo (the stream was only about 6 inches deep at the pool).  So because of this, we drew water for drinking directly from the waterfall, not from the pool or the stream below it. 

By the time we got there, both of us had some blisters to deal with.  Mine were just hot spots and were in places that I had missed when I taped my feet in the morning.  (Note to self: tape further up my feet in the future).  Thoi faired pretty well, but had developed some additional blisters too. 

I think, though, that we faired a lot better than some people who came in after us.  One guy had quarter size, open blisters on both sides of both feet.  He used hiking boots.  Later we saw him walking on the sand in bare feet.  By the way he was walking you could tell that he was in GREAT PAIN. 

Now that we were there, we could relax and get to know the people there.  Overall there were probably about 30 or 40 people in various locations spread about the 1.8 square mile area.  The beach alone was about 1 mile long by about 500 feet wide.  There were typically about 1 to 2 people on this entire beach.  A little different in density from something like Waikiki Beach in Honolulu.  What I’m trying to say is that most of the people were unseen most of the time as it’s such a large area with so few people. 

On our way in to the campground area, one of the guys there welcomed us to Kalalau Beach and complemented us on our accomplishment of hiking the trail all in one stretch as most people camp one or more nights along the way on the way in.  He started a conversation, but quickly realized that we had to put our packs down before we could talk comfortably.  Later on we did have time to talk with him.  We will refer to this guy as the “naked guy”.  Most of the time there he was naked but he, and several of the others there, perform a very necessary service.  They walk around the beach and campground area all the time and pick up trash that inconsiderate hikers leave there.  The entire area was VERY clean because of the efforts of people like him and the others. 

Our first dinner there was just a cup-o-noodles each.  So I started the stove with my flint fire starter (one stroke and it’s going), and placed one of our two pots onto the fire.  I believe that Thoi then put in enough water for both of the cup-o-noodles.  After just a couple minutes the water was boiling and we had hot soup for dinner. 

That first night was spent just recuperating from the hike in.  Just a little after sundown Thoi and I went into the tent and “died”.  We slept very well that night, except for a couple of charlie horses I had in my right leg during the night and having to pee several times.  And in a tent, where you can’t stand up to work out the charlie horse, this was very “interesting”.  The next morning we were new people.  It’s a wonder what a good nights sleep will do. 

 We were up several times to pee and saw two women come in during the night.  They put up their tent on the beach with flashlights. 

The next morning we got up around sunrise and made tea.  I also made more water.  Later on we decided to walk back to the Kalalau Stream and to explore some.  I was really surprised that we could walk at all, but we did fine.  In fact it was a good thing not to just set around after such a strenuous use of our muscles the day before.  This kept them from tightening up.  Our feet were also very good, considering. 

After soaking in the stream for a time, we decided to go “up valley” some as we had heard about something called the “Ginger Pool”.  So we started up the 2 mile valley trail.  But a short ways up there was a “Y”.  We just happened to run into the naked guy at this “Y” and he directed us which way to go.  We took the up hill trail until we hit a crossing of the stream.  We didn’t think that this was the Ginger Pool so we turned around.  Later on we found out that we were just about there, but that we had to make a left on another trail just before that stream crossing.  But all was not in vain as we had also gone up there to collect Mango’s, which we were successful in doing. 

When we got back down to the “Y” again, on our way back to camp, we again ran into the naked guy, but this time talking with a topless woman.  He finished up as we arrived there, so we asked him again for clarification on the directions and it was here that we realized the error that we had made.  Oh well, at least we got the Mango’s. 

I had never really cared much for Mango’s before this, but that day when we feasted on Mango’s back at the camp, they tasted so good. 

On our way back to camp, we were stopped by a guy who had just arrived with his wife, likely the night before.  He was on a mission to find another way out other than by hiking and wanted to ask us if we knew of any other ways.  He said that the hike in about killed them and didn’t think that they could make it back out.  At the time we didn’t know of any other ways out, but later on while down at the waterfall, while making more water, I was talking with another “resident” of the valley, Richie, and he told me that there is a guy named Bert who brings his boat in frequently to re-supply some of the people and to take people in and out. 

Years ago they used to have regular permits to allow boats to drop off and pick up tourists at Kalalau Beach, but it was shut down when it became a circus there and the place was “trashed”, as one of the residents told us.  I mention “residents” because although you can only get permits for one week at a time, people live there anyway.  Some might call them flower children, or hippies, or whatever, but whatever you want to call them, they are very nice, peaceful people.  In fact it is because of these people that we had such a “magical” experience while there at Kalalau Beach.  It’s difficult to explain if you haven’t spent time there, but the combination of the beautiful setting, the peaceful, often topless or naked people, the peace and quiet, the stress less, simple life, and the seclusion all made it what Micco called a magical place.  The more time you spend there, the more you feel it. 

We also had a very nice, lengthy conversation with a topless girl from San Luis Obispo, Shannon, who is also living in the valley.  She said that she had quit her job, dropped out of school, sold all her possessions, and came to Kalalau to live.  While it may not be the most recommended way to run ones life, if she’s happy and can continue to live happy this way, then who are we to judge her.  She, and most of the people we spoke with there all have one thing in common, they are just looking for peace and happiness.  Apparently they have found it here in Kalalau Valley…even if it’s only momentary. 

There is also a blue tent there, made of tarps, which is pretty much a community tent for some of the residents who aren’t up in the valley and for the “mayor” of Kalalau.  Rick and Sarah, and some others reside there.  They are the people we spoke with to find out more information on the boat and whether or not it might be coming in during the next day or two.  We had just resigned ourselves to the prospect of having to hike back out the way we came in, but when we heard about this boat, we looked into it as a possibility of an easier way out.  The only downsides were that there was no particular schedule for the boat as he is just a private boat owner and you had to float yourself and your back pack out to the boat through the huge, crashing surf.  But if he were going to come, it would likely be between 8AM and 11AM for lower surf conditions.  So not knowing if the boat was even going to come in on Wednesday, we packed up as much as possible without tearing down the tent and watched for a boat to arrive.  We were told what type of boat to look for. 

Lots of boats came and went, but none of them stopped.  They were all sight-seeing boats.  Then as we were about to give up and we started some lunch going, we saw one come by and it turned in toward shore.  So we started to deflate the mattress pads and pillows and put things away.  I quickly scarfed my meal while Thoi threw her Spaghetti and Meatballs in the trash bag.  But I didn’t get to the tent as when the boat got closer we realized that it didn’t meet the description we were given.  It turned out that this was another boat that dropped off some people and LOTS of supplies for them and that it came from the West side, not from Hanalei which is where Bert would come from. 

Now I suppose that a boat is a boat at this point, but we had already made a connection with Bert’s people here in camp and didn’t know these others.  So we gave up going out by boat since we were planning on going out by Thursday at the latest and we would have to leave well before any boat could come in on Thursday.  So it now seemed as though we were going to have to hike back out the same way as we had come in.  So we went back to the Blue Tent to talk with Sarah and the rest about the boat for possible future times in or out of the valley when Zack, another resident, came up and made us an offer.  He said, “…There is another way.”  He said that he could “sherpa” (carry) Thoi’s pack out for $75.  At this point, this was a god send as her pack was the main reason that this hike was so hard for her on the way in. 

So we decided that we would start hiking the next morning at first light.  And that didn’t mean at sunrise or after, but when it became just light enough to see the trail.  So we got up at 4AM and finally Thoi allowed me to tape up her feet like I usually do mine, and I wrapped mine double width as I should have on the way in.  It took us 30 minutes to get our feet wrapped properly.  Neither of us got new blisters on the way out and there was no pain from our present blisters. 

After that I got the stove set up and running to get tea for Thoi and I while I started deflating the air mattresses and pillows.  Just around 5AM somebody came into our camp with a flashlight.  He told us that Zack had gotten really sick and couldn’t make the hike out today.  So since he was going to go out that day anyway, he said that he would take Thoi’s pack out in place of Zack.  His name was Joey, the same guy we had met on our way in on Monday (he was on his way out at that time).  He had to make several trips in and out because he had borrowed a guy’s car and it “blew up” on him.  So, as the rule goes in Kauai, “you break it, you buy it”.  But apparently cars are quite an easy commodity to come by there for as little as $200.  Of course, he wanted to try to work out some other way if possible, hence the reason he had to go in and come out so much recently. 

So by 5:30AM I had gotten the tent down and everything packed up and we were able to see the trail…a little…so we started hiking out.  A good thing too that we chose this hour to leave as the first thing we hit, after crossing the Kalalau Stream and the mouth of the valley, was “Red Hill”.  We had to stop a couple times on the way up, but we made it very quickly compared to the way down it on Monday.  Then came the treacherous section at mile 7, but it was easy this time.  Overall the trail was VERY easy on the way out compared to the way in and it only took us 9.5 hours.  I was still carrying my pack, but Joey was carrying Thoi’s pack except at the mile 7 section where Joey said that he needed Thoi to carry his pack (which was mostly empty) at this point so that he could see his feet.  But other than that, he carried both his and her pack. 

We stopped at mile 6 to pump, filter, and treat another 4 liters of water.  Then we stopped at mile 2, Hanakapi’ai stream, where we all went into the water for about 15 minutes to cool down.  After drying our feet, we continued to finish the last 2 miles with a vengeance.  But this rate caught up to me just about 0.25 mile from the end of the hike.  I was getting light headed and had to just set still for about 10 minutes while Thoi took out a granola bar for me to eat.  After that I felt fine and continued with renewed energy.  Other than a cup of tea in the morning, some crackers, and an orange, we hadn’t had anything much to eat all day.  Of course we drank 7 liters of water between Thoi and I throughout the day. 

Then after we finished, we dropped our packs and Joey and I walked another mile back to Ha’ena Beach campground to retrieve the car.  I then drove back to load up the packs and pick up Thoi.  For a large portion of the trail, Joey was talking about wanting to get a big burger when he finished.  So the first thing we did when we all got into the car was to drive into Hanalei to get a burger at “Bubba Burgers”.   A cold soda never tasted so good.  Joey had a triple burger and fries while Thoi and I just had singles with fries. 

The day after the hike, Thoi and I went to Waimea Canyon to look at the Kalalau Valley from above and to look at where we had been just the day before.  On the way there, we went through the town of Waimea.  From the recommendation of two of the campers at Kalalau Beach, we searched out a store called “Auntie Lilikoi’s” in Waimea.  They manufacture and sell all sorts of mustards, sauces, and salad dressings, including wasabi mustard (very good).  Anyway, there was a local Hawaiian guy running the register so we got to talking with him about how we heard about the store and that it was from a camper at Kalalau Beach.  He just looked at Thoi with an incredulous look as if to say “you did that hike???”  He said that he used to do it but he has a bad knee now and knows how difficult it is.  He congratulated us for accomplishing this difficult feat. 

Bill & Thoi

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