Hiking Hawaii: the Kalalau Trail
I'm back in Hawaii for a few weeks. The weather is great, the water is hot, everyone smiles. If one manage to get away from the beach, there is an amazing world to discover around here. Last week I decided to head for some back country hiking on Kauai, the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands.
I was lucky that my post on the Hannah Stove got so much attention. Jim Thompson, a scout leader on Oahu, liked the instructions and he advised me on the best hikes to do around here. I'm on Oahu but hoping from one island to the other is like taking the inter city bus in Montréal. Outside rush hours, flights cost between 9$ and 39$ and bring you to destination in 45 minutes or less.
Kauai is five million years old, five times older than the Big Island. It had more time to be beaten into shape. Valleys have voluptuous curves, beaches are wider, the reefs more populated and colossal canyons intensify the landscape. Volcanic rocks have soft edge and there is a lot of the Hawaiian typical red clay.
The trail is 18 km long; it is moderately hard and will take most hikers a full day; I had four days to enjoy it. The first part looks like a dried river bed: lots of rocks, lots of mud.
The trail is always ascending or descending. It flirts with a valley, kisses the edge of a cliff than do it again in an exhausting dance that exposes the hiker to the heavy tropical sun before to hide him again under the damp rain forest. Valleys provide water streams and shade; cliffs offer dramatic views.
I had two water bottles with germicidal tablets. The trail crosses enough streams to drink one bottle while the other is purifying. The sun hits hard but water is not a problem. In fact, there might me too much of it. After a shower the whole trail looks like a mud wrestling ring.
After a little more than one hour of walk, the trail goes all the way down to the Hanakapiai beach, the perfect place for a quick snack.
The Hannah stove is great because it can run on about any kind of alcohol. As soon I got out of the plane, I only needed a quick stop by a hardware store before I hit the trail. They only had huge bottles of denatured alcohol. The small bottle of methylated spirit had to do the trick. But somehow, I bought the small bottle of mineral spirit, which is probably the only thing with "spirit" in it's name that won't work in a Hannah stove. At least I had a scenic view to help me accept the idea of eating cold for four days. Beans are not too bad but I would really have skipped the cold oatmeal.
From the beach, there is a secondary trail to a water fall. This interesting trail passes through Hawaiian terraces and bamboo forests. A bamboo forest is a creepy place. It sounds like an old wooden galleon bending and cracking under the storm. The waterfall must be a few hundred of meters high, definitely worth the detour.
The next part of the trail is less muddy but it has it's problems. It ascends and descends a lot, it gets really narrow, it goes on the ledge of steep escarpments.
It gets easier after the seven miles point. Mountain goats rule that part of the trail. There is less foliage for cover but there is more water. An extra layer of sun screen is called for. The top of the mountain rip the clouds apart and light rain produces many rainbows.
Then there is a long and smooth descent on red dirt badlands before one arrive at Kalalau, the forbidden beach that only hiker and kayakers can set foot on.
This heavenly oasis has a wide virgin beach. No more than 30 persons can camp there at any time, the sand is really soft and the foot makes 5 cm deep marks in it. And there is the best shower in the world. Separated from the beach by only a few palm trees, a waterfall is the rally point of weary hikers and salty body surfers. All the convenience of Waikiki without the crowd.
The Kalalau trail is rough. When crossing someone the only question is "are we there yet?" It might be that the one who laid the path was a bit sadistic. You need to spend at least a day on the trail to understand the hidden design. Wherever you are on the trail when the sun sets, you have the best view you could wish for.
Comments
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quel endroit magnifique! merci de prendre le temps d'updater : ) (ça suck pas mal pour ton réchaud... mais tu as survécu!)
C'est un plaisir de faire des mises à jour quand on a des lecteurs aussi enthousiastes.
Peux-tu me rappeler c'est quoi ton courriel? Je n'ai plus accès a mon ordi à Montréal. Tu peux m'écrire, cette partie la fonctionne toujours.