Kalalau's Beauty

I thought that once I was in Kalalau, after a day or so of rest I would have the energy and such to go adventuring all over the valley.

What I discovered was that after a day or so of rest, my feet still hated me and my body was sore and tired and not looking forward to the long trek out. Trying to be prepared for everything that might come on this journey and keeping the stuff severely limited, means I was not ready for this trek. My shoes are years old, need to thrown away. The backs are breaking, the soles have almost no tread left and so on. I had amazing blisters on my toes and heels. My backpack was too small and designed for bike riding, not for hiking. And, I was now sleeping on the ground with just my cloak. I rested. I wandered around Kalalau a bit, but mostly along the beach and out to the river, not high up the valley.

That said, I still saw some amazing things, just sitting on the beach. Kalalau is beautiful, especially during the transitory periods of dusk and dawn. In my little nest in the woods, I could step out the back and watch as the sun slowly came lancing through the sharp peaks. The far wall of the mountains would begin to glow and the sun would make it's way up over the mountains. Sunset was extraordinary. I cannot even begin to describe the playing of the light over the waves, catching in the ocean spray, the way the clouds became fire, the great open sky over the ocean.

Halloween was grand. I am incredibly happy that I chose to have Samhain out in that magic place. Basically everyone gathered together, bringing tidbits of food to share including the "great pumpkin" made from granola, oatmeal, chocolate sauce, bananas, peanuts... it was delicious. Cheese, crackers, lillokoi... and all the locals and visitors spent time singing together and telling stories and jumping around. There was a huge ring that formed around the moon and the moonlight was surprisingly bright. It was a lot of fun. The people there seemed like a part of my extended family, the sorts of people I was raised around.

The moonlight on and around the full moon there was so bright I could have read by it. One night I saw a rainbow cast by moonlight. It looked like the ghost of a rainbow, all colors muted and silvery.

And the last sunset I saw there was probably the most beautiful and awesomely powerful sunset that I have and probably ever will see.

Kalalau Trail Heading In

Kalalau. Kalalau. How can I even begin to describe it?
Kalalau has captured my heart and spirit and rejuvenated me as nothing yet has. The images from there, the memories. It's hard to say... something about it holds a deep and powerful magic. It's nothing specific. Enchantingly beautiful, yes, but still Earth in all of it's growth and decay.

The trail head is at a beach called Ke'e, where the picture of the monk seal, below is from. After storing much of my stuff at Lotus Farms, where I had been working, I began hitching down to Ke'e with my pack. My pack was heavy, I was already struggling to lift it and throw it into the back of people's trucks and so on. That worried me. But there wasn't much I could do, I had already left the rest of my stuff behind and I wanted to get started. So I hefted the pack time and time again and tried to put my nervousness out of my mind.
There was another thing causing me nervousness, especially as starting early became starting around three or four in the afternoon... That was that I hadn't gotten the proper permits needed to legally be hiking and camping in Kalalau. The permits were only available near the airport in Lihue and it was too far for me to hitch to and back in time to be able to hike the trail. So I had to duck my head and hope.

I started the journey. The Kalalau trail is 11 miles long. I was carrying my bedding, a tent, my cloak, some clothes, two sarongs, my hat, a book and some other stuff, and food that didn't need to be cooked - enough for a week. I had my little red adventure backpack from wingnut bags, the compression bag and my chicos bag. By the end of this story one of these bags will have been badly damaged. One will have been abandoned and reclaimed and one will have been thrown away for good.

The first part of the trail is uphill, basically straight for about a half mile. It's also very rocky. I started up, my legs and lungs immediately complaining. And almost the first person I met was a ranger. She stopped in front of me and asked me where I was going. I said a few miles in. She said there wasn't a camp ground there and I'd have to go back to camp along the coast. I nodded and she left. I waited for a bit until she was down the trail a bit and then bolted up the trail as fast as I could (which wasn't very fast at all). Eventually I settled into a slow but steady pace, but I nervously checked behind me and in front of me often in case there were other rangers. I settled on rocks looking like I was going down not up when people passed me, just in case. I thought about stashing my bags in the woods and just taking a little pack to look like I was going just a little way up. I stopped often anyway just to breathe. The trail is a tricky single track winding up and down hugging the mountains, a few hundred feet up from the ocean. So often there's a dramatic drop along one side. It was somewhere on this first two mile stretch that I realized that walking 11 miles out to a beach meant that at least half the enchantment lay in the journey, not the destination, because this was brutal. The sights were beautiful, the mountains and valleys were covered with rich green forests with no sign of man except the rough trail wending it's way around the side of the hills, traversing crookedly up and down.

It was an exhausting two miles. I was very relieved to cross the river to Hanakapiai. I was still pretty nervous about being caught, but I knew I wasn't going to make it to center camp, 6 mile, tonight. The sun was already threatening to set. I wandered over the boulders by the beach and hid my bags behind a tree. I went down and looked at the beach, ate a little of my food and then decided to hike up to see Hanakapiai Falls and try to get there before dark. I had my flashlight and some other stuff and set off at a quick pace. This trail wound back and forth, went through bamboo groves and generally followed the river up the long valley. And I do mean Long. I don't think I realized how long it was going to be, but I figured that I could always turn back if it seemed to far. Yet, once you step on a path, it's really hard to turn around. At times, when the trail permitted, I ran. At the top of the path, I could hear the falls, but it was pretty dark at that point. I hadn't seen anyone on the trail when suddenly a light came on and I heard two people talking. (There were several points where I thought I'd stop and maybe just sleep on the trail instead of heading back... but somehow I kept going). I froze and melted into the shadows and waited for them, and accidentally scared them quite badly. But they were awesome brave souls and asked me what I was doing there and if I needed any help or anything. That's how I met Jarret and Jessica. An awesome pair of hikers also from the New York area. They also asked if i was going to sleep up here at the falls. I said I was, cause I didn't want to turn around at that point. And so I did...

I came out of the trees and found the waterfall. Probably the most spectacular waterfall I have ever seen. The water plummeted from between a sharp dip in the mountains into a huge deep pool at it's base. I wanted to go swim out under it but i was worried about the dark and the chill. I hadn't even brought a sarong with me. There were rocks and ferns all around and I crawled into the ferns determined to fall asleep. The stars appeared, a beautiful tapestry. I created a little bed for myself in the ferns and curled up, listening to the great falls and watching the stars.
It was here that I mourned the loss of Bliss... my beautiful golden kitten.
It was a very long and very hard night, without much sleep. I pulled some ferns and other jungle plant life and layered it over me to provide some shelter from the chill. It wasn't very cold but it was a bit chilly and several times it even rained. The leaves provided some shelter from the rain, and I passed the night acceptably, just not restfully.

In the morning I bowed good bye to the beautiful waterfall and turned and made a quick way down the two mile path back to my pack and the rest of the Kalalau trail. I really hoped my pack hadn't been washed away by the ocean or found by the rangers. When I found it, it was fine, but some of my food was infested with ants and some had been eaten completely by rats. I figured I still had enough, lifted my heavy pack to my back and began my journey again. It was a little cloudy, but good hiking conditions since it was still dry and the clouds kept the heat at bay. I went slow, rested often, drank most of my water, and carried on. Jarret and Jessica and I passed one another often. We chatted a bit and smiled when this happened. They eventually got ahead of me and I didn't see them for awhile. Around about early to mid afternoon, I finished up the four miles to half way camp, Hanakoa. Jarret and Jessica were there having lunch in the shelter and I thought it a splendid idea, so I joined them. Soon a family, Grandfather, Son and wife, and two kids joined us. It was pleasant company, though I kept to myself as is my tendency, especially after not having much communication with people over the last month. My communication with others had included and consisted entirely of conversations with my boss and his wife, my roommate (though these became fewer and fewer as the month progressed), the neighbor (probably talked less than a handful of times in reality), and the woman... Brianna, who I saved who had gotten her car stuck on the way out of Quarry Beach. Quarry Beach road was a road that bore a similar resemblance to a road as Kalalau did to a sidewalk... but somehow I managed to get the car unstuck and drove her up to the top of the hill - but that's another story. So the group of us hung out in this shelter. I was debating staying at half way when the weather decided it for me. The skies opened up and it began to pour. Jarret and Jessica packed up immediately and headed out while the rest of us lingered uncertain. Rumor was that there was a seriously tricky patch ahead that would be really iffy in the rain. I decided against traveling on, pulled out my book and settled into the idea of waiting for tomorrow, hoping that tomorrow it would clear. We made a fire in the shelter and it was a very pleasant evening all in all. I found a great little hidden campsite that had a good chance of being completely passed by if the rangers were out looking to bust someone. It was around then that I decided I absolutely would and could not continue to carry the weight that I was. I went to sleep, warm and dry and happy to be in a tent as opposed to out under a waterfall.

The next day was bright and clear. The family had gone on, or back, I never ran into them again. I broke camp and repacked. Over half my clothes and almost all my sleeping gear besides my tent and cloak got stuffed into the compression bag. Any excess books, notebooks and so on also got left behind. I wrapped the compression bag in a garbage bag and hiked it way back into the woods and hid it between two rocks and under some ferns, praying it would be safe until I could retrieve it on my way back. Then I repacked my remaining stuff and set off again, much lighter this time. Hanakoa is situated in a nice little valley next to a large river. The river is easy enough to cross by jumping boulder to boulder (not the easiest task with a heavy backpack on). this river is really wide at the crossing and has something of an island in the middle of it.

I started the last five miles feeling refreshed and at least a little lighter. It was still a hard hike but I had to rest less often, though I still rested quite often. Before 8 mile, I found the treacherous patch that the people had been talking about the day before. 7 mile. A patch of switchbacks that is pretty loose and definitely nerve-wracking. I slipped a few times and had to catch myself. It's no gentle grade down to the ocean and would be rough and frightening to fall down. Probably deadly as well... as would be many falls off the kalalau trail. The switchbacks led to a very exposed path along the edge of a rock face.

Everyone on the trail that knows it tells you of Bill, the man who lives at 8 mile. There's also an unofficial camping area with him at 8 mile. On the hike, dragonflies danced around every now and then. And there were strange ground fowl that went screeching off into the underbrush. I eventually got to 8 mile and saw a naked man bathing in a stream. Then I met Bill, a tall thin man carrying a machete. He passed me and asked about the naked man and I told him all I could, he was bathing in the stream and went on ahead. I found Bill waiting for me not far up the trail and he said he would escort me for a mile or so to make sure nothing happened to me. I accepted easily, though I hadn't really felt any sort of threat from the naked man. Bill thought he was probably harmless as well, but he wanted to make sure. After about a mile, he turned back and I went on alone again. This part of the trail had a lot less coverage, and with the sun it was hot and tiring. I kept an easy pace, filled my water bottle in the fast moving streams and kept going, step by step.

The first realization that I was close was the Kalalau Valley sign. I had arrived. Stepping through the last of the cover I got to see the kalalau valley for the first time. A beautiful wide open valley with majestic mountains all around and the ocean crashing against the rocks. A long dusty path led down to the valley, an almost desert like stretch. There were goats running over it here. I wandered down the path and made it to the valley floor and followed the trail into the woods. Here paths began branching off. I followed some of them and got lost and had to back track. Eventually I followed the main one and managed to fall in the river at the river crossing. But I kept on. I thought about camping closer to this side... but I wanted to look everywhere and so I kept on. It's about a mile from the sign down to the end of the beach. The beach and mountains were picturesque as everything, but so is all of Kauai. I found myself wondering if it was worth the trek. I found Jarrett and Jessica setting up their camp and we greeted each other enthusiastically. I wandered down to the end of the trail and stood looking at the majestic powerful surf... knowing there would be no swimming in this ocean for me. That ocean is deadly and strong.

I eventually discovered a sweet little campsite hidden in the bushes with two trees covering it. Perfect for me and my small tent and right next to my traveling friends. I set up camp, changed out of my traveling clothes and immediately explored out to the waterfall, down to the beach and finally back to my camp for a well deserved break and some lunch.

That's how I came to Kalalau, the night before Halloween.