We were tuckered out yesterday so we planned to take it easy today. It was supposed to overcast and rainy on the north shore, but we thought we'd just hang around the resort and rest. However, when we woke up, it was sunny! We decided we couldn't waste the good weather so we decided to hike the Kalalau Trail along the Napali Coast. There's a 2 mile hike to a beach, then if you go another 2 miles you reach a waterfall. It was billed as "moderately strenuous".
We were literally walking along the ridge of the Napali Coast. Incredible. We started at 9:30am, and the guide book said it would take 6-8 hours. It took us 1.5 hours to get to the beach and another 1.5 hours to get to the waterfall. The views of the coast were nothing short of spectacular. We were in the woods from the beach to the waterfall which was disappointing, but when we got to the waterfall, it was...so majestic. No other word for it. We were literally sitting at the base of a waterfall. We planned to swim in the pool at the base, but the water was freezing! We decided we liked the idea of swimming in the waterfall better than the reality so we skipped the swim.
I really wasn't sure how I was going to hike out of there. I was "moderately put out" at the difficulty of the hike. Over half of the hike was literally climbing over or down rocks that were slippery. It was difficult. I was low on morale and high on attitude on the hike back. We fell in behind some other couples, and found that we had gotten off the trail about 30 minutes into the hike back. You can imagine what this did for morale---now we have to hike longer???
Some of the men decided they would wander off and find the trail (so cave man!). One of the men got separated from his wife, and before we knew it, all of us had reunited (3 couples total), but the husband. Naturally frantic, I totally sympathized with Kara, the wife. We had visited a bit on the way back, and I really liked her. She said exasperated, "he always wanders off!", which I totally identified with, and I said a silent prayer that John would be found soon. We were all yelling his name, and one of the other husbands packed a whistle he began blowing. Eventually (probably 15 minutes later, but it felt like 50 minutes!), we found John. After such an adrenaline rush and really wet feet from having crossed back and forth on the stream looking for John, I gave up on "careful feet placement and water/mud avoidance" and just trudged through it. This made the way back much easier.
Finally...finally...finally...we reached the end of the trail! The trail starts (and thus ends) at Ke'e Beach, one of the more well known beaches on the island. We stumbled out of the trail, washed the red mud off us, and switched into our suits. We relaxed at the beach until sunset, watched a glorious sunset, grabbed takeout, and called it a night. We were worn out from the hike!
We were literally walking along the ridge of the Napali Coast. Incredible. We started at 9:30am, and the guide book said it would take 6-8 hours. It took us 1.5 hours to get to the beach and another 1.5 hours to get to the waterfall. The views of the coast were nothing short of spectacular. We were in the woods from the beach to the waterfall which was disappointing, but when we got to the waterfall, it was...so majestic. No other word for it. We were literally sitting at the base of a waterfall. We planned to swim in the pool at the base, but the water was freezing! We decided we liked the idea of swimming in the waterfall better than the reality so we skipped the swim.
I really wasn't sure how I was going to hike out of there. I was "moderately put out" at the difficulty of the hike. Over half of the hike was literally climbing over or down rocks that were slippery. It was difficult. I was low on morale and high on attitude on the hike back. We fell in behind some other couples, and found that we had gotten off the trail about 30 minutes into the hike back. You can imagine what this did for morale---now we have to hike longer???Some of the men decided they would wander off and find the trail (so cave man!). One of the men got separated from his wife, and before we knew it, all of us had reunited (3 couples total), but the husband. Naturally frantic, I totally sympathized with Kara, the wife. We had visited a bit on the way back, and I really liked her. She said exasperated, "he always wanders off!", which I totally identified with, and I said a silent prayer that John would be found soon. We were all yelling his name, and one of the other husbands packed a whistle he began blowing. Eventually (probably 15 minutes later, but it felt like 50 minutes!), we found John. After such an adrenaline rush and really wet feet from having crossed back and forth on the stream looking for John, I gave up on "careful feet placement and water/mud avoidance" and just trudged through it. This made the way back much easier.
Finally...finally...finally...we reached the end of the trail! The trail starts (and thus ends) at Ke'e Beach, one of the more well known beaches on the island. We stumbled out of the trail, washed the red mud off us, and switched into our suits. We relaxed at the beach until sunset, watched a glorious sunset, grabbed takeout, and called it a night. We were worn out from the hike!
Beautiful Pics!!! Jonathan kinda looks like Jeff Porbest in that picture--hahah
ReplyDeleteI love reading about all these hikes. You are now officially an "active vacation" girl. Trust me, every one of our vacations includes an incident where I am "low in morale and high in attitude;" just ask David - it is a vacation tradition. What a blast - Hawaii is now on our list!
ReplyDelete