When I was in Japan, I watched The Perfect Getaway with a group of friends. The movie was entertaining and the company was good, but the scenery was unbelievable! I decided I had to go! That was 2010. Since I have a bucket list that is five pages long... not kidding... I finally made it happen this year. Mike and I chose to keep the trip as simple as possible. Fly in, hike, camp two nights, hike, fly out. It ended up being a little more dirtbag than usual, but was all the more fun for that reason.
Mike and I took a 6 am island hopper flight to Kauai. We boarded a bus to Hanalei where we rented a camp stove since you can't take one on flights. Seriously, TSA, I can have a lighter, but not a camp stove without fuel? Logic people, logic! Anyway, the bus stops in Hanalei which is the cutest little North Shore Hawaii town. I like it better than Haleiwa. From there, we hitchhiked to the trailhead. Neither of us had ever thumbed a ride before and it took a solid 10 minutes, but eventually a beat up Tacoma pulled over. We threw our packs in the back and had a fantastic ride with Rashal, an Indian international student out adventuring while waiting for his work visa to show up. He took us all the way in.
At 10:00 we started our hike. The hike is 11 miles up and over ridges, around cliffs and through valleys to a gorgeous beach. The weather was partly cloudy with a light sprinkle of rain, which completely saved the day and kept the temperature down. The first two miles of the trail are steep, up and over a ridge from one beach to another. They're also packed with tourists with very little regard for trail etiquette. After that, we met very few people, a few day hikers here and there and a few backpackers coming or going, all friendly, some barefoot.
The trail winds through a tropical jungle full of birds, palms and lizards curving suddenly into open mountain vistas with turquoise water far below. Along the way we found ripe mountain apples to munch on. There are also mango trees everywhere, but they weren't in season. We took a brief stop for lunch (Mike informs me that snacks do not count as lunch) at a picnic area near mile 6. Eventually the trail rounded a bend with a sign that read Dangerous Cliffs ahead. Cool! Our type of hike! One side is very sandy and I was glad we had left the rain behind. The other side was a narrow trail cut into the rocky cliff. Neither area was as scary as people made it out to be. However, the sand was a deep reddish brown with yucca plants growing there and there, the cliffs were black, and the turquoise waves crashed on the rocks below. It was very beautiful and I could see how people might get distracted.
Finally we rounded the corner and descended into Kalalau Valley. We followed a red dirt trail to a lovely stream with little waterfalls and pools, then up into the campground which is really just a bunch of trees that people hook hammocks up to. We did not have a hammock and I'm utterly disappointed about that detail. If you go, take one!! After some (too much) research, we left our tent behind and brought just the rainfly, our sleeping mats, inflatable pillows and a blanket. We left all these at a campsite in the middle and went straight to the waterfall at the far end of the beach for a shower. After 6 hours of walking in the dirt, it was amazing!
I rehydrated some turkey chili for dinner and we ate on the ground, hobo style, passing the cook pot back and forth. It was perfect! Afterward, we heated some water for tea on the beach while the sun set. We dragged our mats, pillows and blanket out to the sand and slept under the stars. I hadn't thought about the moon being full. It was brilliant and super duper bright. Not great for sleeping or star gazing. haha!
I woke at dawn to pink tinged skies over the ocean and dramatic green cliffs surrounding the valley. Perfect. We put our stuff back at camp and went to explore the sea caves before breakfast. There are a series of tide created caves all along the beach. Some are small indents, others are huge caverns. We walked into the pure blackness of one that ended in a pool. Mike swam in to see if it went anywhere, fortunately, it did not. I'm adventurous, but have my limits.
After breakfast, we walked back to the river to fill waters. Mike lost a sandal in the water and we jumped from rock to rock all the way out to the ocean to find it. No luck, but it was fun! We found some abandoned Keens that fit him and headed up the Kalalau Valley trail. It vaguely follows a stream up to a small waterfall with a swimming hole and rope swing. It may go further, but I was pretty happy with that spot and my legs weren't feeling like I needed another 11 mile day. 10 was enough. :) The stream was brisk and refreshing and deep enough that I didn't bottom out with the rope swing. On the way back down the trail, we ran into a huge group of people heading up to the falls. Timing win!
The rest of the day was quiet, lunch, a nap, some card games, and watching an incredible sunset on the beach. Mike moved us to a beachfront campsite that opened up that morning. It was perfect! We had our own little path to the super soft sand. All of the campers come out to the beach for sunset. I counted just over 40 people including myself. There may have been a few more in the tree line though. It's a big area and we didn't spend much time with others, though I assume you can be as social as you want to be. We slept in our campsite which offered a bit more protection from the wind and midnight sun. One of the feral kitties that roams the campground decided to walk across my feet during the night. I have no idea where the cats came from. There aren't any along the trail and it's a solid 11 miles to civilization. Strange!
We woke at dawn to a beautiful moonset over the ridge while the sun turned the sky pink and blue. We had breakfast, packed up quickly, and were on the trail by 630. It was really hot the day before and we were hoping to avoid too much sun on the exposed parts of the trail. It worked. We were in the shade or under the canopy for most of the day. We took a detour by the middle campground to go check out a super tall waterfall.
The last two miles of trail were so much harder than the previous 10 (including the waterfall side trip). The people watching was interesting, but it's hard walking up a seemingly endless incline with a pack while you're getting shoved by teenage boys who are all about getting to the bottom faster than their brothers. Yeesh! There were still some friendly people though. The trip back took 6.5 hours with the side trip and a few nutrition breaks. We showered at the beach so we'd be less offensive. Mike ran right into Rashal as we were heading in to change into real clothes. He gave us a ride into town, again! Seriously, nicest guy there ever was!
We spent a few hours in Hanalei finding lunch and exploring the shops. The bus ride back was an adventure, full of homeless people, drunks, interesting people, and teenagers. We got to the airport shuttle stop in Lihue to find out that it stopped running early on weekends. So, we walked the last few miles to the airport and caught our 730 pm flight out. Whirlwind trip, but I wouldn't change a thing. Every moment was just as interesting and lively as the last. Someday we will kayak in and spend a few more nights.
One thing worth mentioning, we thought we were going somewhere remote and secluded. We were wrong. The beach and campground never seemed crowded. However, there were helicopters flying overhead from 800 am to about 530 pm every day. Zodiacs and sailing tours sped along the coastline until sunset. Nights were peaceful and quiet.
Mike and I rewatched The Perfect Getaway when we returned and realized just how little of it was actually filmed on the trail. Really I just love Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant and Chris Hemsworth. So rewatching a pretty movie with pretty people, kind of great!
