Na Pali 12 mile hike - Part I

If you follow the main road Highway 56/560 northward it ends at one of the most amazing snorkel areas on Kauai - Ke 'e beach. Normally this beach is full of people in the water and all over the beach. I came here at 7:30 am to take this picture looking across the beach and down the Na Pali coastline. The northside of the Kauai island broke off and slid into the sea 100,000's of years ago creating the dramatic cliff faces of the Na Pali coast. There is a famous 11 mile hike to Kalalau valley which is beyond the last protruding cliff face in the horizon.

My plan was to hike about 7 miles along this 11 mile trail and return on the same day. I have permits to walk and camp the entire 11 miles next week, to sample spiders in Kalalau valley, but I thought it would be best to check the trail out and see about other potential sample sites. I have never, in all the years of outdoor activity, been worried about my ability to hike a trail. Of course I have ignored the fact that we get older and our joints and limbs have agendas of their own. The hike in was wonderful, I went in about 6 miles and then had to hike back 6 miles. It was not until the last 1.5 miles back did my tibial collateral ligaments begin to object....painfully so. At the last 1/2 mile I was walking like a 90 year old man...the sides of my knees stiff with pain. The day after has been the RICE routine - rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Well more like RI, compression and elevation seems a bit excessive at this point.

Actually my pain stems from a combination of getting old and not being in perfect shape. It really is hard on the kness to basically "walk up and down stairs" for 7-8 hours. I should be more grateful that is all my problems since I am feeling pretty good today. Stiff and a bit in pain but the muscles do not hurt at all. I hope it goes this well next week, but I will pack the ibuprofen.

One of the cruel ironies about Kauai is that so many of its beaches are so beautiful and inviting while also being deadly dangerous. The county signs are generic metal cartoon signs showing black stick figures being engulfed by a wave or flailing in the water. These local homemade signs, I feel, are so much more effective and to the point. Lives reduced to hash marks carved into a homemade sign, sad thing is people obviously fail to head the warning.

Looking down on Hanakapi'ai beach, which is unattractive until the summer when the ocean retreats and leaves behind a beautiful but treacherous sandy beach. Most of the hikers make this their destination because it is only about a 1/2 mile hike and it feels like you have accomplished something. But in terms of views, you really are not rewarded with any dramatic views until about 3 miles in. Behind that bluff in the distance is Ke'e beach pictured at the start of this posting.

Do you remember in the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks when he was planning on sailing over the reefs but he had to wait until the winds changed? In the movie Hanks character fervently watches a ragged flag flap in the wind which, in a dramatic moment, shifts direction before his eyes indicating the change in the season. I always thought that was so cheesy but now that I have lived on an island I can say it is exactly like that - one moment we are watching monster waves crashing on the north shore and then the next day it is spring and the ocean looks like a giant farm pond. Weird.

Self portrait after about 4 miles of the 12 mile hike. Notice how clear blue the water is below, you can see the patch reefs in the water. The trail goes behind me into the valley and then it follows the cliffs in the background. More of the hike will be posted next time.

When I looked straight down I could see a couple of tour boats zipping about looking at lava tubes and sea caves along the cliff face below.