Na Pali - Part II

As I followed the trail out onto the bluff I looked back and realized that the small boulder in the distance was the place where I took the last picture in the previous posting. My 'self-portrait' on the trail. This picture begins to capture the scale of the hike.

The Na Pali trail experience alternates between walking precariously (like a goat) along a thin trail above the ocean blue with the more casual hike on a wide forested trail that goes deep in the shadows of a valley. Here is one of the many streams you cross as you follow the trail into a valley only to walk out of the valley into another bluff trail. In and out, in and out, rinse and repeat.

A native species of damselfly. They flitter about like rubies near the forest streams.

The difficulty with photographing this trail is that you have to decide if you want the rugged landscape in the image or the blue-green sea. If you combine this image with the next image, which is the same cliff just aimed down and more to the right, you can almost recreate the dramatic view one enjoys along this hike. The final destination of Kalalau valley is beyond this bluff about 4 miles of trail to go.

If you look on the top left side of this picture you can see a spot of bare red dirt...that is as far as I hiked before I turned back. I love this picture because you can see the rubble of lava rocks under the water in the small cove. Notice also that there is a waterfall spilling into this cove. The stream picture I posted above is the source of this waterfall.