Aloha.
Today was a mix of busy and relaxing, but I am just now sitting down to finish writing my thoughts on yesterday's adventure. It's about 8:20 Hawaii time and I think I'll go to bed early, but I would like to get caught up. So here goes:
I think I had just mentioned that I met up with a man from Germany who now lives in Vienna, and we agreed to hike together until it was time for me to turn around. He said his name was Alex. He was nice enough to let me go in front of him, so that I could set the pace (with my short legs), and also because he was tall enough to see over my head. I had planned to hike the distance by myself. Of course, there were others hiking the trail, but they were mostly in twos or determined-looking singles, so it was unlikely that I would find a companion, and honestly, I wasn't really looking for one. I had some idea that I would have a lovely commune with the Lion as I hiked this wild trail. The Lion apparently had other ideas.
I must admit that it was very "energizing" to have someone with whom to hike; the difficulty of the trail disappeared into the background as we chatted away (OK, mostly me, but he didn't seem to mind). We talked about all kinds of things - the kind of conversation one typically has when getting to know someone new. All right, you who know me probably have guessed that we didn't just have small talk, though we did talk about our jobs and our families (he has a girlfriend and they're thinking about having kids) and why we were there doing that hike. But we also talked about books, and travel (he's going to Kenya in a few weeks) and wilderness rescue insurance (as they have in Europe), and health care, and CS Lewis (he's never read the Narnia books, schade), and the Lutheran and African churches he attends, and decision-making, and introversion, and camping.
After I mentioned that I had originally planned to camp, but decided not to, he said several times what a shame it was that I had left my camping gear at the condo. I think he wanted a friend to go with him, and he also thought I wanted to hike the whole 22 miles (round trip) and was disappointed for me. I was a bit sorry, I admit, because along comes this perfect opportunity not to camp alone, and to have someone to watch my back, and I was unprepared. But both yesterday, and looking back on it today, I am glad I made the decision not to stay over (and not just because it rained here pretty hard last night, though I have no idea what weather they had in Kalalau). I decided that going "halfway" (6 miles out of 11) was going to be good enough, and certainly more than the condo concierge had told me was possible to do in a day, so I was content with that. A small pang of "coulda," and the rest was gratitude for some company, at least one way.
As for the hike itself, I think I mentioned this morning (I don't have that one in front of me) that the first two miles was muddy and rocky and slippery in places. In fact, my only fall was in the first mile, shortly after Alex and I decided to go together, and I put my right foot in about an inch of mud and it slid right out from under me. I did a little half-split and broke open the skin on my left knee, enough to bleed a bit but nothing serious. I also decorated half my backside with the legendary Kauai red dirt. It is tenacious stuff, let me tell you. My ankles are still ruddy with it, even after a scrubbing bath and then a wade in the ocean this morning. If I thought I could get an even coat, I'd get the look of a tan without the skin damage. But I think it would be blotchy.
So, with my lower legs covered with mud (and a little blood), we continued toward the first stop: Hanakapi'ai Beach. We got there in about an hour and 40 minutes. There was a little river coming out of the woods across which we had to navigate to get to the beach, and then pick our way across some bouldery ground. The guide book had said that in the winter (October - April) there would be little sand, but there was actually plenty of it. A sign on the trail shortly before the stream said, "DO NOT GO NEAR THE WATER" and warned about rip tides and strong currents, and underneath were the many tally marks indicating how many visitors had drowned. Cheerful. I was keen to get my knee washed off, and I didn't think about doing it in the stream, so I went to the water's edge and got in deep enough (about 6 inches) to scrub my small laceration with ocean water, and clean off some of the mud. I was wearing my triathlon shorts (what I use to swim in) under my hiking shorts, so I stripped to those before I went in the water.
I think I forgot to mention previously that I/we were passed on the trail by several people, including 4 guys who were RUNNING up the trail, and who passed us headed the other way before we even got to the beach. They must have gone for a quick dip or something. Also we were passed by a barefooted guy carrying a surfboard. When we got to the beach, he was out there, frolicking with his board, blissfully ignoring any warning signs. Interesting people around here.
So, Alex and I stopped on the beach and had a snack and a bit of water. He was fretting that even though he had food and water for the trip, he didn't have "enough salt." I think he had some kind of electrolyte powder with him, but I didn't take a look at it. Instead I shared some salted chips with him. There was a shallow cave to look at to one side of the beach. Three people came onto the beach, talking about the difficulty of the coast beyond the 6-mile point (that's supposed to be the hardest section, but I never got that far). It was obvious that it was a couple and their grown daughter. Alex told them that he was going the whole way, when they asked him. The mother said, "I watched it on Youtube - did you see that?" When he replied he hadn't, she said, "Good thing," and laughed.
After about 20 minutes, we started up again. He had to go the whole 11 miles and the light goes away about 6:30, so we had to pace it well. We kept plugging, except for frequent 30-second stops for me to take a photo. It was really nice to have someone to get things out of my backpack for me so I didn't have to take it off and rummage around on my own for things. It was nice to have someone to gauge pace with, and of course to talk to. One of the coolest benefits was someone to take my photo with all these cool backgrounds; since I'm the main photographer in our family, I rarely get in photos. Alex didn't want his photo taken much, but when he asked, I did take one for him. I had the phone photos which I planned to put on Facebook, and many more taken with the DSLR, to come later. (Since I have no computer with me, I have no way to upload those, so they'll have to wait).
The 4 miles of trail from the beach to the Hanakoa campground was so variable. In places it was smooth, dry dirt, but that didn't occur very often. Many steeply climbing and descending switchbacks, over roots and piles of rocks, or on the edge of the cliff, or farther inland through thick groves of trees, with huge palm fronds littering the ground, and rotting fruit littering the ground. You couldn't tell you were near the ocean most of the time when you couldn't see it, because it was too far below to smell, or to hear. At some points we rounded a corner and stopped short at the breathtaking views. In places we could see in the distance Nihau, "The Forbidden Isle." I read about it in my guide book but it's too long to explain here - look it up for yourself; it's fairly interesting.
Breathtaking views aside, much of the hike was spent looking at the muddy ground. The terrain was so rough in places that each foot placement had to be carefully planned. I mentioned the trekking poles; I would have been lost without them. They saved my balance a number of times; I only fell that once, near the beginning. Sometimes there were two choices of how to proceed, for instance, step up a pile of rocks, trying to find footholds as you ascend, or chance a more slippery gradual path with not much to keep you from sliding back down. I'm not sure if I did Alex a favor or not by going in front of him, but by the time I had passed the tricky spots, he was able to see what worked for me and decide what might work best for him. At least, that's how I imagined it was; he never said.
The hike was physically strenuous, but also mentally difficult, because all of the above constitutes what I call "cognitive walking." You have to make so many decisions about where to put your feet, or how to use the poles, and try not to turn an ankle or stub a toe especially me, since I was wearing my Vibram Bikilas. A word about shoes: everything I read about this hike said, "Hiking boots are a must." I had planned all along to do it in my Vibram Five Fingers, because I'm used to them, I have no other hiking boots, I don't care if they get wet or muddy, and I like a flexible sole for climbing. In general, I think it was a good choice. More on that later.
We crossed into the State Park (officially) near 11; we had left the beach near 10 AM. There aren't really any mile markers between the beach and Hanakoa. Amazingly enough, my GPS program on my phone (which I started up partway into the first mile of my hike) worked - showed me a map, change in elevation, hiking speed, and distance traveled. We used it to determine if we were making good enough time. We moved steadily, not speedily, but at a reasonable pace, and I think we parsed it out properly. I hope to find out - we exchanged e-mail addresses before we parted company, thought I haven't sent anything or heard anything yet. He would have hiked out today, and I imagine he'd be pretty tired, having done nearly twice the hike in two days that I did in one.
We were a bit concerned about our pace, and losing the light, so anyone coming from Kalalau direction we asked how far to Hanakoa. I especially could only hike 5 hours in once direction before heading back or risk having to do some of the trail via head-light and flashlight. Brr. It doesn't bear thinking about. The answers we got varied greatly, and I was hoping it was because people are lousy judges of distance, which I think was the case. We had been hiking for perhaps two hours from the beach and hoping we were within two miles of Hanakoa, and one couple we asked said, "Oh, it's a couple of hours in that direction - maybe 3 miles?" Egad - the idea we had come 1 mile in 2 hours was disheartening, but it wasn't true. We made Hanakoa just before 1 PM, 5 hours from when I started at the trailhead, and we had had the 20 minutes or so at the beach, so 6 miles of terrain in 4:45 or so. There was a small river there, which we crossed, and stopped to have something to eat.
I will end there, and continue with the end of the tale perhaps tomorrow. I will also catch you up on today, which wasn't too involved, but had a few nice memorable moments for me. And after all, that's what this blog is for, although I hope you enjoy it too. Wish I had some way to put a Na Pali photo up in here, but it will have to wait.
Blessings meanwhile
wb
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