(I had this 90% written for the last few months and am just now finishing it. This happens right after The Big Island at the end of October 2006 to early November) Kim and I flew into Lihue, got our rental car, and got out. However, first we tried to find camp stove fuel that would fit my pocket rocket stove. As far as we could tell, the only place on the whole island that sells this kind of fuel is Pedal N Paddle in Hanalei. Fortunately, we were heading that way. We camped the first night at Kokee State Park, and in the morning sat around waiting for Pedal N Paddle to open so that we would have fuel for our hike into Na Pali.
We hiked all the way in to Kalalau in one day. That was a hard hike. It’s only 11 miles, but it’s all up and down, often along steep, very tall cliffs. It was a beautiful hike. The trail isn’t nearly as well maintained after the 6 mile mark, which has the last pit toilet before Kalalau. We thought about camping there, but we got there early and the camp spots aren’t that cool. At one point we followed a bad side trail, and were about to turn around and go back to find the right one when some crazy guy hiking in barefoot told us we were on the right path. Turns out he was wrong, but he lives out at Kalalau and didn’t seem to mind leading us up crazy streams to get back onto the trail.
We got into Kalalau right at sunset, and didn’t get to see everything before the sun went down. There is no way I would ever want to hike that trail in the dark, even with big head lampst. We setup camp and ate. We were both exhausted and a little beat up. I found the waterfall at the end of the beach to wash up. This waterfall is probably the best part of the camp. It’s refreshing, fresh, beautiful water that’s perfect for a shower. There’s even pipes people have modified to make nice showerheads. Kim waited until morning.
The next day we setup the hammock and just lounged on the beach all morning. It was heavenly. I wish we had budgeted more time, because we decided that we needed to start the hike out that day to avoid doing the whole thing in a day again. It was a smart choice, but if I ever go back I’m spending at least a few days at Kalalau. We hiked to the 6 mile camp, Hanakoa, setup the tent, and took the valley trail to see the waterfall. The path to the waterfall is okay to follow with daylight, but you’ll get easily lost if you try to do it at night. We almost did since we were hiking back right as the sun was going down. We were within 300 ft of the camp and totally lost in the dark. Kim suddenly developed amazing navigational skills and got us back. We cooked in our tent because the bugs were pretty bad.
The next day we did another side hike to Hanakapi’ai falls, which turned out to be one of the most enjoyable waterfalls of the trip. We could swim under the waterfall and behind it. We got there and were the only ones there since we hiked through a torrential rain storm while others took shelter. We were already soaked so figured why bother. After enjoying the secluded spot for a little while, a few dozen people showed up and took over. We then left.
It felt sooooo good to get off the trail after 3 days of hard hiking. Especially since we knew we had a timeshare in Poipu for the next week where we could live civilized for a little while. On the way down we stopped at the Taro festival in Hanalei as it was ending. We discovered that Poi could be very tasty if prepared well, and that we wanted more Kava.
We checked in to the Lawai Beach Resort, which we got a screaming deal on thanks to Kim’s parents time share membership. We got a week with our own small apartment for $300! We could cook our own food, sleep in a bed, shower regularly. Ahhhh. It rained very heavily the first few days, so we took it easy. We drove around the area, and went to a few timeshare presentations. By going to these silly presentations we got screaming deals on later events.
One of those events was a boat tour on a Zodiak boat. We got right next to a group of spinner dolphins, including a baby. We beached on some remote beach and had lunch and snorkeled. We took the boat in a sea cave and it was a beautiful day the whole time, which was great because it had poured like crazy the days before.
We also went to a luau. It was at one of the upscale hotels, I forget which one. It was fun to be all you could eat and drink, but the entertainment wasn’t that amazing. I think I liked the fire dancers best.
We spent a day exploring the Waimea Canyon area. It was overcast and drizzly most of the day, but very pretty. We didn’t hike down into it because of the weather and how slippery the trails were.
Another benefit of our time share time was a half off helicopter tour. It was pretty amazing. Kim had never been in a helicopter before, and I hadn’t been since Alaska. It was sweet to see all the places that we had been by land and sea, now by air. When we went up it was crystal clear too. The pilot said it was the clearest he had seen in probably 3 or 4 months. The only downside to this is that at the end of the ride there’s a place where if it’s raining there’s waterfalls all around you on the rainiest spot on earth. No rain that day.
After about 10 days on the island we checked out of our timeshare and headed back to Oahu for one more day in Hawaii before home.