Friday

Today we conquered part of the Na Pali Coast.  It is one of the most beautiful trails in the entire world.  It is also, according to Backpacker Magazine, one of America's top 10 most dangerous hikes.  The hike itself, the Kalalau trail, is 11 miles one way to a beach that you can only get to by foot or boat.  We didn't hike the whole thing because that would require backpacking.  Instead, we hiked 2 miles in to a very nice beach (Hanakapi'ai) and then 2 miles inland to a very famous waterfall (Hanakapi'ai Falls).

The hike was very intense.  The 2 miles in to the beach weren't so bad.  The beginning had some very slippery rocks to climb, but that was the only major problem.  The beach is not a very good beach to swim at because it is so close to the current and.. check out this sign we saw..

Isn't this the scariest sign you've ever seen?!  We even saw people swimming in the water...
Anyways, we then left the beach and hiked inland to go to Hanakapi'ai Falls.  This waterfall is made famous from Jurassic Park!  If you've seen it, then you know that when they first land on Jurassic Park they fly down a waterfall with the helicopter.  Well, that scene is THIS waterfall!

The trailhead marker said that this hike was only 2 miles one way, but it definitely felt a LOT longer than that.  The hike was very technically challenging.  It involved a lot of mud.. a lot.. and climbing over rocks, fording rivers and getting very dirty.  But, it was a beautiful hike into the jungle.

 

After a long, long, 2 miles we made it.  It was amazing!  300 ft of just water falling.  

Well, we made the trek there and we started hiking back.  We realized about a mile from the falls that we didn't have enough water to get us back to the car.  We even loaded a whole 2 Liter bladder full of water, but it wasn't enough apparently.  We only had about 3 miles left to hike, but in Hawaii where the humidity is crazy, being with no water is awful!  We were tired, sore, had headaches, and were extremely thirsty.  We pushed and prayed the rest of the way and made it.  We chugged a lot of water when we got back.

That hike was one of my favorites.  It was incredible and beautiful!  Here are some pictures :)  Tomorrow I think we are going to give ourselves a lazy day.  That was an intense 8 miles.