DAY 2 Tuesday - Exploring the valley
I heard someone calling my name but it didn't register for a second as no one knew me here.
After the second time, I turned around and couldn't believe my eyes. Standing there was the third member of our group, who couldn't make it past mile 4.5, strolling into Kalalau! I was so excited and happy for him, "How'd you make it here?" I asked. He explained that he pushed on to mile 6 as he planned, but the campsite was muddy there so he trekked on to mile 8, where he camped, He woke up at 4:30AM and hiked to Kalalau, arriving at about 9:30AM. We showed him to the freshwater waterfall where he could shower. I just want to point out that the waterfall shower occasionally has wild goats above who can knock down stones. A woman there told me that awhile ago her friend got hit in the head and had to be airlifted out, (but yet she was still showering there) another one of the locals said that one guy got hit in the shoulder recently. The shower is operated by holding up a piece of PVC pipe that is cut at a 45 degree angle at the end, acting as a showerhead.
We made up that myself and the other guy who came in with me last night would go explore the valley, while the one who just came in would rest up and get to know the locals. We all planned to head out that afternoon, so as not to be too pressured to do 11 miles on day 3 (we had a flight back to LAX the night after day 3).
I davened Shachris near the beach. When I opened my food bag for breakfast I was horrified to see that the cat which was in my tent last night bit a massive hunk out of my Salami. After laughing about it with everyone, I cut off the bitten part. For breakfast I had a tin of salmon with mustard sauce, which was good, the only problem was I had to carry the tin back, in accordance with leave no trace ethics.
At this point I want to digress and mention that the valley is clothing optional. On the trail pretty much everyone is dressed (except for one completely nude guy I saw, he was completely barefoot too). In Kalalau near the beach some of the locals hang out topless, they're mostly out of sight though, but deep in the valley, things were on a different level, people there act and dress like they're in Gan Eden before the sin of the tree of knowledge. So consider yourself warned before entering the valley.
I left my backpack in Kalalau, just bringing with my camera, my friend just brought his water bottle, which we shared. Even though I wasn't carrying my backpack, my legs ached, especially my calf muscles, it pained me just to bend my knees.
The trail from Kalalau Beach back to the river is half a mile long, its flat and easy. Once you're at the river, there is a sign for the two mile trail to the middle of the valley. We started out on the trail thinking it would be flat and easy, however you're basically hiking up the river, on rock, always going uphill. It was pretty difficult getting there, and we weren't even sure what was at the end of the trail. We met a Russian guy who was returning solo, who told us that he got to the end of the trail and there was nothing there, which has pretty disheartening, but we kept going. Eventually we got to the heart of the valley, which is really cool, the locals diverted the river around their Taro paddy farms, with loads of fruit trees planted nearby. The photos I have just don't do justice. We were mainly in search of guava but couldn't find any. My friend was able to climb an orange tree though, and knock some down, which turned out to be the juiciest, most delicious orange I've had in my life. Most of the papaya was unripe, but I found one ripe one which was mouthwatering. There were Bananas there, but they were unripe.
After chilling in the Valley, we headed back for Kalalau Beach, the return trip was much easier, as you're going downhill, we took the scenic route, heading off the main trail, finding an open clearing with nice views, a swing overlooking the ravine, we also climbed up a red dirt hill that is next to the trail where we were blown away by the panoramic views.
Upon reaching Kalalau Beach we rested up a bit, said goodbye to the other campers and started the trek back. After crossing the Kalalau river, the first half mile or so is easy, but then to climb out of the valley you need to climb steeply uphill, which is very difficult. We reached the 8th mile camping site and set up camp. There was already a tent there and within an hour another tent or two arrived, which ended up making the site kinda crowded, luckily as we were there early we had a nice spot up top.
We set up the tent, and didn't plan on putting up the rain-fly, so that we could have more ventilation among the 3 bodies packed in a tight space, however God has other plans, as it began raining lightly for about 10 minutes. There was a waist high waterfall nearby where we bathed. After unsuccessfully trying to make a fire, I had a dinner of wraps and tuna. The member of our group who had a lot of food offered it to the people camped nearby, who took some for themselves, and offered to take some back to the locals at Kalalau beach, where they were headed. After settling in the tent for the night, we tried outdoing each other with stories of crazy MSing and Travel experiences. We weren't as tired as the previous night, but after ridding the tent of a cockroach, we fell asleep.
Day 3 The Return Home.
We woke up and got going, we paced ourselves so that we would leave early and stop at the Hanakoa river (6 mile point) where we would Daven and eat.
The trail was mostly flat, and we did crawlers ledge soon after we left (its at about mile 7.2)
I should've mentioned this when I wrote about the inbound journey, It's very Important to keep drinking water, luckily there are sources of water very often. Just keep drinking, and when you come to a river or stream, drink till your full, then refill your water bottle. I used a one liter bottle which worked fine, no need to carry extra weight in water. I kept it connected to my shoulder area of the backpack with a carabiner which allowed me to drink without detaching the bottle. We didn't use any sort of water filtration although it is recommended to do so, its a YMMV thing I guess
We each went at our own pace, since there was no real rush I got lazy, fell behind everyone and enjoyed the scenery much more then I did on the way in, taking breaks often. My favorite part was hearing the surf crashing into the shore down below, sometimes the incoming waves crashed into the rebounding waves in such a way that it sounded as though a massive explosion had been detonated.
Finally I reached mile 3, after which starts the massive decline to the Hanakapiai river, on the way in, this climb is torturous. Now once again it was a muddy slip and slide, and contrary to popular belief, downhills aren't easy. Your toes slide up and crush against the front of your boots, and the momentum from your pack pushes you downhill, you need to fight against it. After climbing down, I reached the river, where I found my friends who had been waiting for me for awhile. The first two miles and the river area are filled with Day hikers who kept staring at us, we must have been quite a sight, covered in mud, exhausted, and with large packs.
After resting and eating I crossed the River and began the climb, once again taking breaks often while all the day hikers with no backpacks kept encouraging me to keep going. After climbing the first mile steeply uphill, and then descending on the second mile, I arrived at the Trailhead at about 4PM, where my companions and my ride were already waiting for me. There are public showers by the trail-head, where we rinsed off, before heading to Hanalei Beach near Princeville where we showered properly and ate dinner.
Our flight was at about 9PM, so we headed to the airport, one of the DDFers in our group had recently got status matched by Delta, so he was upgraded to Delta One with lie flat seats, which was nice. I got a contract worker at the airport to put me in Comfort plus, which on delta includes free liquor, so that was nice.
After a short stopover in LAX, I arrived in DTW after about 12 hours of traveling. All that time in the airplane must have cramped my legs up even more, as I could barely bend my knees for a couple day.
So what was the outcome of this great adventure? Within a week I had booked with another DDFer to Climb Machu Pichu in Peru
