Kauai's Nā Pali coast is famous the world over for its rugged coast, idyllic beaches, persistent waterfalls, and intricately crenulated cliffs. Hiking the first two miles of the trail (unpermited) or taking a boat or helicopter tour is a must do for almost every visitor to Kauai. I am usually drawn to the world's more inaccessible and underappreciated places but with this trip I had something else in mind. What if I could reinvent a tourist classic in a way that maximizes adventure?
Most people experience the Nā Pali coast one of three ways: (1) By land on the eleven mile-long Kalalau Trail which hugs the sea cliffs in and out of many valleys before deadending at Kalalau Beach (requiring you to backtrack the way you came), (2) by sea via a 15 mile kayak or boat tour between Ke'e Beach and Polihale Beach (requiring a island spanning car shuttle), or (3) by air via a peace-piercing Cessna or helicopter tour (to the great annoyance of the first two groups...). I'll admit I was fortunate enough to experience the coast from the nimble comfort of a helicopter on a family vacation back when I was in high school, and that flight certainly piqued my interest. I now had the skills, logistical expertise, and equipment to design the perfect Nā Pali trip, which to my knowledge no one has done: Packraft 13 miles from Ke'e Beach to Miloli'i Beach, paddle back 4 miles to Kalalau Beach, then hike the Kalalau Trail 11 miles back to Ke'e Beach. We would get to see the very best of the coast including the sea caves and kayak-only Miloli'i Beach camp, then get to experience the entire Kalalau Trail including Kalalau Beach and side hikes, all without any significant backtracking or shuttling in one excellent 3.5 day multi-sport adventure. I managed to secure the requisite camping permits months in advance so the main gamble would be the swell and sea conditions. If in our favor we would surely break the mold with this novel trip.
My cousin Makena kindly and generously dropped us off at Haena Beach for night zero of this trip. Once our tent was pitched Sara and I walked down to check out the snorkeling at Tunnel Beach. We were soon joined by Jeff, Kristina, and Jesse. We drove to the end of the road, checked out the abandoned sea caves, and went snorkeling at Ke'e Beach where we would put in the next day. Some locals were obnoxiously loud but I still slept well.
Kristina and Jesse dropped us off at Ke'e Beach bright and early for the adventure's start; the beach was empty save for a couple people. We loaded our tubes, strapped snorkeling gear, inflated, ad pushed off. There was a bit of a reef break with good sized set waves but all managed to break out through the channel into open ocean. Initially there seemed to be a rough shorebreak, which kept us at a significant distance from the coast, but as we turned the corner the cliffs plummeted into deep water such that the waves sloshed rather than broke. This meant we could comfortably paddle close to the cliffs and enjoy them towering above us. Our Alpackas were not the sleekest or fastest craft in the sea but they were stable and comfortable. We savored the pre-tourist morning quiet until engines started after about an hour or two.
We made good time past Hanakapi'ai Beach. I was thankful that we had no need to make a landing but hoped that the other beaches would be more forgiving because the surf looked nasty. After Hanakapi'ai the sea caves started appearing in abundance and we made sure to detour to every one that seemed safe. I had done my research and had the locations and names of virtually every cave on the coast. We went a short distance into the Hoolulu caves (above). At Waiwaipuhi (Great Blowhole) Cave an ocean kayak tour caught up to us (and then two tour boats) and we all sloshed around in the dark and violent chamber for a few minutes. Their seafaring double kayaks left us in their wake, which was perfectly fine with us. Waiahuakua (Sacred Water) Cave was an easy favorite. It is not often you see a waterfall plunge through the roof of a sea cave. Better still the cave had two entrances and we were able to make a through-trip.
The coast continued with the cliffs and hills becoming increasingly fluted. We were having a great time and making decent progress. We were all getting a little fatigued and set our sights on Kalalau Beach for a lunch stop. We could see Kalalau Beach a long time before we reached it and when we finally did it was an additional paddle to the far side of it. The beach was steep, such that the waves crashed with a violent roostertail then steeply washed up the slope. This would be a tricky landing and an even trickier push off. Timing was everything. We got a sense for the timing of the waves and of the sets, and one by one chased a wave as best we could up the beach, hopping out of the boats with split-second precision.
We carried our loaded Alpackas across the toe-burning sand to the shadows of a cliff. After lunch and a refreshing soak in the picturesque waterfall plunging behind the beach, we brought the packrafts back to the water's edge. There was no way we could get in our boats quick enough to get out through the waves so our strategy was to swim out with our boat until we were past the breaking waves, and then climb in. It seemed to work well and we were on our way.
Afternoon clouds built, draping over the mountain peaks and bumping up the drama. The coast was honestly less impressive when it was sunny and clear so we appreciated the change of scenery and cooler paddling temperatures. We continued on past a fresh landslide area, peering longingly at the twin Honopū beaches accessible only by swimming, which we would save for tomorrow in the interest of time. I could not help but snap many pictures of what in my opinion must be one of the world's most perfect beaches.
Next photos all of Honopū Beach
More sea caves, more waterfalls, more coves of turquoise water. It was now late enough we had the coast more or less to ourselves again. We made a quick stop at Queen's Bath Cave, notable for its enormous open skylight. Next we passed Awa'awaphui and Nu'alolo valleys and I spotted some inaccessible clifftop walls made by ancient Hawaiians. We paddled a wide berth around Nualolokai Reef and its cliff circled beach. A five-hundred foot high cliff had crossing dikes making a remarkable "X marks the spot". I couldn't agree more.
We rounded Makuaiki Point and Miloli'i Beach came into sight. As we paddled along my attention was grabbed by peculiar dark shapes on the reef. It took me a second to see what I was looking at. Sea turtles were beaching themselves on the edge of the reef and chowing down on the seagrass growing there. Periodically a large wave would crest the reef, slamming them across the reef and dropping them in a new spot. They would continue eating like it was all part of the plan. Highly entertaining. We found a channel through the fringing reef and a superb campsite under some trees away from the established campsite area. We got around to setting up camp.
Jeff crashed and slept for hours. I wanted to go snorkeling with those turtles so Sara and I walked back along the reef. We got quite close to them, almost to the point that waves would nearly knock them into us but they still didn't seem to mind. I jumped in with my fins and snorkel and swam back to the beach. So many turtles! I easily saw more than fifty. Although I thought I was taking my time, with the current I still managed to beat Sara back to the beach. Still with a touch of daylight left I decided to run up Milol'i Creek to scout a potential escape route and to see the Red Room, the final 100m waterfall into a chamber. I was amazed at the extensive rock terraces formed by ancient Hawaiians on both sides of the creek. It must have been quite a special place. The canyon itself is fascinating; all the water in the creek emerges from springs at the base of the bedrock falls such that the entire canyon above is dry except when flooding. I made it back in time to take a shower and eat dinner just as the last light left. I slept well, satisfied and overloaded with all the incredible sights of the day. Miloli'i was calm and peaceful. I could spend days here.
We aimed for a relatively early start the next day with many more things to see and do. I was delighted to see that the seas were even calmer than the previous day. We paddled somewhat expediently to Nualolokai Reef, said to have the best snorkeling on the island. I found a hole in the reef to which we could anchor our boats as we snorkeled around for a solid hour. The snorkeling really was excellent with some of the best coral and fish I had seen. Also outside the reef there were plenty of turtles, which I took a lot of photos of. We had it all to ourselves for about 45 minutes until tour boats barfed out tourists with pool noodles, our cue that it was time to move on.
The sights were so spectacular that we certainly didn't mind the four miles of backtracking back to Kalalau. We spent more time at Queen's Bath Cave this time. I did a little snorkeling and cliff jumping before the boat and kayak tours became obnoxious. Onward to places without people, places the tours are not allowed to go.
Honopū. This. Is. The. Place. I don't know how I could imagine a more idyllic place. More numerous waterfalls? Taller, more overhanging cliffs? Greener vegetation? Whiter sand beaches? A bigger natural bridge connecting the two cliff-ringed beaches? More crystalline waters? Taller, pointier peaks rimming a mysterious amphitheater-shaped hanging valley above? Just incredible. Must be one of the world's most perfect beaches. Although frequently buzzed by helicopters overhead and motorboats offshore, the state park prohibits landing any sort of craft on the beach, which greatly cuts down on visitation. To visit you either need to do a long half-mile open ocean swim from Kalalau Beach or to anchor you boat offshore and swim in. We didn't have an anchor so we alternated: Jeff herded the boats while Sara and I checked out the beach and then we did the same for him. Again words fail me and so I rely on pictures. We only had about 30 minutes on the beach (which went by entirely too fast) but the incredible features blew us away. The hanging waterfall from Honopū Valley drops behind one beach then the stream flows through a natural arch to enter the sea on its twin beach. The cliffs towered up to a thousand feet in places. What a rugged and magical place.
After Jeff had his turn, we continued on the short distance to Kalalau, this time each of us making a much smoother and better timed landing. We found a suitable camp on old stone terraces behind the west end of the beach and near the waterfall.
After some food we had a walk to the sea cave at the far west end of the beach, which was quite different than described by the caving article I had. It is clear the floor morphology varies every year depending on how the winter storms decide to leave it. In some years there is an enormous pool to swim. This time it was ankle depth and sand the whole way. We were back at camp just in time because heavy rain broke out, drenching us thoroughly and actually chilling us to the bone. I made a makeshift shelter of packrafts to wait out the rain, unknowing that a short distance away in the camp there was an actual shelter that would have been far more effective.
After the rain eased to a drizzle I walked the whole length of the beach and back through the extensive camp. It certainly seemed like there were more people around than the 40 that the permits allow...Once back at camp I dragged Sara and Jeff out of their tents to walk out to the beach. The sun was now piercing the clouds, casting golden afternoon light and kicking up rainbows. Hard to beat in a place like this. The fluted cliffs above the camp were particularly mesmerizing.
The next day we carefully packed for our hike out. Since we were going to take two days to hike out, camping at Hanakoa, we had plenty of time for side hikes. We dropped packs and hiked up Kalalau Valley to a nice swimming hole. Virtually the entire hike was along and through ancient Hawaiian stone terraces. The amount of effort and number of people that must have lived here was amazing to think about. I picked up juicy wild mangoes along the way such that I had one to eat continuously and a few more to enjoy back on the main trail later.
The trail climbed steeply out of Kalalau, and we were already hot and sweaty with our loaded packs despite still being morning. It was a particularly windy day and we noticed the lack of boats and kayaks offshore. We got really lucky with our timing! It would have been an epic to paddle in those conditions. After a snack break on a windy promontory we had a two mile stretch of cliff hugging traversing to do as the precarious and fleeting trail narrowly winded in and out of small drainages. The views were spectacular and it was really neat to see all the places we had packrafted days before from a completely different vantage. While yes exposed, and yes a mistake could certainly lead to death, the difficulty of the stretch of trail is greatly exaggerated. That said this was not a place I would want to be in violent rain and wind. Witnessing rockfall and soil delamination along the trail here would be terrifying. In our present conditions we had little to worry over and just enjoyed the view.
After the steep and narrow section we had one more hill to switchback up to traverse into Hanakoa Valley. With a little searching we found a nice camp spot (more archaeological terraces!) a little further up the slope from other campers. After setting up we hiked upvalley to Hanakoa Falls, which had quite a nice pool to swim in beneath it. We then moved downstream a few hundred feet to enjoy some shallower (warmer) pools in the sun and I set up the hammock. Just before sunset we hiked to the north side of the valley and caught the sunset from the helipad clearing. I even saw the green flash!
Our last day of hiking was pretty uneventful. Hot. Sweaty. More hiking in and out of larger drainages and a switchbacked climb up to 800ft then back down to Hanakapi'ai Beach. Jeff and I climbed around the north side of the beach, playing chicken with the crashing waves and checking out a neat little beach with sea cave. Back at the beach Jeff decided to try to body surf, which consisted of getting abused by waves and spit back onto the beach 300ft along in less than a minute.
The final stretch of trail to Ke'e had a constant stream of tourists, many the sub-species with GoPros strapped to their head. It certainly made us thankful that the trail past Hanakapi'ai required permits. We reached Ke'e about noon.
We got a easy hitch to Hanalei from friendly Hannah from Portland. After a civilized lunch and shave ice we caught the bus to Lihue and then the connection to the airport. I was pleasantly surprised by the bus. For $2 we were happy to ride halfway around the island in air conditioned comfort. At the airport we picked up our rental car, surprisingly drama-free (and a free upgrade to a Jeep Wrangler), then store, then drove up the hill to Camp Sloggett. A warm shower, cool air, and a laid back camp were exactly what we needed.
So logistically I don't think I would do anything differently. Our Nā Pali packraft loop was a great adventure, allowing us to sample all of the best land and sea features the coast has to offer in one excellent trip. Thanks to Jesse and Kristina and especially Makena for helping us out.
