Kauai, Hawaii – Kalalau Trail – Day Two

Location: Kauai, Hawaii
Attraction: Napali Coast & Anini Beach
Activities of Choice: Hiking, Food Trucking, Beaches
Date: Friday, January 25th, 2020

Morning Sunrise and Coffee

Since we had been waking up fairly early during the whole trip, I was up before the sun and tried to catch the sunrise on the beach. Jill woke up when I was crawling out of the tent and joined me, but the overcast made it a fairly non-eventful scene. The Kumu Campground served coffee out of an old shipping container turned into an office. Jill was able to get her caffeine fix and then we packed up and headed off to catch a shuttle to the Napali Coast State Wilderness Park.

Double Rainbow

On the drive to the shuttle, we saw the most incredible double rainbow. It was the brightest I’ve ever seen. It was so vibrant and so close. I felt like it was touching my windshield. It was like I was driving through the thing and my windshield wipers were trying to wipe it off. I started to think that I would start seeing leprechauns and unicorns I was so close to this thing. I wondered if rainbows like this were common here, since rainbows in general are common in Hawaii but I was delighted when the guy from the shuttle service was geeking-out about the rainbow too. We talked about how bright and close it was and he, too, wondered where the pot of gold was. 🙂

Kalalau Trail – Ha’ena State Park

As soon as we got to the Ha’ena State Park we set off on our hike. The first part was a boardwalk that led to a road-like path that tunneled through some trees and led straight to a beach. We had planned to get in the water and even do a little snorkeling, but the water was super rough. Swimming would not have been an option.

We continued our hike, hitting the Kalalau Trail near Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park. This was a lot more trail-like. It was muddy, rocky, and steep. You had to really watch your step because in places you are walking along a sheer cliff and with the slippery mud and uneven rocky ground, you’re really just trying to not break an ankle. We saw people with nice white shoes attempting the hike. Let’s just say they weren’t white for long.

The views made it totally worth the effort. Not only were we walking along an ancient volcano with the beautiful Pacific ocean beside us, but we had the extra treat of insanely bright rainbows and Humpback Whales spitting plumes of mist into the air in the distance. All this topped with the beautiful green cliffs in the distance made this one of my all-time favorite hikes.

Hanakapi Ai Beach

As we neared our goal destination, Hanakapi Ai Beach, we saw a number of people trying to get across a fast moving stream. We didn’t know this was necessary to get to the beach, so it caught us by surprise. After an unsuccessful attempt at finding an alternative route, and a pep talk from Shane to Jill, we took off our shoes and waded through the stream. Sadly, Hanakapi Ai beach was closed because the surf was so high they were worried a rogue wave would come up, swallow us, and take us out to sea for the sharks and the turtles. So we just sat and enjoyed the view for a bit, catching our breath from the hike.

We turned around and headed back through the swiftly moving stream. I of course slipped and fell in the stream, getting myself soaked from the wast down, but we still found our way back to our shuttle and I don’t think I even got any jungle rot.

Hanalei and Anini Beach

After that experience, we decided to look for a place to take a dip in a part of the Pacific that wasn’t try to kill us. On our way through Hanalei, we stopped at a food truck joint and got some sushi from a food truck, Hanalei Poke. I was so hungry and ate so fast I’m not sure I really even tasted it, but Jill said it was good. After lunch we settled on heading to Anini Beach, a beach that is much calmer due to the cove like area it is in. We found a parking spot and I attempted to do some snorkeling here, but there was nothing in the water but salt and sand.

Having a cold beverage after being in the ocean is on of my favorite things. The saltwater almost makes the beer taste better. The cool bubbly beer mixing with the salt from the swim; adding flavor to the beer and washing the salt away from my tongue. We cheersed to a great time in a great place and headed out to find our campground.

The YMCA Campground (Camp Naue) was simply an open lot where you could park your tent or camper. There were no designated spots, and the only rules were: make sure you are there by 7:00 pm and don’t park under the coconut trees. The host was super nice. He had a 8 week old Mastiff puppy that we snuggled on for a bit and then he offered us some fresh banana bread that a neighbor of his baked for him. It was so fresh, it was still warm! We set up our tent with an ocean view and snacked on some banana bread and then went for a walk along the beach, catching another beautiful sunset. We came back and ate some cheese and crackers and headed into bed.