Today is the day we HAVE to visit Haena State Park. The reason is that reservations are needed in order to visit including reservations for a shuttle bus and this is the day we settled on when planning. We have an early start today to ensure we are able to make it to the shuttle especially given that we ar not sure if the landslide that covered the highway is still impacting traffic, there is contradictory information online.
Luckily all the work seems to be finished and we pass without an issue, in fact we lose the most time at the one lane bridges which given how busy the highway is take a long time to cross.
Parking lot is quite full but we find a place and then we take the shuttle which comes at the expected time, in fact we are able to take an earlier shuttle due to available space. The drive is uneventful, there is some narration from tape during the drive which is interesting at times, and soon we are at Haena State Park.
When we booked the shuttle we did so because supposedly there was no reservable parking inside the park. The parking is completely empty though (throughout the day), forcing you to book the shuttle seems to be just a ploy to get a lot more money out of you. Either way we start from the parking lot passing next to some nice taro fields and seeing our first Hawaiian Ducks. The Hawaiian Ducks are very endangered due to cross breeding with mallards which basically reduced drastically the number of pure Hawaiian Ducks.
We stay in Haena State Park only for a short while, we visit the beach and enjoy the small trails but the attraction for us and majority of other people is the Kalalau Trail which is where we are headed.
Kalalau Trail is an 11 mile trail but only part of it can be accessed as a day hike, basically the section up to Hanakapiai Beach (2 mi one way) and then if you want inland up to the Hanakapiai Falls (another 2 mi one way). For everything else you need a different permit, sometimes it just feels that way too many permits/reservations are needed to access the attractions on Kauai. The trail starts steeply up before becoming more level the rest of the way.
From up high there are some nice views of the Ke’e Beach that we just left and the wild Na ‘Pali coast the other way.
The trail is quite scenic and a little bit muddy but it is nothing compared to the Pihea Trail so on we continue through the beautiful jungle.
There are quite a few flowers with Philippine Ground Orchid being one of the most showy ones. And where are flowers there are butterflies, mostly Gulf Fritillaries in this case.
As we approach the beach the trail exits the forest cover to some great views of the coastline. Unfortunately no tree cover also means that we were under the blazing sun making it more difficult to stop for long periods of time. Luckily we had a lot of water with us, we saw a few people complaining about lack of water.
Back in tree cover we start descending crossing a beautiful creek. At this point everyone that we meet that is coming the other direction is encouraging us (and everyone else) – just a bit left.
And then we finally see the beach. It is relatively busy as seen from above which is not unexpected as the majority of people will turn around here.
As we reach sea level we are surprised there is one more creek to cross and it is a doozy, quite fast flowing and cold so we decide to find an alternate way maybe along the mouth of the creek where it flows into the ocean.
There is sandbar that can be used to cross and we do so timing it with the waves so they don’t catch us as they are reaching breast-high levels.
Safely (we think) on the beach we explore the area a bit, it is a smallish beach but quite scenic limited on one side by the creek and on the other by cliffs.
We then decide to rest on the beach for a while outside the tideline watching the waves which can be quite different one from another. Like there are suppposedly about 50 words for snow for Eskimos there should be 50 words for waves for Native Hawaiians or so we think. While we philosophize we do not keep an eye on the closer waves and suddenly a monster wave makes it past the tideline so we scramble to save all our stuff and we do so barely in time with a few minor losses – some clothing items are wet and the camera which was thrown to safety has some sand in the gears but it could have been sooo much worse.
After the near-miss we decide that discretion is the better part of valor and decide to return to the trailhead. On the way we enjoy the few birds that brave the tideline, a wandering tattler and a sanderling which is scared into flying by a particularly large wave.
Returning it is more cloudy and therefore less hot in the exposed sections and we stop along the way to take photos of the breathtaking vistas.
As we walk on the trail we find what we consider to be a funny sign – “Helicopter Landing Zone Stay Clear at all Times 1.5mi”. First the sign is on the trail so not sure how the helicopter could land, second how can you stay clear from the trail and then it seems that you have to be clear 1.5 mi – quite funny to us.
We continue enjoying the views along the trail and almost without noticing we are getting close to the trailhead.
While always looking out to the sea we almost miss the great views inland, they are quite beautiful also.
We make it into the second shuttle, they are coming every 30 minutes, and return to our car. From there we go to the nearby town of Hanalei which is crazy busy, we barely find a parking spot. We walk around a bit trying to find the best place for dinner and looking at the galleries and stores. We find a good shaved ice place and buy first from there as we are still quite hot after hiking in the sun. Almost every restaurant is full so in the end we settle on one that seems to be emptier and after a 10 minute wait we are seated. The food is quite good and full we return back to our hotel to rest for the night.
