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Hike the Kalalau Trail to Hanakapi'ai Beach

Kilauea, Hawaii

Details

Distance

5 miles

Elevation Gain

600 ft

Route Type

Out-and-Back

Description

Added by Alyssa Gregory

Incredibly beautiful hike along the famous Na Pali Coast ending at a rocky beach. This is the shorter and less difficult version of the full Kalalau Trail hike.

Most people coming to Kauai have heard of the world famous Na Pali Coast and the Kalalau Trail. The Kalalau Trail is an 11 mile trail that ends at Kalalau Beach, a secluded beach that can only be reached via the trail or boat. If you want to do the full 11 mile trail, you will need to get a permit to camp overnight on Kalalau Beach (this is required - they won't let you past a certain point on the trail without a permit to camp on the beach). This hike is often spoken about as being quite strenuous and dangerous, which may drive some people away from it.

But what those "some people" may not know is that you can still experience the incredible beauty of the Na Pali Coast without hiking the full 11 miles to Kalalau Beach. The first 2 miles of the trail are beautiful and moderately challenging but can easily be done in a morning if you don't have the time or strength of will to hike 11 miles (and then back). If you are embarking on this hike that I'm writing about, you will end at Hanakapi'ai Beach. Some people choose to then hike another 2 miles inland to Hanakapi'ai Falls at this point - We did not do this so I can't give any advice on that, but it will about double the trip time (~3.5 hours > ~7 hours).

You will park in the Ke'e Beach parking lot if you get there before 7:30-8:00 in the morning. If you get there after that time and the Ke'e Beach parking lot is full, you'l park at a large dirt parking lot about 100 yards down the road. There are reasonably clean bathrooms and outdoor showers at the Ke'e Beach parking lot.

The trail head is to the left of the Ke'e Beach lifeguard stand - You can't miss it as there's a huge sign that says NA PALI COAST STATE WILDERNESS PARK there. The trail starts off as an immediate rocky, uphill climb (3rd picture above). If you're wearing sandals, turn back and get some real shoes now. You need sneakers or hiking shoes for this trail. Please don't attempt to do this hike in sandals! We saw a few people wearing sandals and I don't know what they thought they were going to be doing that day but what they ended up doing was breaking their sandals and killing their feet.

This is one of those hikes where the trail is the destination. You will find yourself saying "wow" almost constantly as you walk on this trail. It is one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done and I would do it again in a heartbeat. You have beautiful jungle on one side of you and beautiful ocean on the other. Enjoy the views, but watch your footing when you're walking over rocks and tree roots (which is frequently).

If it's just rained (which it usually has - this is the Garden Isle, after all), the trail will be muddy and slippery in many places. If it's rained a normal amount, this shouldn't deter you. It had rained the night before we went and it was pretty muddy, and we were covered in mud by the end (and wishing we'd brought a towel). Just know that sometimes you'll have to hold on, sometimes you'll slip anyway, and sometimes you'll have to just go down some rocks on your butt. If it's rained a LOT the night before, you may want to hold off on doing this until another day.

The trail is very well marked and you'd have a hard time losing it (mostly because you're walking along these ridges and straying would mean either falling toward the ocean or climbing steeply up). There is a decent amount of uphill and downhill walking so you should be in reasonably good shape, but it's not very difficult (for reference, I'm a 26-year-old woman in okay-ish shape but really not very good shape). We saw a lot of families doing this with their kids (but those kids definitely had more energy than me), although this was early on - Not sure if dad was carrying those kids by the end.

Depending on whether the sun has come above the ridge yet, this will either be pleasantly shaded or pretty warmly sunny. Bring sunscreen for when the sun does come over the ridge. You're in the jungle about half the time, and exposed to the sun about half the time.

Right before you get to Hanakapi'ai Beach, you'll come to a river (Hanakapi'ai River - who would have guessed?). You'll have to cross this river (there's a picture of it posted with this). It's not very wide, and not very deep (about 2.5 feet deep). There are some big rocks in the river which some people tried to walk across - I advise against this, as those rocks are slippery and half of those people fell off of them into the river and got more wet than they would have if they would have just waded across. The water is chilly but it's very refreshing at this point. If you have sensitive feet, bring water shoes. If you don't have water shoes, it's not a big deal - The rocks at the bottom are round and plenty of people were wading across in their bare feet. I'm just a wimp and had water shoes. The point is, it's definitely easier to cross this river by wading through it than by walking across the rocks.

Once across the river, you have arrived at Hanakapi'ai Beach (picture posted above). THIS IS NOT A BEACH FOR SWIMMING. The beach is made up of rocks (really hundreds of cairns that hikers have built) and the currents and surf are VERY rough here - you'll see and hear the waves crashing into the beach. Watch from a distance. There are plenty of large rocks under some trees you can sit on here to take a break and have some lunch. Don't leave your food unattended - There are wild trail cats (they look like house cats but had no collars or tags) roaming around here looking for some free lunch.

If you were doing the full 11-mile trail, you would continue back up into the jungle from here at a sign that points towards the trail and some restrooms. I didn't use these restrooms so I can't say anything about what state they're in, but I would guess it's not great. But a bathroom's a bathroom.

If you were going to Hanakapi'ai Falls from here, you would begin hiking up the river for another 2 miles. I think you'd definitely want water shoes and a drybag for your stuff for that, as you have to cross the river several more times.

If you're just finishing the hike here at Hanakapi'ai Beach like I did, then you're turning around, crossing back over the river, and retracing your steps back to Ke'e Beach. Luckily, it's just as beautiful on the way back.

Total distance: The sign posted at the trail head says 2 miles each way, but my Fitbit said 5 miles round trip

Total time: 4 hours, including about 30 minutes at Hanakapi'ai Beach

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