Kalalau Valley evades description. I am sort of in love with Kalalau. This is the best of Hawaii hiking. Being in Kalalau is like being given permission to see and touch one of the most intimate parts of the Earth.
I first visited Kalalau Valley in 1975. Friends of mine had hiked there and came back with more than great tans. They told me about camping in caves on the beach and in mango groves in the woods. They told me about warm days that ended in beautiful sunsets. And they told me about the gorgeous and difficult hike along 11 miles of cliffs overlooking the sea.
So, made up my mind to hike the Na Pali Coast trail to Kalalau with my friend, Peter, during my next vacation. We did the hike in 2 days, staying overnight in a rouge cottage in about halfway there. The trip and the stay there were beyond imagination and even beyond remembering. I could remember the adjectives like "beautiful", "gorgeous", "wonderful", "green", "blue","huge","natural", "spiritual"....None of these recall the actual experience.
After nearly a month, I went back my job in Honolulu. I didn't want to do that, but I did. Culture shock. Several months later, I returned to the Na Pali and Kalalau with my camera and made an attempt to capture images I could take back with me. I got the pictures, but they, like the memories of any love, were sorry surrogates for the real thing. I've been back to Kalalau many times. I've even hiked both ways in moonlight ( I do NOT recommend you do this ). Upon my return to the valley on that nighttime hike, I stood at the place a half mile from the end of the trail where you can look down into Kalalau Valley from about 1000 feet up. The valley was lit by moonlight. I could clearly see the beach and the stars. I was about to descend into the valley, when almost directly out of the moon an almost silent, white owl flew to within a few feet of may face and away again. It made several passes and disappeared. I hiked down. found my friends sleeping in their tents in the valley. Magic.
My last trip to Kalalau was in 1996, that time it was by kayak on a beautiful day, the sea was a color of deep blue that has no name. Kayaking was much easier than hiking and took only about 3 hours. Landing on the beach was a bit rough because of breaking surf, but my kayak and I both ended up on the sand; separately. I stayed the night and paddled back to Ke'e beach the next day.
