There has been another trailhead that has called to me during our previous trips to Kauai, but we have never ventured onto it until today. This morning we drove to the end of the road on the North Shore to hike the first portion of the Kalalau Trail.
When we first got to the Ke’e Beach area and found parking, we were approached by a slightly timid puppy that was standing in the road. We called to it and it came over happily, gratefully accepting our attention. Thinking it probably belonged to someone at the beach, we continued to gather our hiking gear and the puppy wandered away. As we started walking to the trail, a young couple was walking toward us and the woman had another puppy in her arms. Apparently, they had just been up on the trail and this little dog was up there and almost fell off the cliff. They brought is down and asked the lifeguard if he knew whose dog it was; he said there were 3 or 4 puppies that had shown up a few days earlier and he thought someone had dumped them. This wonderful couple had decided they wanted to try and adopt this puppy and fly it home with them; there plan was to take it to the island’s humane society to see what they needed to do.
Now, Steve and I have been in this situation ourselves. On our first trip to Hawaii together, we rescued a stray cat, and picked up a dog that had been hit by a car the same night. This is a long story that I’ve told before on this web site; ask me if you’re interested. Long story short, we warned this couple to find out what the humane society’s policies were regarding strays before they turned the dog over to them. We also told them about the other puppy that had approached us. This couple was so much like us in their concern for the animals, it was really nice to meet them, however briefly.
I thought about the puppy that had come to us throughout the hike and, at the end, asked Steve if he thought we should call the humane society and see about bringing it in, too. We did not see the dog again and Steve suggested the other couple had taken it with them, too. I certainly think that is possible and I choose to believe that is the case.
As we have driven around the island, we have seen signs in places advising us not to feed the chickens and feral cats. I know what damage feral cats can do to the local bird population in Hawaii, but the first thing we do when we get to Hawaii is buy a bag of cat food that we keep in the trunk of the rental car in case we find some stray cats, which we always do. When we had our first encounter with the stray cat and dog population on that fateful trip in 2000, I discovered that, while the population gets out of control very quickly due to the temperate climate, the genesis of the problem lies in the attitudes that many people on the islands have toward their animals. I’ll make the people of Hawaii a deal. If they can start treating their pets responsibly, get them spayed and neutered, and not toss them out on their ear if they get pregnant, I’ll stop going around feeding every cat I see.
Anyway, off my soap box now, and onto the trail. The wind has really been fierce these last few days and today was no exception. In fact, all of the beaches along the North Shore were closed today because the tide is so high. I don’t know if this was a contributing factor, but there were an incredible number of people heading onto the trail when we got there.
The Kalalau Trail is an 11-mile coastal trail that leads from Ke’e Beach to Kalalau Beach. Hiking the whole of it is an all day event which requires a permit, and people usually camp overnight in Kalalau Valley to make the 11-mile return the next day. Honestly, there’s very little chance that Steve and I will ever hike the whole trail. But, we could do the first 2 miles which does not require a permit. So, up we began to climb. The trail rises about 400 feet in the first quarter mile. I had no idea what that really meant until we started the ascent. These pictures were taken on our way back down, but they give you an idea of the angle of the trail, which was a pretty consistent for that first leg.
At the top of this initial ascent was a beautiful outlook back over Ke’e Beach. You can see how heavy the surf was in the area.
We continued on, with the trail rising another 200 feet over the next quarter mile. After that, it leveled out a bit before beginning to descend to the first beach and the end of the first 2 miles. Really, it is a beautiful trail and I’m so glad we finally got out onto it. As we were heading back off the trail, I told Steve the good part about going on the hike was that, now that we’d done it, I wouldn’t be pestering him about it on future trips. I wonder if that’s a promise I’ll be able to keep. . .
