Kalalau, Kauai Backpack Trip Day1

I've heard so much about Kalalau from various groups of people in HTMC that I mentioned to Gretchen one day that we should go. She surprisingly agreed. So off we went to secure two sets of camping permits about a year ago. Clayton also secured another camping permit, which would allow our group to have a total of 13 people. You would not believe the turnover that these slots would experience over the course of the year, more so towards the end. Thank God for backpack coordinators! :)

The stars would align and give me various opportunities for shorter backpack trips over the year that prepared me physically, mentally, and logistically for this longer Kalalau Trip.

Gretchen's circumstances unfortunately changed and prevented her from making the trip. Jennie and I took the helm of coordinating the backpack trip from Gretchen. The experience from the recent backpack trips helped tremendously.

TRIP LOGISTICS

Itinerary:

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Dates:

July 26 - August 1, 2010

Trail:

Kalalau Trail

Trail Location:

Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park, Kauai, Hawaii

Backpack Coordinators:

myself
Jennie Chadbourne

Backpack Group:
Edo 
Bob 
Kevin 

Thea 

Peg 

Dayna 

Dusty 

Clayton 

Jill 

Allen 

The group availed of various airlines and various flights on various dates so our first rendezvous was at the Lihue Airport (Map Point A). Thea arrived in Kauai a few days prior to start her vacation early. She graciously accepted the job of buying the various fuel for our various stoves, which shaved off a stop in our itinerary. Kevin will arrive 2 days later and meet us in Kalalau. This would have given us the opportunity to acquire critical forgotten items but the dude complains a lot ...

We availed of the services of Yamaguchi Bus Service to transport our fairly large group of 12 from point to point. Our bus driver for that Monday morning was Ty, son of bus owner Joan Yamaguchi.

After loading the bus with packs and people, we were ready to start our Kalalau adventure - WOOHOO!

First Stop: Waipouli Town Center (Map Point B)

We mostly hit Papaya's Natural Foods and Cafe for meals and Foodland for last minute supplies.

Second Stop: Anini Beach Park (Map Point C)
Pete Clines shared stringent warning about thieves at Anini and so my third-world alerts went up the minute we arrived at the beach park. I tried to constantly make sure that there was always somebody watching the packs and eventually our campsite.

After the group settled on a campsite, Jennie and I set about to putting up my tent, which we shared on this trip. I unpacked my tent and realized that despite after several camping trips, I had never really put the darn thing up by myself. So much for being "authentic" backpackers. Jennie and I twirled around it for several minutes, laughing at the non-working pole configurations we were trying out. The light bulb eventually switched in my head but not before we developed stitches from laughing. I could tell that Edo, who was setting up his tent beside us, had completely lost all confidence that we had done this backpacking thing before.

Below is my successfully set up tent (right). Edo's tent is the one on the left.

Below is our campsite.

With the tent up, I finally could sit, relax and enjoy my lunch - YES!

Just as I was about to sit, in my peripheral, I see Jennie dashing off into the direction of the campsite we initially checked out, shouting something unintelligible. I equally shout "What's going on?" and tried to untangle my legs from the picnic table bench, relieved to see that Edo was dashing right behind Jennie. It turns out that Jennie was trying to save Thea's lunch from being lunch-napped by some stranger. Darn! Anini would not let us through without an incident. Jennie successfully recovered Thea's lunch. Thank God a frustrated lunch-napping was the only unfortunate incident we experienced at Anini.

After lunch, Jill, Edo and I swam in the ocean. The water was awesome - warm, glassy and calm. Thea was also somewhere in the horizon snorkelling back and forth. She comes back disappointed at the lack of fish and coral :(

Peg also regaled us with stories of old Kauai. It could be that she may have witnessed the crippled Japanese plane fly over Kauai on its way to Niihau that staged the Battle of Niihau during the Pearl Harbor Attack.

Maybe because we were bored, Jill received the "Heavy Backpack" intervention from Jennie and Clayton. As you can see in the picture, she struggled to let go of some of her items but she was able to shave off at least 10 lbs from her pack at the end of the intervention. I have yet to figure out how to shave off 10 lbs from mine.

Sunrises and sunsets are always strong on the Daily Agenda for backpackers. An internal alarm goes off and we slowly gravitate towards where we could see them the best. Here is the sunset at Anini that day. As you can see, it did not disappoint.

After dinner, night owl backpackers (I am one) gathered around the picnic table with conversation moving from one topic to another. A prominent one was "What was the most poignant point of your life so far?" which Allen dominated.

Jill and I were the last to sleep and we moved our conversation to the beach to minimize disturbing the campers. We had a heart-to-heart conversation about life and love until the rain broke it up. Here's a log of that conversation.

I always have a hard time sleeping on camping trips and I lay staring into the darkness for a long while listening to the patter of the rain against my tent. I enjoy moments like that when everything is still and I am completely aware of the darkness and cacophony of sounds enveloping me. I eventually dozed off to the patter of rain. The same rain would wake me up the next morning as it pooled on my feet and soaked my down sleeping bag.

Lesson Learned: Do not lean backpack against tent or water will enter tent.