Distance: 8 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 791'
Elevation Gain: 2000'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.6
Round trip time: 5 hours
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35/person shuttle to trailhead
Difficulty: Moderate (muddy, slippery, scramble)
One of the most popular hikes on the island is to Hanakapi'ai Falls. There is very limited parking at the Halalu trailhead and passes sell out as soon as they become available. The other option is to ride a shuttle to the parking lot. We took the shuttle and started around 7:30 AM. The lot is technically about 0.2 miles from the official Halalu trailhead, but you can't drive any closer. The famous Halalu Trail is eleven miles long. To reach the falls, we hiked 2 miles on the Halalu Trail to Hanakapi'ai Beach, then took a separate trail to the falls. Like most trails in Kauai, the first two miles were a muddy slip and slide. We gained a little over 500', then followed the coast. There were a couple of minor stream crossings, then a knee deep stream we had to forge to reach the beach. For many of the hikers, the beach was their destination. There were a couple of restrooms at the beach and picnic tables. Signs warned against snorkeling due to rough water and rip currents. There was a large sea cave on the west wall that I wanted to check out on the way back. We took a short break at the beach, then took off for the falls.
We tromped through some large bamboo stands and had three more ankle to knee deep stream crossings. The last quarter mile was slow with a fair bit of scrambling over wet rocks just above the stream. There weren't very many hikers on the trail and we were two of six people when we reached the falls. The huge 300' falls tumble into a deep pool. Leisa went in for a swim. She said the water was cold and didn't swim under the falls. I waded knee deep into the pool, but had no desire to go for a full plunge. There were two other swimmers but no one braved going behind the falls. We took a long break before packing up and heading back. We passed several large groups (10+) on their way up. When we got back to the beach, it was close to high tide and it didn't look safe to reach the sea cave. We walked out on the beach for another snack break and watched some daring surfers take on the waves. The trail was crowded on the final two miles back and it was warm and humid. The ocean took on a turqoise hue toward the end. Most reports exaggerate the difficulty of the hike. It's not easy, but it's not a stretch for regular hikers. Overall, a beautiful hike and probably my favorite from our visit.
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