Arrived at Kalalau Beach

Wednesday was our second day in the trail. We got up and had a leisurely breakfast and broke camp. The powdered milk we brought turned Anne's coffee into a quasi-latte.

We began our hike with the destination of Kalalau Beach. We came out of the Hanakoa valley and down across to crawlers ledge. 

Crawlers Ledge is a short section (about 400 feet long) where you have a cliff above you to one side and a cliff down to the sea on the other, with only your narrow ledge to walk along in between the two. There was a lot of self talk and self encouragement to get across, but once we made it, it was much better than we both had thought. 

We continued along in and out of the various valleys and like the first day, were amazed at how each valley is completely different. 

Despite still being before noon and still being on the shaded side of some cliff faces, it was really hot and humid out. Some of the valleys had a sea breeze, some had a cool breeze down from the top of the mountains, and some were stifling and we tried to hurry through them as quickly as we coul. We stopped for a lunch at a little, rocky, dry stream crossing in the shade and only had a short distance further. 

About the 10 mile mark of the hike we aarrived at the Red Hill. There were Rangers down at the beach and they had evicted some of the "locals" without permits and one who was leaving recommended we head up for the best view anywhere on the hike. He wasn't wrong; it was incredible.

We saw a helicopter down below removing items from those without permits. It was a different perspective e seeing a helicopter land, add a sling and fly from above.

We arrived at about 2 and it was so nice to finally be there. Again, people were nice along the trail, always saying hello, and usually providing a piece of information about the road ahead.

We claimed a site right beside the beach with our packs, then went to the waterfall on the far end of the beach and showered off.

We got our site all set to up and organized, then went down to the beach to play in the ocean.  There is a very dangerous rip tide and we had high surf, so didn't go much past our knees on the highest waves.

After that refreshing cool-down, we made supper and watched our first sunset at the beach. Right before the sun met the horizon it hit a far away cloud which didn't allow for as spectacular of colours, but it was still a good finish to the day.

We used the last of the light to get ready for bed then watched the stars come out.

For most things in life, I've found that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. Kalalau seems to be the exception...  It's both.