During the week while Paul worked, Frank and I took a short flight to Kaua'i, the oldest island of the archipelago. We began this part of our trip by renting a Jeep and driving around much of the island the first day before taking a helicopter tour to some of the more remote parts of the island. The next three days were spent hiking along the unbelievable sea cliffs of the Na Pali coastline, on the legendary Kalalau Trail. Our final day basically consisted of us recovering from the hike and exploring the bustling metropolis of Lihu'e, which has somewhere around 6,000 people, all of whom seem to be friendly. Getting to and from the trailhead involved hitchhiking about an hour each way, and this turned out to be one of the most fun parts of the trip and allowed us to meet some incredible people. On the way to the trail we met a born-again Christian whose church bought 55 acres of land from Bette Midler at an insanely cheap price (ironically bringing their total land to 66 acres), a pot-smoking computer programmer that worked from home when he wasn't hanging out on the beach, a random guy with a truck whose only words of wisdom to us were "Bring lots of granola", a retiree who frequented the island and felt he should help after he had hitchhiked often during his college years, and then a group of hippies including their 10 year old daughter, Raven. On the way back, we met a 'normal' guy from Michigan who helped us get to the grocery store to satisfy our seemingly insatiable craving for Subway and orange juice after the long hike, another random guy with a truck, and then a very nice woman who took us right to our hotel after having to make some quick stops at the post office and grocery store while we stayed in the bed of the truck.

 

Wailua Falls was the first main attraction on our driving tour, though we couldn't get a full view of the falls due to some construction on the sidewalk and overlook.

Frank and I were lucky to get a free upgrade to the Jeep Wrangler which gave us an open-air experience in addition to inspiring spontaneous hand and face contortions.

The Kilauea Lighthouse stands proudly at the Northernmost point of the island. Unfortunately, access was restricted to the public that day on account of MLK, Jr. Holiday.

Hanalei Valley near the town of Hanalei and Hanalei Bay; apparently creativity was not a driving force in the naming process of these places.

The aforementioned Hanalei Bay marked the turning point of our driving tour, as we had to rush back to the other side of the island to catch our helicopter tour.

Frank and I take a break from looking at the beautiful scenery from our helicopter ride to take a look at ourselves. Unfortunately, we weren't quite as impressive.

Waimea Canyon, described by Mark Twain as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." He may have been exaggerating a little, but who am I to second guess a literary icon.

An aerial view of Kalalau Beach, at the end of the challenging 11 mile Kalalau Trail that Frank and I hiked for three days and two nights during our trip.

Another view just East of Kalalau Beach. The small patch of red dirt in the front center of the picture is known as Red Hill and is much tougher to hike than it looks (at least from here).

Here's a good view of the beginning of the Na Pali coast and Kalalau Trail, with Ke'e Beach on the far left. As you can tell, parts of the trail were very steep and precarious.

A vertical shot of Kalalau Beach and its environs, just to change things up a little.

One of the innumerable waterfalls of Mt. Wai'ale'ale crater, the wettest place on Earth.

Almost constantly shrouded in clouds, Mt. Wai'ale'ale receives 451 inches of rain a year (which is a lot for you non-climatologist types).

Apparently the little beach in the middle of this picture is the one from Fantasy Island where Tattoo waves at the plane, though I've never seen the show, so that means nothing to me.

Our first view of the Na Pali coast from the trail. Due to the availability of a few scattered campsites and some other factors, we hiked 6 miles in the first day, 10 the second (5 miles in to the end and 5 out), and 6 miles out on the third day.

Here I am at the start of the trail, when we still had the energy to take a lot of pictures, a desire that would quickly dissipate as the weather, our 40 lb backpacks, muddy and steep trails, and bad tasting water (treated with tablets) took their toll on us.

Though it was grueling, it was easy to remind ourselves what an amazing place this was with frequent rainbows and astonishing views around every bend.

We camped both nights near the 6 mile marker at Hanakoa Valley and were lucky enough not to experience any rain. The first night we also marvelled at the abundant stars overhead.

A view of the upcoming ridges and valleys from mile 8. A mile or two later we met a interesting guy bathing in the river who has actually been living in these valleys for 3.5 years with little or no contact to the outside world. In addition to him, we also met some nudist hippies at the end of the trail.

At the end of Kalalau Beach, we took a break inside of a sea cave, 'enjoyed' a few PowerBars, watched the powerful waves and prepared for the second half of the hike - making it back to Ke'e Beach and hopefully finding a smoothie machine along the trail (unfortunately that last part didn't happen).