Hiking the Na Pali Coast

Today was an awesome, adventurous day! We started the morning out with Crepes in our cottage. They were simply delicious! We also took a few photos of our cottage with the natural light shining in. We love all the windows and how much light we get during the day. Our cottage is amazing!

We then showered and headed up to the North Shore towards the Na Pali Coast. Although Kauai is very small, 70% of the island is inaccessible by land so we had to drive nearly the entire perimeter of the island to reach the trailhead. It took approximately 2 hours. On our way, we stopped to see a lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed on Sunday so we could only see it from a distance, but it was really pretty!

We started our hike at the Na Pali Trailhead. The Coastline is only accessible by hiking, boat, or helicopter. The entire Na Pali coast is a 23-mile hike, which Jake and Meg are starting tomorrow! Eric and I aren't that brave, so we just did an 8-mile day hike. Hiking next to the ocean was surreal! We could hear the waves crashing as we were hiking. The hike was unbelievably gorgeous. The plant life was incredibly lush. We took the first 2 miles of the hike really slow to take in all the surroundings and get some great pictures.

Getting ready to start!

The Napali Coast

After 2 miles we came to a river and then a beach. The waves were huge! There were a lot of signs to NOT get in the water. Due to the huge waves and currents, there have been several drownings on this beach. Instead, we took some pictures and enjoyed some snacks. We also found two cats that appeared to live here on this beach. We were pretty amused because we sometimes joke about taking CC with us on vacation, and have even talked about writing a few children's books for our kids about CC's adventures. One of the books is about CC the beach cat. Of course, CC is a huge wimp and would NEVER want to even go to the beach. However, it was nice to see that there actually are beach cats in the world, even if CC never will be one.

After the beach, we started on the second section of the hike towards a waterfall. This portion of the hike was much more challenging. Several sections were very muddy and slippery, and the last half mile required mild bouldering. There were also several river crossings, which although challenging, were so nice to keep cool! The hike was really hot and muggy through the jungle! The views at the end of the waterfall were amazing. It was a huge, towering waterfall in the most gorgeous setting. In the end, there was a swimming hole. Eric got in, but I got drenched just getting near the waterfall from all the mist coming off the swimming hole! It was really fun.

No more pictures!

We hiked back down to the beach and then hiked out to the trailhead. The hike ends at a beach and we couldn't wait to jump in the ocean. Every hike should end at the ocean. The water was truly crystal clear and it felt so nice to float around in the waves after hiking for several hours. We were covered in layers of sunscreen, bug spray, sweat, and mist from the waterfall, so it felt great to get some of those layers off in the ocean. Not to mention, the views of the mountains that go almost directly into the ocean were stunning. In total, the hike took us about 6 hours. We had plans to spend some time at the beaches on the North Shore, but it started raining shortly after finishing our hike, and it was nearly 5:00, so we got some dinner at Bubba's Burgers and then drove the 2 hours back to our cottage, where we showered and relaxed for the evening. The hike was amazing and I would definitely do it again!

Every hike should end at the ocean