We got up pretty early this morning and drove to the north side of the island to do a hike on the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali coast. It's two miles long and has a decent amount of ups and downs as you walk along the cliffs overlooking the ocean.
The hike was going great when I had a bit of equipment malfunction -- about a quarter mile in, the sole of my right hiking boot decided it was tired and wanted to fall off. At first it was just the back and I tried tying it on with my shoelace, but the front came off shortly afterwards.
Not to be outdone, a few minutes later my left sole gave up the ghost, and there I was, soleless in the first half of the hike. We decided to keep going, and while the rubber padding lasted it worked pretty well -- the rocks were a bit slippery but not too bad. By the end of the hike, though, I'd eaten through all the padding rubber and was walking on the plastic inserts so the shoes weren't really doing a whole lot for me. But we did almost the whole hike, about 3 hours worth, and I made it back alive.
The hike itself was beautiful, and other than the first bit not as strenuous as I thought it was going to be. The view of the initial beach was amazing, and we got to see a bunch of cliffs that you can't except by hiking and helicopter.
Once we finished up the hike, we were pretty tired and hot, so having a beach right at the trailhead was perfect. I'm sure after a while all the beaches kind of sound the same -- gorgeous surroundings, blue water, lots of fish to chase around snorkeling, etc. Pretty rough, I know.
On the way back down to the south coast where our condo is, we stopped at the Kilauea Lighthouse which is also a small wildlife (mostly birds) sanctuary. We got some good pictures (including one of a bird that sort of divebombed me!), and continued our way back south.
After a failed attempt at getting some shave ice (yes it's "shave" not "shaved") we had to settle for some ice cream at the local town before we collapsed, exhausted, back at the condo.
Here's the photostream for the day.
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