hawaii \\ the napali coast

Of all the magnificent things we saw and did on the island of Kauai, this 10 mile hike along the untouched Napali coast was one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life. I think the sheer factor that there is no way to see this part of the island unless you are on a boat, a helicopter, or on this rugged hike made it all that more alluring. The Napali coast is situated within the 75% of the island that is protected national park; no roads, no dwellings, just rainforest; so we were able to see things on the coastline as well as when we hiked inland that were definitely unique to untamed wilderness. Passion fruit trees, huge bamboo forests, avocado trees.... and some of the smells were like heaven - native fruits that if I could have bottled into a candle I would have paid big money for. And the views......

Oh you guys, the views. We started this hike and our immediate thousand foot incline at 6:30am when the coastline looked like this:

And when we returned to the descent spot around 1:30pm to finish the last mile or so, it looked like this: 

What a difference the sun made on this coastline. I didn't really take a lot of pictures along the coastline on our way up as the sun was just rising and the water was quite dark still, so all of the coastline pictures are mid day, but once we started inland around mile 3, it didn't matter - it was all lush rainforest in there! We did the portion of the hike starting at Ke'e beach, then up, up, up, and along the coast, got to the 2 mile "checkpoint" at Hanakapiai beach, and then ventured inland another 3 miles to Hanakapiai falls. The first two miles of the trail, although at quite an incline and with lots of rocks, were overall quite easy. Definitely a defined trail that we didn't see for the remainder of the day. :)  Not to mention a few big river crossings - only ONE shoe got wet the whole hike! :)

After we made our incline, the subsequent descent followed again to the water at Hanakapiai beach. (Again, these photos are from the afternoon return portion of the hike - it was much much prettier in the sunlight) 

After crossing a river down by the beach, we headed inland! One of the coolest noises I have heard was coming into the bamboo forest, and hearing the shoots clack in the wind. No leaves rustling in there, it was a literal chorus of bamboo wind chimes.

One of the reasons we started out this hike so early (read: up at 4:30am, out the door by 5:15am...) was not only to beat the heat, but also to beat the people. We didn't see a soul on the whole trail until we had been at the waterfall for a solid 45 minutes by ourselves. And that was what made the waterfall experience what it was. Have you ever had a particular moment when you have felt fully alive? I know that phrase is thrown around a lot, but there were a few moments on this trip that captured that spiritual experience for me. 

The grandest of which was this 300 foot waterfall. Our first glimpse from a distance just started to make your skin tingle but when we walked into that clearing, on the rocks, saw the cavern surrounding the big cascade, heard nothing but birds and the crashing water, saw the still pool beneath it, and looked up to a bright blue sky and green mountains... time stood still. I mean it, I got tears in my eyes and I just stopped moving. We got a chance to see something of God's creation that day that I have never seen before. I mean, all the rest of it has been absolutely stunning, right? But in that moment we all were silent and in awe. I know I'm writing dramatically right now, but honestly, I can't even think about this moment without getting a bit emotional. It was that amazing.

This was a freshwater falls and pond that was fed from natural springs on the island, and it was unbelievably cold. But so so clean. Felt so good to swim after we had been sticky from hiking. Kind of a shock to the system though unless you just kept moving!

As I said before, we had a solid hour or so of uninterrupted time at the waterfall before the first (well, second ;) waves of hikers started coming through. When they started coming in, the whole atmosphere of the falls definitely changed, and we decided to head on back. I am beyond thankful for the precious time we had swimming at and enjoying this private spot. But back to the trail it was for us! We made pretty good time coming back out of the rainforest, until we got to the stunning turquoise coast, that is. 

We took our time the last few miles to capture all of the beautiful water and coastline - and it was now the heat of the day and we were in open sun, so plenty of water breaks it was! Good excuse to stop and take some pictures. ;) 

When we finally made it back down to the trail head, we were ready to hit the beach for a little bit of floating, resting in the shade, and snorkeling of course! We lunched with some new found friends...

Got some beautiful reef views in.... Adam and Nick were still "workin on that base..." :) Week long joke right there. Pete was showing them how its done with his native skin!

Since we had gotten such an early start on our day, we were all a bit tired but ready for the rest of our day's plans! On to some more sights! 

Mahalo from the Napali coast - it is forever a special spot to me where all of us encountered the Lord's presence and experienced His astounding creation! What a hike!