Sunday, September 6, 2009

Kauai - Na Pali Coast

Kauai is the greenest of all Hawaiian islands and also the one that offers some of the best hiking. Na Pali Coast is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in the world: rugged and unspoiled (if you forget about all the tourists, of course). People come here from all over the world to hike on the Kalalau trail. My parents and I also went on that hike. In fact, that was the first hike on Kauai that we did.

We hiked from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapi'ai Beach. It took us around 4h (round trip), way more than I thought it would. We were so slow because it was raining a lot during our hike, making the whole trail extremely slippery. My father complained about it constantly and threatened that we would have to carry him after he twisted his ankle.

Despite the rain and the mud it was a spectacular hike. Na Pali Coast is truly beautiful. It is very green and there are great views to the perfectly turquoise ocean. It is pity that we did not have time to hike there for a longer time.

On the trail:




Palis:


Perfect turquoise ocean:




Tropical rain forest:






Before reaching the end of our hike at Hanakapi'ai Beach we had to cross this little stream:




Hanakapi'ai Beach: