My son was only a couple of months old when he embarked on his first hike—snug in an Ergo and napping the entire 2-mile trek to the top of the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail along the southeastern coastline of Oahu. It’s an easy hike I’ve done my entire life growing up here, and one I did […]
Snaking across the upper rim of Kauai’s Nualolo Valley, a footpath thrusts its travelers onto a sheer edge. That’s where I find myself this sunny December morning, teetering on the ridge after a two-hour traipse through damp woods where spongy mushrooms and delicate wildflowers grow. Pitted against an unblemished blue sky that melts seamlessly into the hue of the
Walk down Kauaiʻs Mahaulepu coastline, the last undeveloped, accessible region on Kauai’s south shore, to pristine white sand beaches and Makauahi Cave Reserve, an astonishing prehistoric cave that’s open to the public.
For the past seven months, I’ve had to explain myself to others: I’m hiking the 11-mile Kalalau Trail on the Napali Coast of Kauai. I’ll be off the grid for four days and three nights with absolutely no cell phone service. I’m carrying with me food, some water and a tent. Yes, it’s dangerous. Yes,
To truly experience how the Garden Isle got its nickname, you must venture into Kauai’s lush, rain-dampened interior. One appealing way of doing this is to hike the Kuilau Trail, which is welcoming and non-treacherous. Offering sweeping, shock green vistas of Mount Waialeale—widely considered one of the wettest spots on earth—and the majestic Makahela Mountains,
The wood-burning fireplace in the dingy, barely insulated state cabin at the Lodge at Kokee on Kauai wasn’t enough to keep me warm that first night, so I had donned everything I had in my backpack: a long-sleeved shirt, a thin hoodie, two pairs of socks and a rain jacket. It worked out, since that’s
As the wheels of my car pound the wooden planks of the one-way bridge into Hanalei Valley, all signs of modernity seem to fall away. No crowds, no traffic lights, no foreign noise. Just a carpet of shock-green kalo (taro) and the Hanalei River, wide and placid, gently gliding toward the sea. Traveling down the
It was 6:30 a.m. when we started our hike to Hanakapiai Falls, a roughly 300-foot tall waterfall nestled in the back of Hanakapiai Valley on Kauai’s north shore. We were the only ones out hiking. In fact, save for the vocal birds above, we had the entire beach and valley to ourselves. While this hike
