You are so right, that's a great hike, but, it's not for a family day hike, at least not all the way. We never made it to the beach. I would have loved to do that, and overnight there, but, we already had enough fun going through the airport with what we had, I can't imagine going with overnight gear too. We had emergency bivvy's with us in our daypacks, but, I know that's not my wife's style, especially since we had a suite at the Princeville waiting for us at the end of the day. I think you need a permit in advance to overnight on the trail anyway.

If I recall, it's a dozen miles one way hiking to the Kalalau Beach. We saw it later in the week from a chopper, but, it wouldn't have been a good idea to take my wife much farther than we did that day. We made it to about the 5 mile mark, saw some amazing waterfalls, and fantastic coastline. Prudence told me it was time to go back, that was a ROUGH 10 miles round trip. If you are reading this and haven't been there, I know 10 miles doesn't sound like much, but, trust me. There had been a LOT of rain last February, and the trails were in really poor condition. As you know that trail is constant up and down, climb a few hundred feet, back down a couple hundred, back up a few hundred, and so on... With wet muddy conditions, it was tough keeping your footing. I didn't want to be tending to a leg or ankle injury on myself, or my son or wife. The trail map made it look like it was going to get worse before it got better. My wife was psyched to go back at that point. (Translation: begging for an hour already) My son was not happy about turning back, until we promised a stop at Bubba Burgers in Hanalei. They are big Red Sox fans at that place, the owner has a nice selection of BoSox memorobilia, and plenty of Yankees $#*& stuff too... made us New Englanders feel right at home! We'll be back someday. I would like to hike inside the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" on a future visit too. I noticed a Boy Scout camp on the island, so maybe someday I'll take the boys in my troop to summer camp "out of council" by a few thousand miles! Better start fundraising now <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />