Cockadoodledoo

There are many roosters and chickens running around everywhere on this island. It is said that many of them escaped during a hurricane in 1992 from their farms. They are now everywhere. This morning I hear about 4 of them competing to wake me up ⏰.

We take a shuttle bus to the Kalalau trail head. It’s about an hour drive. We had to reserve a ticket in advance. Unfortunately, at the time, we had to buy two different departure times as there was only one left for 7:30 and one left for 8:30. I said let’s try and see if we can ask if both can get on the 7:30. Thankfully the bus was not full and they allowed both of us to travel together.

There are many other day hikers on the bus, we seem to be the only ones camping. At our arrival at the trailhead everyone runs to start, it’s like it’s race day. We take our time, put sunscreen, make sure everything is OK before we take off.

The beginning of the trail isn’t too bad, we got this, we are pros... It’s hot and humid but this first part is mostly in the shade. There is some climbing but it’s manageable.

We stop for lunch at km 10. I take the opportunity to take my boots off and leave my feet dry. We decide to have a dehydrated lunch. We encounter a problem, our JetBoil does no work. The gas does not seem to come out. We bought a used gas can yesterday before leaving, we tried it yesterday to ensure it worked 😠. The lady did say that some people had issues with some cans. Bummer. Plan B is fruit, bars and some Moon cheese 🧀 I got at Costco.

After lunch and refilling our water, I had already drank 2.5 L, we head off. There are more climbs, I start feeling the effects of the heat, I have a headache and find it harder and harder to continue. I tell myself “one step at a time”. I ensure I drink more. At km 12 I feel worse. I am overheating. I try to take some breaks to try and chill down but there is not really any way to cool in this heat. I keep going but this is no longer fun.

There are lovely views as we get closer to our camp. The ridges he’s are full of different colours. We get to one spot where you have to really be careful as there is very little path on the side of a cliff. They call it “Crawlers Ledge“. One wrong step and it’s down you go. Thankfully it’s dry today and not raining, I would not want to do this in the rain. We made it through alive 👍.

We get to camp after 18km. My feet are killing me and I feel like crap. We setup the tent and have a shower at the waterfall 100 m from our site. I take a couple Advil and have a nap to see if it will make me feel better. Thankfully it did 😀

We prepare supper, we brought wine, sausage, cheese and crackers. We find a spot on the beach and enjoy. I finally got the JetBoil to work. The problem seems like the pin would not go deep enough in the can for the gas to come out. I found a mini rock, stuck it in the pin hole and screwed the burner. It worked. I’m happy I fixed it.

At 7:30 it’s completely dark, we head to our tent, watch a show and try to fall asleep. I got back to the waterfall first to try a cool down. It’s still extremely warm, there is no need for a sleeping bag. I sleep butt naked on my sheet trying to think cool thoughts. It was hard to fall asleep but I finally did. I woke up many times tossing and turning but feel not too bad in the morning.Read more