Hawaii so far

It took 14 hours, 2 delayed flights, 4 Xanax, 2 Bonine, 1 Dramamine, and 1 Cinnabon, but we finally made it to Hawaii. We spent 3 days couchsurfing in Honolulu and exploring the rest of Oahu. We snorkeled with sea turtles at Hanauma Bay, checked out the big surf on the North shore, and attempted to get a tan.

Took a quick flight to Kauai, hitched our first ride with a native Hawaiian, and spent the night at Kapa’a beach house hostel. Some nice peeps from the hostel took us snorkeling the next day and dropped us off to camp on the north shore. Unfortunately the campground at Hanalei Bay was closed for maintenance, so we commando camped across the river. We soon realized that our tent was right next to the Princeville Resort so we went up for a few drinks and hobnobbed with the elite guests at the resort. One couple even asked us how we had chosen the Princeville Resort over other resorts on the island. We’re not sure that they believed us when we told them we were actually camped on the beach.

We got as close as possible to the Kalalau trailhead the next day and headed out on the trail at 6am the next morning. Considering all of the warnings we had heard about how difficult the trail was and how scary some of the dropoffs were, we were prepared for a tough hike but ended up being pleased to find that most of it was hype. Sure, the entire 11 miles is strenuous (we lost count of how many ridges and valleys we climbed and descended), but it’s full of amazing views and even though John hurt his knee, we still made it the entire way to the valley on our first day of hiking. We spent 4 nights there, most of it relaxing in our hammock or on the beach, with a brief hike up into the valley to explore around. We met several people that live in the valley, even helped build a fire for a potluck they had on the beach. We also made some friends. We had met Bear (from Humboldt but now WOOFing on the Big Island) while hitching a ride to the trailhead, but got to spend some more time with him in the valley and disgust his vegan tastes with our steady diet of Cream of Wheat and Ramen punctuated by the occasional beef jerky. We also camped next to Karen and Ryan from Seattle and we’ve latched onto them ever since. We knew we were going to be friends when we discovered that Ryan was drinking rum and Crystal Light in his water bottle. We also seem to have led somewhat parallel lives. We have the same hammocks, the same utensils, and have hiked to both Havasu Falls and to Kalalau Valley within a month of each other.

To avoid the intense midday heat, we started our hike out of the valley by moonlight. We met a really nice couple, Cliff and Yvonne, on our way out and they gave us a ride (and 2 Snapples each). To afford ourselves a little more freedom, we decided to rent a car. There are places here that specifically rent beater cars so the renters are supposed to look like locals and not be targets for theft. We called a guy named Steve from a number on the wall at a hostel. He picked us up and took us to a parking lot behind some real estate office where we made the deal. Handed him a wad of cash for some car keys. We ended up with a fabulous Scooby-Doo-esque Astro van. There’s no radio, no seats in the back, and both of the passenger side doors don’t work. It’s perfect. We’ve been taking it easy since, snorkeling, hitting up some cool swimming spots in the north, and eating well.

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