Just before our arrival, we stopped at an amazing lookout point.
One can imagine how the first people on this island felt. It’s very difficult to convey the feeling that one gets being so isolated in such a stunningly beautiful, natural, and comfortable setting. The hike was one spectacular view after the other. We parted and met up with them again on our way back. They arrived the evening before and hiked in the dark. Ted was with his wife and travelling slowly. This is amazing since Ted was the person I went with when I first did this trail in 1998! He has not done it since, so he must have been more stunned that I was! Here’s a picture. We’ve worked together when fMRI began in 1992. The next person we met was….amazingly…Ted DeYoe! Ted is a vision scientist from the Medical College of Wisconsin to also does functional MRI. He’s an ex-military person who is spending his entire life savings to do this. The Kauai government is not helping and at times is a bit obstructive to his efforts since he is technically breaking the law by doing this himself. He is basically taking it upon himself to repair the entire 11 mile trail by himself. The first person we met on the trail was a guy called Bill Summers. We mostly took our time, taking pictures. This is critical information as it gauges how fast we need to hike. The sun rose just after 6 and was setting at about 7 PM.
It’s perhaps the best weather I’ve ever experienced for the hike – about 75, sunny, and a good trade wind breeze. Other times – notably with Patricia on our first trip in, hiking in a monsoon – not as lucky! This day, Eric, Tim, and I are lucky.
Most of the time, I’ve been lucky with the weather. This was going to be my 8th overall hike of Kalalau trail all the way to Kalalau beach:ġ) 1998 April- with Ted DeYoe ,Ģ) 2003-4 Dec Jan with Paticia ,ģ) 2005 January – with Patricia ,Ĥ) 2006 April- with Patricia ,ĥ & 6) 2006 Oct – in and out in one day by myself x 2,Ħ) 2008 March – in and out in one day by myself,ħ) and now 2009 April – in and out in one day with Eric and Tim. Nevertheless, at 5 AM the next morning, I was ready to go! Lucas was not feeling well that evening – so Patricia and I had not much sleep. I was starting to really feel worse from the cold I had just caught that day. We quickly drove up to Princeville, dropped off our stuff at the condo, and made a quick drive to Hanalei to pick up some supplies for the trail: water, sesame squares from Papaya grocery (indispensable on this trip!), and a few things for dinner and breakfast, and had dinner back at the condo. The flight and the minivan pickup was incredibly easy. We had four huge bags to check (two large Samsonite bags and two large duffel bags), four rather large carry-on bags, and two child car seats – two mountains of luggage and two kids in a double stroller. The he sight of us checking into an airport is amusing. On Friday, April 26, my wife Patricia and I (and of course the kids) took an island hopper from Honolulu with our friend Eric Wong and his student Guo Jia (Tim) to Kauai.