The hike that changed my life - The Kalalau Trail 

That hike was Incredible, Frightening, Stunning, Epic and Frightening. Really, really beautiful.

From 1993-1996, I worked as a perfusionist (in open heart surgery, operating the heart-lung machine) at Tripler Army Medical Center. I lived in Honolulu Park Place on the corner of Nuuanu and Beritania Avenue next to China Town overlooking Honolulu Harbor. While I was there I hiked the Kalalau Trail three times, twice all the way the Kalalau State Park. I also kayaked (much easier and faster) from Hanalei and camped at Kalalau one summer (it's too rough in the winter) and kayaked the entire Na Pali coast. Along the way I saw monk seals, green sea turtles, and spinner porpoise. Camping was by permit only and limited to 5 days, with a 6 month waiting period. Words cannot even begin to describe the scenery. One of the hikes was in March and the humpbacks were breaching in the distance. The 2000' sheer basalt cliffs at Kalalau valley make you feel like an ant. I saw 5 moons of Jupiter with my naked eyes sitting on a heiau (temple) ruin overlooking the inky Pacific. I snorkeled from Kalalau Beach to Honopu Beach. Kalalau Valley is an archaeological site. I can still smell the sweet bouquet of wild ginger that grew along Kalalau Stream that perished decades ago. Hiking and camping the Na Pali coast and Haleakala National Park on Maui were the highlights of time in Hawaii.

I was just there last week!

Thank you so much for this journey. Brings back fond memories when I took 3 weeks off from work back in November 2010. Ostensibly to heal my soul from my wife's passing a year before. At the time was sleeping 1 hour a night. Decided on the trip out west to get my head back on straight. Flew to San Fran from New York for the first 11 days. SF was awesome. Went to the Redwood forest outside of SF to do some hiking. Then flew to Lihue, Kauai. Chickens everywhere outside of the airport! Stayed at a beachside hotel in Lihue which featured a serpentine pool, Koi pond and nesting seals on their beach. Did 2 luau's and a 7 hour catamaran trip on the Holo Holo. One morning I drove to Ke'e beach. Gorgeous beach! Noticed the trailhead for the Kalalau trail. Decided to do the 2 mile portion to the beach you both camped out at for a day-hike (I have been walking since I was young, even in the snow. One time walked from my home in the Bronx, NY, over the George Washington bridge and walked down to the Hudson river to take pictures of the 4th of July fireworks that was a rare event over that river). In my flip-flops!!! Mostly the hikers were from European nations. Some were amazed at what I had on my feet. One of the highpoint ot the 3 weeks vacation. Back to SF for a drive to Santa Barbara. Ostensibly to visit the oldest mission in California. Met with some churchgoers while there and was invited to the Thanksgiving mass. During the sermon I was shocked at the comfort that I was experiencing from the words, which felt that they were directed to me. I am so thankful that I did decide to go since I started to recover from my mourning of my beautiful wife. I felt that she did not wish for me to wallow in misery. Thanks again!!!

Made the mistake of swimming Hanakapiai Beach. Ive spent my entire life on beach, the ocean is my playground and i am extremely comfortable in a variety of conditions, since i was young, but that day/moment was a slap in the face to my over confidence in the water. Something thats only occasionally happened in my several decades surfing and playing in ocean. I waited decades to get to Kauai and the entire time i was there i was in a cloud of peace and happiness so my guard and common sense was a bit clouded too. The joy of being there, the beauty of the water and surroundings made me ignore what id heard and didnt even look at what the water were doing (which i normally do at my everyday breaks). I simply dove in, started playing in the small waves, clear water and super soft sand. Imagine being an avid swimmer, in ocean almost every day, your playing in small waves in waste deep water only 10-15 yards from shore, beautiful day. Then within that peaceful moment a little bigger wave comes, you turn to body surf it (feet on the soft bottom), and the wave breaks and sucks back soo fast and heavy it sweeps your feet from the soft sand and pins you flat on stomach sucking you back and down the slope. I was close to the south side rock outcrop, i instantly started clawing the sand as deep and fast as i could and trying to get feet in for a push. From the initial sucking out and me digging in sand and the pull letting up was only a matter of maybe 3-5 seconds? and i know i was just near the point of no return. The currents are stronger than most anything i encounter daily, and that particular beach has insane currents that sweep along the shore. That day it was sucking from the steep slope to the deep. Ive learned that sweep sucks downward as it goes along the south rock outcrop and pulls under along edge of rocks under water. The amount of total deaths at that beach (in shoreline or river crossing) compared to yearly deaths around the world should shed light on how serious you should pay attention.

Several years ago, my wife, daughter and I day traversed the first couple miles of this amazing trail. Having hiked Mt. Whitney and the Zion Rapids, I soon realized that some of us may have all been over our heads, and we headed back. No shame. Thank you for showing us so beautifully the rest of the way.

16 years ago when my husband and I were younger and in much better shape we did the first 2 miles to the Secret beach and it was tough. Thank you for sharing the rest of the way.

Wow. A love story. You've outdone yourself this time. Thank-you.

Beautiful video! I’ve been there a couple times, fun to watch and remember the place.

I hiked this trail back in the early 80’s. I swear crawler’s cliff was even more scary. I think i side stepped a lot of it and cried. No helicopters for us at the time or other people. I loved the taro fields back into the waterfalls. Great memories.

That hike changed my life too. Now I watch other people's videos and cry. Great job. Mahalo

I hiked that trail as a youth with a friend and got stranded all the way in by rain storms. We waited an extra day and the rain didn't stop, so we hiked out on the now muddy and slippery trails anyway, and yea. That was tense . Amazing experience altogether, but a bit scary at one point!

What a great video of your & Tina's special place. Two loves shared; your marriage and the joy of hiking 💞

Nice seeing it through your eyes...I grew up there and go back often (not on this trail), I think I take a lot for granted. Haven't been all the way in to the falls since I was a teen...maybe it's time to go again? Nah, that's what RU-vid is for! :)

Great scenery. Great story. Great entertainment. So it is Tina who is the start of all of these adventures! This is one of your best videos yet! Excellent work Jerry and Tina.

I too did this hike with a girlfriend years ago and was amazed by the beauty..I also ended up pursuing a lot of outdoor adventures since that time. Thanks for sharing

Thank goodness you all did it on a dry day. I've seen videos of this trail rainy and wet and talk about spooky factor. It is spooky factor dry. Luv'd your vid. Thanks for sharing!!!

Waaaouu la plage...the beauuutifuul beach! Merci.

Wow, amazing video! Thank you for sharing!

Great hike, spent a couple of weeks in there in 1973 only we didn't wear clothes, ditched them @ Hanakapiai...took some acid @ dawn one day and swam around the headland to the next valley over. i was just coming on when the wind caught the waterfall and the water danced over to where i was layijng against a rock and splashed me on the chest...i knew i was blessed... there was a guy living in a tree house up the valley. all he brought w/ him was visqueen and string and made the house out of bamboo. had to leave when our gorp ran out.

Beautiful location. Sketchy hike. You are a lucky man Jerry Arizona.

Thank you. No I mean it Thank you. Loved your words at the end. Thank you.

Great video. Amazing music. Lovely love story. Thx for sharing

How beautiful. I thought of doing it till about 10:30 when I didn’t like the trail anymore. I get scared on Angle’s Landing. But what a gorgeous place.

Great video! Five years ago my husband and I got married in kauai and spent 2 weeks exploring. We did several hikes while there. We did do the first 2 miles to the beach. I remember my reaction at the beginning of the trail with the steep climb that got my heart pounding. Incredible views. I was obsessed with this trail and started to read people's blogs. I seen a video with the cliff climb. I don't know if I'd be brave enough with that section. When it gets rainy and muddy and wind blows there's been a few deaths there. This trail screams life,beauty,challenge,peace and indurance. I'm so happy you made it and gave yourself time to relax.

As always, awesome.. great advice about getting out. My wife and I just doing that,

We did this trail years ago while the kids were small and now they're about to graduate from college. I remember it was so beautiful (We love the scenery of Napali from Kalalau Lookout), scary, slippery and quite a few mosquitoes. We only hiked for the first 2-3 miles due to the ages of kids and danger of the trails and saw a few couples with camping gears passing us. Then, early this year, I went to hike the 14ers in Beckenridge, CO; like Jerry and his wife, that 14er hike at Quandary Peak changed my life. Now I'm completely hooked to hiking.

That was 1 crazy hike. The drop off was awesome. No way would I get my wife to do that Any more. Thanks for sharing.

Just stumbled on this video and really enjoyed it. My wife and I hiked Kalalau in the spring of 1990 and camped on Kalalau beach for three days. The video brought back great memories, but I don't remember the steep cliffs! Great job on the video and thank you for sharing.

This is Amazing story and video. Thank you Jerry!

Compliments on the superb match of video and music. A pleasure to watch as always.

Yikers!!! Makes me dizzy. The height, the drop, the wet slippery rocks ~ but oh, the bugs!!! One Fantastic Hike Under Your Belts!!! Beautifully filmed. Thanks for sharing.

this was beautiful! thanks for sharing.

Awesome video. Loved the early pics, when you two were sooooo young. Those special places and experiences are what living is about. Our inspiration was a four day trip to Accadia National Park in Maine. During that trip Lori, my wife, and I talked about how we wanted to see more national parks when we retired. We purchased a class B RV and have put 15,000 miles a year getting out there and seeing it. Best five years of our lives. Thanks again for sharing you inspiration! Also, it looks like Tina is mostly recovered, very happy to see you both out there together living life to the fulllest.

Wow! great mountains on top. probably I will never be there but looks great! Greetings from UK. Tom.

I hiked out of Kalalau coming up on ten 10 yrs ago in June at 57 yrs old. Boated in as I wasn’t in shape to hike in but after 32 days of camping in the valley, I hiked out, probably 20lbs lighter from when I got there! Lol! At the top of my most amazing memories even though my heart was in my throat the majority of the way! Lol! Hate heights! So much has changed on kauai since the big flood but not this, although it was better groomed back then due to more foot traffic although the helicopter traffic hasn’t…. Undoubtedly, y’all were there on a Friday. (Cruise ship) supposedly you can get a cell signal when the ship gets close but we never tried it…no communications with the outside world was not a loss for us! Quite a few were living out there then which is not the case now…such amazing memories!! Mahalo for bringing them back to me….I’ve watched a gazillion of these but this one is the best by far!!!

Beautiful love story and you certainly picked the best place to surround it with. Keep on hiking and sharing this with us. Extremely generous / priceless of you. So much appreciated!

I've seen most of your videos, and I have decided to avoid all the trails that you call "sketchy"!! Also, love the pic of Tina chugging Fireball from the jug :D

Awesome....the one island I haven't been to. Back last night from Puerto vallarta...I hiked into a few bars! 😉

Awww! This is so incredibly beautiful! I absolutely love your story and love that you are willing to share it with all of us! This looks so beautiful and definitely this video gave me another bucket list item!! Love you Jerry and Tina!

Mahalo for sharing nice to see the date palm still standing like a becon to weary travelers finding there way home

Love the photos of y'all at the end....

I spent 3 years living on Powerhouse Rd in Wainiha near the end of the road during the mid eighties. I made the trip out the trail 4 times, it will capture your soul in such a great way if you let it. As you the place has lingering positive effects on me all these 35 years later. Great video as always I love your journeys.

Love Kalalau ❤ Great story thanks for sharing been a few years since I did it was great to be reminded of how fun hiking is.

Barking Sands beach is our favorite place to be in Kauai. Glad you had a nice time and it didn’t rain too bad on that hike.. changes everything.

I loved the video! Very well done!

Loved every minute.

This was amazing, and the 2 passes along "crawler's cliff" had me leaning to one side, and sweating a little. Holy cow!! the time lapse of the sunset and night sky were amazing. Thanks for doing such a great job on this!

We are glad to see Tina back on the trails. You guys are truly inspiring!

Thanks for this great video and story. Your sense of adventure to cut your teeth backpacking on the Kalalau Trail is inspiring. We live in the Rocky Mountains and aren't new to roughing it or days of big physical exertaion, but I definitely underestimated the Kalalau. It's a big day. I'll say that it changed my life, too, though in a different way. My wife and I were engaged under a beautiful sunset at Kalalau Beach nine years ago--a romantic and simultaneously funny story. Seeing your video was a welcomed walk down memory lane--and made me excited to go back. Many thanks!

This is your best produced film yet!

Awesome.... thank-you both.

This was awesome! Really beautiful footage.

I remember a couple who saved for 35 years to move from Iowa to their dream location of Hawaii. They built an incredible home on the coast and couldn't wait to move in. They loved the sound of the waves. After 6 months they were SO sick of the sound and felt trapped way out there in the middle of nowhere. They left. Before you move out there thinking Hawaii is so great, go stay out there for a couple months at least. It is NOT for everyone. I went for two weeks and that was enough!

Just started watching this one and had to stop going do this one justice and watch it on the big screen tonight while sipping on a Margarita !!

Been to Kauai about six times, never hiked the trail. Geesshh! If you’re still there Jerry make sure you check out the Kilauea Lighthouse just east of Princeville. I think you need a permit now but you can still see it without. Thousands of birds including the Albatross.

Beautiful , not for the faint of heart!

I love this video most of all!!! Thank you for sharing, Jerry and Tina!! 💕

Wonderful way, i love hiking in the Swiss mountains. Part of this trail looks dangerous. I could not do this,

Thank you for the excellent video. My wife and I hiked this trail back in April 2006. We obtained permits by mail and rented most of our backpacking gear from the shop in Hanalei. We've done quite a bit of backpacking since then but this trip remains in our top 3 of all time. We lucked out and had the entire beach at the end of the trail to ourselves for 3 days (except for the hippies who lived back in the canyons). The hike in and out, the beach at the end and all the trails back up into the canyon were epic. Thank you for allowing me to reexperience this wonderful trip.

You captured this beautifully. Me and my wife did this hike last month and my idea of vlogging it was a disaster lol you did an awesome job!

Absolutely wonderful, you are a true artist. I just love you guys...

That trail almost took me out in a heavy rain storm worst part of the trail that red dirt gets like grease when it gets wet I was grabbing on to roots to my side I thought I was done for was a looong way down to the ocean.I lived on Kauai for a few years and Island fever is very real.

Thanks for sharing!

Somehow I knew it would end with Mexican food; even in Hawaii. Great video!

Wow. What a story. Love you guys.

Thank you for taking us on this amazing journey. I used to spend a lot of time on Kauai. It truly goes deep into your soul, and when you leave the island 🏝 your heart aches. Many times I camped out at Poihali, at the end of the Napali Coast 🏕, looked up toward the trail 👣 and thought about the beautiful views from up there. Glad you had an amazing adventure.

Thanks for the video. I started watching your videos in January of 2020, my wife and I are retired teachers and started hiking the fall of 2020 when we became empty nesters and went to the mighty 5 in southern Utah and the Grand Canyon. We are planning our third trip to that area for this spring. Your videos have been incredibly helpful for planning our trips to that area. Appreciate your humor!!!

My wife and I hiked into Hanakoa waterfall about 12 years ago. Awesome scenery. I believe my wife still has scars on her shins

Aww, this is my favorite video. You two are so sweet.. the couple that hikes together stays together!

My wife and I were just there last week. It was our first time in Kauai. We stayed on the west shore in Waimea at a plantation cottage for a week. We did some mild hiking, nothing to dangerous. The views were just breathtaking. We actually sat and ate lunch on the same table you guys ate at, but we ordered our food at the Thai spot next door to Red Hot Mamas. While we were on the island, we pretty much did the touristy things that they had available. We can't wait to go back next year. Such a beautiful island! Mahalo.

You guys are tough, I’ve been biking and hiking for 36 years, but now at 75 I’m having to slow down some, keep it up as long as you can. Great video.

Masterpiece! Instead of a backpack, I would take a parachute.

This footage scared the hell out of me. You do such a wonderful job filming this hike. I will never hike this but do appreciate the beauty. Enjoyed your wedding shots too! 💕

Thank you. 👍👍 👏👏❤

Awesome trip! I'm sure that Mexican food was great!Thanks so much for sharing.Cliff hanger exitement

We've done the first 2 miles of this hike several times, and that 4-mile day is enough for us. It is so beautiful. Thank you for posting this, and I love your wedding shots at the end. We love Kaua'i and look forward to going back soon after a 3-year break. Kudos to you on the editing, choice of music (or none), and variety of shots. I got emotional watching this, especially seeing some of the familiar views. Mahalo!

Spectacular ! I was an avid hiker/explorer for many years..mostly when I lived in near Big Sur and later in the Sierras ...but side tracked by work and obligations. Now at 77, and still healthy, I have decided to get back to it. Plenty of beautiful places here in Oregon, especially in the South part (State of Jefferson) where I now live. Thanks for all your excellent videos and the inspiration.

Absolutely beautiful, thanks for sharing

Yeah, there's something magical about hiking... been all over Oahu and Maui and though I went to Kauai and saw the mountains from the top fo that trail, I didn't go. Twice I had opportunity. :( Someday. Here in Thailand we have some incredible hikes, but NOTHING like the ones in Hawaii. So many great trails to cover in the islands. This was a great video, glad to see 2 more people enjoying trail hiking. Aloha!

So what I'm hearing you say is this is an excellent trail for those of us scared of heights 😮

Just amazing. Maybe you can stop by the big island of Hawaii, I hear it's volcano is getting ready to blow it's top with alot of seismic activity lately.

Spectacular videography.❤

So beautiful!!!! Those cliffs wow! And I thought driving the one lane roads in Maui were scary! 😮 So special for you both! So damn beautiful!

AMAZING!! I thought your Arizona videos had incredible scenery!!!!!!! WOW

This is totally on my list! Absolutely amazing!

Good work guys

Crawlers ledge, not that bad he says...Ha! That beach, though. Heaven.

Even with your great video and photography, I know the camera does not do the views justice. One can almost breath the super clean Hawaiian air. That is a wonderful video Jerry and Tina. Thanks for sharing.

One of the most beautiful and accurate takes on hiking the Kalalau Trail. I was anxiously waiting to see your video from your trip as I knew you'd capture it with that Tina and Jerry charm. A special place for sure! 🌺

Favorite hikes... this and several in the Olympic National Forest

Stunning color!!

Excellent video of this trail. I could tell the steepness at Crawler’s Ledge. Hard no for me to do that hike, but having grown up in Hawaii, I’ve done a few hikes that were harrowing in my youth. Did one on O’ahu where we scaled a waterfall and then hike along a ridge of a valley. You’ve definitely got to go to the Big Island. The valleys in between Waipio and Pololu are amazing. And the Volcano National Park is beautiful. Mahalo Nui Loa… loving your channel!

@Jerry - You are an amazing storyteller and you do fantastic filming and editing. I have a similar taste, but starting to learn now. I know what it takes to create such content, always looking for opportunities to capture and document, tons of time spent on editing it… though it is laborious it is worth spending, as you are in fact reinforcing your memory. Every time you post a video, it makes me feel that I have to do it. Believe me, you have inspired me a lot and my bucket list is continuously growing. The day before yesterday, I did the Superstition Ridgeline from Carney Springs, I watched your video on it as well. I wish you keep enjoying nature and continue documenting your journey….Thank you so much ! 🙌

I have only hiked the trail to Hanakapiai falls, but have kayaked to Kalalau 20 times. It is the most beautiful valley ever. You need to go back and hike into the valley. There are so many amazing places there. I am 67 now, and haven’t gone for 5 years, but am planning to go one last time next summer. Your video really makes me want to go back.

Thanks for slowing 🐌 down.

Awesome! I love your adventures. You two are so cool 😎

Thanks for sharing your story and the adventure. 😀👍

10:37 WOW !! Thanks another masterpiece 👍👍

Well that was a nice change from the Sonoran!