Kalalau Trip Report- June 2019
Hanakāpīʻai Beach
Hanakāpīʻai Beach is a great resting spot. It’s a pretty large stream. You’ll either walk through the stream or you’ll have to be a good jumper to jump the rocks. There’s composting toilets and plenty of room to kick back for a bit. This is the destination for many people. You don’t need a permit (You just need a reservation, $1 per person or $5 per car) to hike to this point.
From here you can:
- Relax for a bit and then head back to Ke’e Beach.
- Head up to Hanakāpīʻai Falls (The trail is steep and it can be hard to follow. Sometimes there are forks in the trail and you don’t know which way to go. Just stay close to the stream and don’t get too far away from it.) A permit is not needed to hike to the falls either.
- If you have a permit, you can continue to Hanakoa or Kalalau. A permit is required whether or not you plan to camp overnight.
After Hanakāpīʻai the trail can get harder, steeper, harder to follow and more dangerous. I made the mistake of wearing shorts. The trail is very overgrown and I found myself pushing my bare ankles through bushes and weeds. I still have cuts and gashes all over my legs. If you’ve been on the trail before, it hasn’t changed much. It’s as beautiful as ever as you hike along the Nāpali.
Permits required from here 
Hanakāpīʻai Beach 
Mile Marker 3 as you continue to climb 
Space Rock Gate 
Stream near 
Mile marker 4 as you enter a rocky stream bed 
Pandanus tectorius (Screwpine with hala fruit) 
Wahoo thank you for the detail, definite hike to take
Great commentary and description of the hazards before and after starting out. It will be nice to see fewer hikers in Koke’e State Park now that Kalalau is open. The Napali coast is not to be missed if you visit our beautiful island.
Great trip report. How was the valley? Is the waterfall at the end of the beach still there?
Cheers, Mark
I didn’t make it up into the valley this trip. The waterfall is still there.
Thanks so much for the wonderful post. Just wondering if we plan on spending a night inside the park do we need two entry passes (as the pass/ticket I purchased notes only for sunrise to sunset on a given day.
In order to spend the night, you’ll need a camping permit. That is different from the reservations you have. Only 60 people a night are given camping permits vs. 900 visitors per day.