Milolii Valley, Na Pali Coast 2013 (pt 4 of 4)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

On our last day on the Na Pali Coast, we had a few hours to explore Milolii Valley before we kayaking to Polihale Beach. Though the girls wanted to hang out at the beach and relax, the guys still wanted one last adventure and decided to hike back into the valley. I had heard it would be worth our while to see, despite our exhaustion from the demanding physical activities over the past couple of days.

We were able to follow a faint trail, just beyond the “shower waterfalls,” 10 minutes into the valley.

Being early in the day, the canyon-like valley was shaded and cool.

There were some cool geological features along the valley walls, like this dyke rock, as well as some steep, dry waterfall chutes.

As the walls continued to grow in height into the narrowing valley, the trail faded away…

After having to rock hop for a short distance in the stream bed, we came across a huge loi kalo (or Taro patch) that was extremely vibrant in color.

Not wanting to trample the tranquil garden, we did our best to contour around and above the pool behind it.

Since there was no surface water coming from above the pool, the spring likely indicated this as the headwaters of Milolii Stream… at least in the drier summer months.

Rock scrambling up the rest of the “now-dry” stream bed,

…we were eventually boxed and could go no further. At least, to where we could get to on foot. I’m sure the valley continues much further back beyond this dry, 200 ft waterfall chute, but this was an excellent spot to end the morning hike. Though the hike to the back of the valley was not very long, maybe ~ 1 hour, the landscape was amazingly rewarding… So glad we muscled up the energy to go out exploring.:)

After hiking back down to the mouth of the valley, it was time to say our goodbyes to Milolii and paddle down the last stretch of the Na Pali Coast.

It wasn’t long before we could see the white sand of Polihale Beach,

but this was an optical illusion for us, as the last stretch coastline had no wind or current to help push us along.

It probably took us 45 mins longer than I expected us to paddle this section, but it’s a good thing we left early Milolii early. We landed on the beach around 115pm and were able to wash off the kayaks and shower, before our ride got there around 2pm.

So stoked to have finally completed this adventure. Mahalo nui to the crew (Baron, Jen, Christian, Jenny, Garvin, Katie, Will, Amanda and Justin) for being so adventurous and for being great company. Feels like we did so much in just 3 days on Kauai! Hope to do another outer-island adventure with you all soon!

More questions about our amphibious adventure on Kauai?? Just ask!!!

Aloha and mahalo nui for visiting… Come back again soon!