We ate our hot breakfast this morning at 730 (it was served until 9 a.m.), which was Hawaiian French toast with local fruits and granola (sooo good)…the perfect way to get our long day started.
The entire Na Pali Coast hike is 11 miles…you hike to a beach, stay the night, and then hike back. Chris had said initially that if I weren’t pregnant, we’d do this entire hike, although by the end of today, his tune had changed.
The first two miles of today’s hike gave us close up views of the amazing Na Pali coast line, and opened up at a gorgeous cove of a beach. The waves were HUGE…the locals told us they were 18 feet today. They were, by far, the biggest waves we’ve ever seen. Obviously, there was no swimming for us (or any fellow hikers) at this beach.
The first two miles to the beach of the hike were labeled moderate, and it was definitely a little bit more challenging of a hike than the previous hikes. We got to the beach, and Chris said “wow, that was a long mile…it felt like much more than a mile.” Our plan for the day was to go to the beach, take a break, then hike up to the falls, and take another break. Chris thought all of this was 4 miles round trip. Realistically, it was 4 miles one way, 8 miles round trip.
The second part of the trail, up to the falls, was labeled as strenuous. Numerous other trails that we’ve hiked on have been labeled this way, and we didn’t think much about it. Holy cow. They weren’t exaggerating when they said strenuous. There were parts of this trail that were only wide enough for one of my size 7 hiking boots to fit long ways.
Pretty shortly into this portion of the hike, we put our camera back into the backpack and focused on not falling off the cliff. This trail went up and around the windy cliff side, and then opened up to cross streams, which at one point we had to literally jump across…I held Chris’s back pack while he jumped across and landed on the other rock safely, then threw him his back pack and mine, and then jumped across myself. It wasn’t just across either, it was from the top of one of the rocks down to a big rock that if the stream had risen, wouldn’t be an option to land on.
The last bit of this hike had us traversing up rocks…literally rock climbing. There was no trail, just rocks to make our way straight up. We finally made it to the top of the trail at noon (we had left our car at 9 this morning) and were most definitely rewarded with a beautiful sight. A cascading 300 foot waterfall gushing into a beautiful pool. Because this trail was pretty strenuous, the pool and waterfall were pretty secluded. There were a few people that we passed and saw along the trail, and even at the pool / waterfall, but not many. We actually got a little bit chilly sitting up there and eating our lunch, so we decided to forego getting into the water. My throat was actually starting to bother me pretty badly at this point, so being cold and wet and exhausted just didn’t seem like a smart idea.
We were much slower on our way back down to the beach, and took a much needed 30 min or so break at the beach, which was our 6 mile point. The 4 miles up to the falls and back down were so gorgeous, but definitely strenuous and exhausting. I curled up on the beach and let my eyes rest for a few minutes to rejuvenate myself.
I’m not exactly the most graceful person normally, but you add in this whole growing a baby thing, and I’m completely off balance. On our last two miles back to the car, Chris captured a pretty funny picture of what I look like for most of our hikes.
I keep my arms out to balance myself and keep my feet relatively far apart to help with this also. I rarely slip or lose my balance this way, so although I look like a complete tard (I know, not much different than normal really, just on a different level), it’s what works for me, so I’m sticking with it!
We made it out of the trail and to the beach at the bottom, where our car was parked, at 430. We took a few minutes to sit down on the rocks at the beginning of the beach, take off our hiking boots from our tired feet, and just sit and relax. We headed back to our B&B at about 5, and while Chris was cleaning off our hiking boots, I showered (yes, I have the greatest husband ever), and got into bed. I was completely exhausted. I took about an hour long nap, and woke up a little before 7 starving. We ate, and then headed back to bed.
I most definitely overdid it today with already feeling bad with my sore throat. I was up most of the night between either my stomach aching, having to pee, or my sore throat bothering me. I gargled with salt water, made warm tea, and read up some online on how to solve constipation while pregnant. I know, not the most kosher topic, but a very real one with pregnant women. I couldn’t help but laugh at the number one cure … get more exercise. Really? An 8 mile strenuous hike wasn’t exercise enough?! You can tell at the end of my hiking pictures that I’m extremely bloated and full, and the cramping’s starting sometime in the middle of the night.
The day though was absolutely beautiful and we both got to experience some of the most amazing sites in the whole world. Constipation and sore throat aside, it was all in all, a great and beautiful day!
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