The famous Hanakap'ai Hike

The hiking trail along the northern Na'Pali coast of Kauai is a very well known trail among hikers. It is regularly listed amongst the must-do trails in the US.
Of course, that is for the whole eleven mile trail which due to the amount of ascent and descent and the underfoot conditions normally means people hike to the beach at the end and camp either overnight or for a few days before coming back.

So we just did the taster hike which was a two mile walk to the first secluded beach. Obviously we stopped for photo ops and to pass other people as it was narrow in places but this still took us about one hour 40mins to get there and just over an hour to come back.

The surroundings were lush and as expected, the scenery amazing.

We passed a mixture of young & old folk, families, some hippies meditating in a small off-path cave and a few beardy hikers who were obviously on their way back from the eleven mile hike.
When we came round the final corner this was the view down to the beach.

There was a cool stream to cross and it gave me an opportunity to try and frame some good pics.

 The beach was very quiet compared to other beaches we'd been to, fairly obviously because it takes some effort to get there. You're not going to drag a cooler all the way there.

This was the last day of my sunburnt back so I still couldn't even carry a backpack on my shoulders!

Sleeping Giant

Next day was a nearby small hike nicknamed sleeping giant due to the profile of the mountain/hill which the Jessiman family undertook on their own.

Up there?

Only a short two mile hike but all uphill. Mildly hard work for the pale Jessiman clan when the sun is beating down on you, it was even difficult to see the join between the sea and the sky!

Some great views on the way up and also the interesting sight of some trees that have obviously evolved to suit the sloping landscape.

When we reached the picnic table at the top we were informed by some people there that there was another short hike round the corner up to the actual top. Steve's guidebook app confirmed that in the last paragraph where it said it could neither recommend or not recommend doing this part due to the steepness.

We seen some other people up ahead coming the other way so we went for it, signs don't mean nothing to Steve.

In the end, it wasn't that bad except for one bit where it helped if you didn't look over the edge! And we took the advice of another walker to go into this cave where the wind rushes through to give you a bit of much-needed air conditioning.

A short hike

Last week, myself, Heather and two of her friends went on a hike. One of her friends is possibly doing a Kilimanjaro trek next year so needed to try out some new boots. Plus I get out of the house and get to see another new part of America!

We hired a car and drove the 50miles from the centre of Manhattan to the Bear Mountain area. This involved heading over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey, up the Palisades and back into New York state.

Bear Mountain Bridge

We parked at the Fort Montgomery State Historic Site car park and once we'd found where the start of the route was, it was fairly straight forward. I even remembered how to read a map.

But what with everything being back to front in this country, I found out that the dotted line on the map turned out not be a thin wooded trail like back home, but instead a larger forestry road.

Short and steep was the order of the day:

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Popolopen footbridge

The footbridge was all smashed up from the last storm in the area but luckily the water was low enough and there were enough stones to make our way across while staying dry.

Once over the water it was a fairly steep climb but really enjoyable. Bone dry rock but even had to use my hands a lot to pull myself up. Once we got to the top the view was superb.

The same bridge we were level with at the start

As the area has some old forts and historic battlegrounds, there is a cairn at the top in memory of fallen comrades.

Plus it borders the US West Point Military Academy so we could hear gunfire from the top of the hill away in the distance.

The weather was again, really hot and sunny but luckily there was so much shade on the route otherwise I would have struggled. I took a litre of water with me, but we had to stop at some guys house in the woods on the way down to refill our bottles. When you start to run low on water and are a little dehydrated it's really easy to see how you just want to pour all of it over your face.

For the whole route I've never seen so much wildlife under your feet. Centipedes, tonnes of those big daddy long leg type spiders, ants. Even seen the tail of a snake slither away under a rock. A big hawk circling the top of the hill. But the big winner on the day was this guy right by the side of the road.