Kaua'i Day 7

Tuesday morning, Rockwell and I ran back over to Hideaways to see if the trail down was dry enough for us to make it down there. It was dry so we hurried back and packed up for the beach. We drove over and there was one parking spot left! Wahoo!! It was the very back spot, and a guy had parked his golf cart in the tiny alcove at the back, which made it so tricky to get our car into the parking spot. Paul somehow reversed us in perfectly. I was so dang impressed!!! 

Although there were 7 other cars in the lot, there was nobody at the beach. We had the whole place to ourselves for over an hour. It was perfection!

The sand was the softest sand I've ever felt. There were about 8 turtles swimming around with us. It seriously felt magical.

Damon made a few more arrays to send to Mrs Murdock.

We loved our time at Hideaways!

We got some dinner at Chicken In A Barrel before heading to Ha'ena State Park.

There were a ton of brown lizards at Bali Hai Villas. Anytime we had a few minutes to kill, Tessa would go outside and try to catch a lizard. They were tiny little things, and she was able to catch one. We always love to find these cute green lizards too, and they seem to hang out in Hanalei.

We had a reservation for Ha'ena State Park for 4:30. Our plan had been to hike the Kalalau Trail. There's a 4 mile hike where you can see the Na Pali Coast, which you can only see by hike, boat, or helicopter. Tourists have to get a reservation to go into the State Park, and reservations open up 1 month in advance at midnight, which is 4:00 am Utah time. I had woken up a month ahead and got on the website, pushed the button right at 4:00, and the only reservation left for a parking spot was at 4:30 pm. They go so fast!! There were some earlier spots for a shuttle to take you into the park, but we really didn't want to worry about the shuttle. Anyway, by the time 4:30 rolled around that day, the kids really didn't want to hike. We would have had to go really fast too, since the sun sets by 6:30. So we decided to bag the hike and just check out Ke'e Beach since we had the pass into Ha'ena. On the drive there Paul said that I might as well hike it if I wanted to, and he would play at the beach with the kids. I really did want to see the Na Pali Coast up close, so I decided to go for it. We took all our stuff to the beach, and then I headed up the trail.

I only had my swimsuit, shorts, and flip flops since I hadn't been planning on hiking, but luckily it worked out fine. I tightened the strap on my purse so it was tight up against my back so I could at least carry a big water bottle in it. I kept an eye on the time to make sure I wouldn't be caught hiking in the dark, and tried to go quick. 

I made it in time to see the coast!!!

There were two different places that had a beautiful view. Sadly, the sun setting made it so the gorgeous green of the mountains and the vibrant blue of the water really couldn't be seen. That was disappointing, but the sun setting made for a different kind of beauty I guess.

I had some fun hiking buddies on my way down. :)

At one point on the way back down, I saw a man sitting on a rock and his grandson standing by him. The grandpa had a cut all the way down his forearm and was bleeding. His backside was all muddy, and all of his clothes were dripping with sweat. He had clearly fallen and was not doing well. I asked how they were doing and the grandpa (his name is Jack) said, "Not good! We ran out of water." I actually hadn't drank any of mine (thank you super humid air!!), and asked if I could fill their bottle with my water. Jack was so grateful and immediately started drinking it. They then told me that they didn't know what they were going to do because they had missed the last shuttle and would have no way of getting back to their car. (The road back to the shuttle stop was at least 3 miles, possibly more. And it is a 2 lane road with vegetation on both sides crowding the lanes. There's literally nowhere to walk except right on the road. And there was only about 30 more minutes of daylight left.) I told them that my family was playing at the beach and to come find us when they got down. We had a car with 2 extra seats in it. I continued on my way down, and then remembered I had a few snacks in my purse. I could tell with the amount of sweating Jack had done that he needed some sodium, and soon. I went back and offered them the cheez-its and fruit leathers I had. They happily took those and were so grateful. 

I wasn't sure Jack and Ryder (the grandson) were going to make it down before dark, and so I hustled down hoping to talk to a lifeguard and see if there was anything they could do for them. The lifeguard station was closed though. Everyone had gone home already. I told Paul about Jack and Ryder and he was happy to wait for them and make sure they got back to their car. Paul said the waves were too big and so they weren't allowed to get all the way in the water and swim, but they still enjoyed their night at the beach. They put their feet in the water, collected shells, dug holes and did pull-ups on a tree. :)

We got to enjoy the last few moments of the sunset together.

Paul had noticed one other couple hanging around and it looked like they were waiting for someone to come down the trail. He went to go ask them if they were waiting for the grandpa and grandson (we didn't know their names at the time). It turns out they were waiting for their relatives, and Paul called out to me that they had just come down. The kids and I grabbed all our beach gear and headed up to the trailhead. When we got there Paul and the "grandpa" were talking about how they had just underestimated how long that hike would take, and were really grateful for a ride back to the shuttle stop. I said, "Hey Paul...these aren't the guys I helped." Haha! It was a totally different older gentleman and young kid. We told them we'll happily give them a ride as well, but we needed to wait for another couple guys. We figured we could take Ryder and one person from this other group, and then they could each drive their car back up to Ha'ena and pick up their family members. 

We finally saw a light coming down the trail and I was so relieved. But the light belonged to a single lady (I believe her name was Melody), not Jack and Ryder. She was so excited to see people and asked if any of us happened to have a car. She had underestimated the hike and missed the last shuttle as well. We told her we'd make sure she got back to her car as well. After a while longer, I decided to take Melody's head lamp and head back up the trail to find Jack and Ryder. Ryder was supporting Jack and they were slowly making their way down. Jack's legs were very wobbly and he kept falling. It would take him a minute of sitting on a rock before he could get back up to take a few more steps. I held lights on the trail and tried to show them where to step to avoid the big, slippery rocks. Ryder thanked me so many times for the help. He kept saying, "I know I keep saying this, but seriously, thank you so much!" It was really sweet. While we were walking, Jack told me that he had been fasting for ten days!!! I asked what religion he belongs to and if he fasts until sundown each day. He said it was truly ten days straight of fasting, only drinking water the whole time. He doesn't belong to a certain religion, and just believes anything that points you to God is good. While I admire his dedication and what I assume is an attempt to draw closer to God, I could not believe that he had chosen to go on an 8-mile hike while fasting for that long. 

When we got back down to the trailhead and our new group of friends, Jack sat down on a picnic table, and didn't look like he was getting back up any time soon. I asked if anyone had any food and Melody pulled out beef jerky and other snacks for Jack. Paul, the kids, Don (the father from the first group), and I went to the car to see if we could drive up to the picnic table. Sadly there was a gate blocking the road, so Paul ran back to the group and told them we'd have to get Jack out to the parking lot. Ryder and one of the kids from the other group each took one of Jack's arms and supported him to the car. We had more water and some bananas in our car and Jack was happy to eat those. Melody was very concerned about Jack and told Ryder that he needed to take him to a medical facility and not let him just go home and go to sleep. We took Jack, Ryder, and Don down to the shuttle stop, and Don took his car back up to Ha'ena to pick up his kids and Melody. Jack and Ryder were so grateful for all the help, and hopefully are doing much better now. 

It was a little hard for the kids at first, when they heard we were waiting around for some strangers and they were ready to just go home. But when they understood that Jack and Ryder literally would have been stuck in a Hawaiian jungle all night and that Jack may or may not have made it through the night, they were much more willing to wait patiently. We stopped for some JoJo's on the way home and had a great discussion about helping people and loving our neighbors while we ate. I'm so glad we had the means to help all those people.