Stranded by a landslide near the seven-mile marker, married visitors from San Francisco, Richard Wood and Beth Flynn, sat, soaked, near the eight-mile marker on the Kalalau trail November 30, thinking they would have to camp there for a few
Stranded by a landslide near the seven-mile marker, married visitors from San Francisco, Richard Wood and Beth Flynn, sat, soaked, near the eight-mile marker on the Kalalau trail November 30, thinking they would have to camp there for a few days.
But after signaling to a tour boat with a yellow towel, the two were rescued by Air 1, and, within an hour, were having drinks at the Princeville Hotel.
“In less than 10 minutes, we went from despair to salvation,” said Flynn, who spoke from her office in San Francisco via a conference call Monday. “We’re very grateful.”
Flynn and Wood had gone in for a two-night, two-day stay in Kalalau, they said, part of a week vacation. The rain started at about 3 a.m. Sunday night, said Wood.
“It was raining pretty hard when we woke up,” said Wood. “It would rain, it would stop. We figured it was typical Kaua’i weather.”
As they started to leave Kalalau Valley, around 7 a.m., the rain worsened.
“It was dumping pretty good,” said Luca Rostagno, a pilot for Inter-Island Helicopters and the pilot of the rescue operation.
“We were soaked to the skin,” said Flynn. From Kalalau to Hanakoa (the eight-mile marker), “some of the terrain was really bad,” but passable.
“We were a little nervous,” she said, worried especially about an area near the seven-mile marker, where there is a “hillside of dirt” and no vegetation.
At Hanakoa, the two set up a small camp, using their tarp as shelter, Wood said.
“We rigged up a lean-to, We figured we would stay put until their was better visibility, and better light,” said Wood, before tackling their area of concern.
After an hour, they saw a boat, and they figured that, since it was the only boat they had seen since leaving Kalalau, they should signal them.
It was Blue Dolphin Charters, said Rostagno.
“We saw a situation where it might be dangerous,” Wood said. “We might have been stuck for days.”
So the two waved a large, yellow towel to the boat. But, they said, they didn’t see anyone on the boat who acknowledged them. So they waved again when the Blue Dolphin Charter made its trip back to the Westside.
Wood then took a trip down the trail to see if the two could move down.
“The rain had eased up, and it looked like it would hold out for a few hours, said Wood.
So the two started out again.
And, as they reached the trail section near mile seven that they thought might be dangerous, they were surprised.
“It was very stable. We thought we were through the worst of it,” said Wood.
“There were high-fives all around,” said Flynn.
But less than an hour later, they came across the impassable. Within 60 to 70 feet of vegetation (and the beginning of an easier section of trail), a landslide 15 feet across had taken out the trail.
“Everything was moving,” said Flynn.
“The whole thing was moving from the top,” Wood added. They poked the fill with their walking sticks, but the soft dirt just gave way, and fell hundreds of feet to the ocean below.
So the two decided to go back to Hanakoa, where, at least there would be a place to camp. But that was back through the seven-mile mark, and the area they already thought was going to give way.
“We swallowed our disappointment and headed back,” said Wood.
It was tougher the second time, said Flynn. The ground was looser than the first trip through.
And then, within a mile of the Hanakoa landing zone, Rostagno’s Air 1 Rescue Helicopter passed overhead. Unlike the sunny days on the trail, it was the first helicopter they had seen.
So they waved again. And Air 1 landed on the trail.
“It was a pretty small area,” Flynn said, “only one-half to one-third of the area in the normal landing area” in Hanakoa.
“They were pretty lucky,” said Rostagno. Not many tour boats were out in the rainy conditions, and helicopters were “grounded all day” for tours, he said, so it was good they signaled at the boat.
Air 1 went out because of the call from the charter boat, but they had no idea whether it was a hiker waving to say hello or whether it was a distress call, said Rostagno.
So Rostagno picked up three search and rescue experts from the Kaua’i Fire Department just in case and went off.
And the couple said they were relieved to see the two firefighters walking down the trail.
From the comfort of their San Francisco surroundings, they joked about their reactions.
Flynn said she was overtly grateful, while she joked that her husband had a “typical male response.”
“My response was, ‘Hi guys,'” said Wood.
Underneath his nonchalant greeting, he was happy as well.
“I was extremely relieved to find them. I was reserved to camping” for days until the rain subsided and the trail stabilized. But, as it turned out, the trail was closed for the entire week as the State Division of Land and Natural resources had to make repairs.
The firefighters then asked what the emergency was, thinking someone was hurt, said Flynn. They replied that there was a landslide.
After a quick lesson on how to get into the chopper with the blades still moving, the two were whisked off. And they found out on their trip that the charter boat did see them signaling.
“You think that the guys running the tour boats are out to make a buck,” said Wood. “But we are grateful they were Good Samaritans as well.”
Two of the Air 1 firefighters had to be left on the trail while the couple was brought to Ke’e Beach, as the chopper only seats four. And before they could thank Rostagno, the helicopter was off again.
“They were very professional,” said Flynn.
“We get involved on rescues like this all the time,” said Rostagno. “It wasn’t that bad. We were able to land close-by.”
Rostagno said that he has been very busy lately, as he has been involved with the search and rescue operations for Anthony Balcoan, who fell hundreds of feet in Koke’e on Thanksgiving; and Northern California man who drowned in the Wailua River last Friday.
“They keep us busy, unfortunately,” the pilot said.
As for Flynn and Wood, and their experience in the mud and the rain, the couple said that their harrowing adventure won’t preclude a return trip to Kaua’i.
“We’ll be back,” said Flynn. “But maybe we’ll wait until the dryer season.”
As for Kalalau, they will probably go again.
“It is worth a walk,” said Wood, “even an eleven-mile one.”
Staff writer Tom Finnegan can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
