KE‘E — County officials announced Friday that 54 hikers were stranded overnight at Hanakapi‘ai the night before, and one woman died when trying to cross Hanakapi‘ai Stream. County officials didn’t account for another 10 hikers stranded in Hanakoa Valley for
KE‘E — County officials announced Friday that 54 hikers were stranded overnight at Hanakapi‘ai the night before, and one woman died when trying to cross Hanakapi‘ai Stream.
County officials didn’t account for another 10 hikers stranded in Hanakoa Valley for one reason — they didn’t know they were there.
A group of ten hikers spent a dreary, rainy night in Hanakoa Valley — near the Kalalau Trail’s six-mile marker — because the Hanakoa River became impassable with the heavy rains.
Even Friday morning, hikers had an extremely difficult time crossing the flooded stream, and only with the help of each other were they able to make it back to Ke‘e Beach.
The made it to the trailhead around dark Friday, and they said they were confused, because the trail was empty — it had been closed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Then they discovered several of their rental cars had been broken into.
Over the weekend, Judy Pearson of New Mexico called The Garden Island frantically looking for information on her daughter’s whereabouts after reading online about the situation along the Kalalau Trail. She had not heard from her daughter or her daughter’s fianceé, who were supposed to be hiking in the area.
Her daughter, Corwyn Ellison, and her fianceé, Mike Cook, finally called her and were OK, just part of the group that sheltered in Hanakoa.
The couple, who are visiting Kaua‘i from Seattle, left earlier in the week to hike the 11-mile Kalalau Trail.
On their way out to Ke‘e, a group of 10 hikers who were not traveling together met up and realized they could not cross the swollen stream. So they spent the rainy night under the canopy of trees at Hanakoa, which only has shelter on the Ke‘e side of the stream.
“People were waiting to see if the stream would go down the next morning,” Cook said.
And, Cook and Ellison said, the river was still swollen and made crossing it dangerous — but it was passable.
Hikers held on to a log that was across the stream, and they “fire-lined” their backpacks across to each other to get to the other side, Cook said.
“People slipped several times,” he added. “The currents were strong.”
The group then hiked back to Hanakapi‘ai Valley, where they crossed the other major stream on the trail.
“The stream was visible,” Cook said, “But it was much deeper than when we came in.”
Ellison said they expected to see more people after the two-mile marker, but was confused because the trail was empty. They had not seen the rescue helicopters earlier in the day for the people stranded on the Hanakapi‘ai Stream.
One of the guys in the group hiked ahead to the end of the trail and returned, telling the other hikers that the trailhead was closed.
“We were crazy overwhelmed,” Ellison said.
Cook said the hike was completely mentally exhausting as the mud made it virtually impossible to hold on to exposed roots along the trail.
“It was very humbling,” Cook said. “It was challenging beyond our expectations.”
Unlike the group at Hanakapi‘ai, who were met with rescue vehicles and police, the Hanakoa group — which did not reach the parking lot at Ke‘e until dusk Friday — were met with silence.
And then several of the Hanakoa hikers found their cars had been broken into, Cook and Ellison said.
County officials said the hikers followed the proper protocol — to shelter in place until conditions improve, but that they had not been contacted about additional hikers needing help.
They added that it’s up to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to close the trail when dangerous conditions arise. Without a distress call, it would be up to the DLNR to check on those at Hanakoa and Kalalau.
Calls placed to the DLNR were unanswered at press time.
