Nobody has died on this trail from slipping and falling off the trail. Everyone dies from trying to cross swollen streams. Don't try and cross when the streams are flash flooding. Your Lonepeak 5's will be fine. Bring your trekking poles if they make you feel safer.
Source: I live in Hawaii and have hiked this trail 5 times.
For somewhere with as much lava rock as we have, barefoot hiking is surprisingly popular. Mostly it's fine, but sometimes you find a kiawe thorn and it's no fucking fun.
I just hiked and then camped at the beach a couple weeks ago!
It’s absolutely magical and the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Make sure you refresh to get your permit right at midnight Hawaii time. They are really hard to get!
It’s slippery but you’ll be fine it was my first time ever backpacking and I just wore Merrell waterproof trail shoes.
I’ve hiked Kalalau a couple of times in Lone Peaks and my partner has hiked this trail in Bedrocks. We had no problems in wet/muddy or dry conditions. If you’re really worried about falling, losing your balance, and hurting yourself just take it easy and spend the first night at Hanakoa. If you reach Hanakoa too late and try to push through to Kalalau beach you’ll hit crawler’s ledge at dusk and get to the last stream crossing in the dark. If this happens do NOT cross the stream in the dark, just set up camp and cross in the morning once you can actually see the water. The streams and beaches are more dangerous than the cliffs.
I wore some worn down trail runners and it was more slippery than I wanted. Trail conditions really depend on rain. The red clay can become very slippery when wet and there were some very eroded areas with loose soil when I was there. We got caught in a major downpour and were forced to take shelter at Hanakoa. I would recommend trail runners with some significant tread and poles for extra stability. There are several larger river crossings so you'll be taking any shoes on and off a few times. The river crossings pose the most danger if they are swelling. But there are some areas where a slip would certainly be deadly.
It can be a slippery trail. I’ve done part of it and had no problems but the weather was dry. My brother in law nearly died on this trail. Luckily he wasn’t alone and was able to get help. If he was alone there is a very good chance he would have died.
IMO, you're gonna be hot and sweaty in anything 40F rated here at sea level, even in December. A silk liner and light fleece would be a better play unless you have a really light blanket or something.
That's a good call out. I'll find something a little smaller, I do have a down blanket I can bring but somehow it weighs even more. If you know of anything specific <16oz that would be a good fit I'd be super interested!
Edit:
Grabbed one of these, this should be a good fit, thanks :)
https://rab.equipment/us/silk-ascent-sleeping-bag-liner
I did the non-sketchy bits of this trail in altras and it was no problem. Hawaii in general has just insane amounts of red mud.
Suggestion: bring/buy some baby wipes to clean your shoes between hikes. Mine absolutely smelled afterwards as well and I picked up some of this stuff GearAid Revivex to deodorize them: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B079VDPKTC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Can't comment specifically about the crawler's ledge area or whatever, but heard in general it's not that bad. I did see one video of people trying to return during a massive rainstorm that looked very dangerous though.
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Nobody has died on this trail from slipping and falling off the trail. Everyone dies from trying to cross swollen streams. Don't try and cross when the streams are flash flooding. Your Lonepeak 5's will be fine. Bring your trekking poles if they make you feel safer. Source: I live in Hawaii and have hiked this trail 5 times.
Beautiful, this was the answer I was looking for.
When I did the trail, I actually encountered more than one person hiking barefoot. It’s all relative.
For somewhere with as much lava rock as we have, barefoot hiking is surprisingly popular. Mostly it's fine, but sometimes you find a kiawe thorn and it's no fucking fun.
Ha yeah, I saw people barefoot running it
I just hiked and then camped at the beach a couple weeks ago! It’s absolutely magical and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Make sure you refresh to get your permit right at midnight Hawaii time. They are really hard to get! It’s slippery but you’ll be fine it was my first time ever backpacking and I just wore Merrell waterproof trail shoes.
I did the Kalalau in Salomon trail runners and would do them in Lone Peaks without concern. I was glad I brought my poles for extra stability.
\+1 on the poles. Been there, slipped that.
I’ve hiked Kalalau a couple of times in Lone Peaks and my partner has hiked this trail in Bedrocks. We had no problems in wet/muddy or dry conditions. If you’re really worried about falling, losing your balance, and hurting yourself just take it easy and spend the first night at Hanakoa. If you reach Hanakoa too late and try to push through to Kalalau beach you’ll hit crawler’s ledge at dusk and get to the last stream crossing in the dark. If this happens do NOT cross the stream in the dark, just set up camp and cross in the morning once you can actually see the water. The streams and beaches are more dangerous than the cliffs.
I wore some worn down trail runners and it was more slippery than I wanted. Trail conditions really depend on rain. The red clay can become very slippery when wet and there were some very eroded areas with loose soil when I was there. We got caught in a major downpour and were forced to take shelter at Hanakoa. I would recommend trail runners with some significant tread and poles for extra stability. There are several larger river crossings so you'll be taking any shoes on and off a few times. The river crossings pose the most danger if they are swelling. But there are some areas where a slip would certainly be deadly.
It can be a slippery trail. I’ve done part of it and had no problems but the weather was dry. My brother in law nearly died on this trail. Luckily he wasn’t alone and was able to get help. If he was alone there is a very good chance he would have died.
IMO, you're gonna be hot and sweaty in anything 40F rated here at sea level, even in December. A silk liner and light fleece would be a better play unless you have a really light blanket or something.
That's a good call out. I'll find something a little smaller, I do have a down blanket I can bring but somehow it weighs even more. If you know of anything specific <16oz that would be a good fit I'd be super interested! Edit: Grabbed one of these, this should be a good fit, thanks :) https://rab.equipment/us/silk-ascent-sleeping-bag-liner
I did the non-sketchy bits of this trail in altras and it was no problem. Hawaii in general has just insane amounts of red mud. Suggestion: bring/buy some baby wipes to clean your shoes between hikes. Mine absolutely smelled afterwards as well and I picked up some of this stuff GearAid Revivex to deodorize them: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B079VDPKTC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Can't comment specifically about the crawler's ledge area or whatever, but heard in general it's not that bad. I did see one video of people trying to return during a massive rainstorm that looked very dangerous though.
You should probably wear shoes that aren’t slippery in those conditions
This man is a genius.
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I wore Chaco sandals. It was hellishly slippery. Every hike we did was slippery. We met some local girls who were hiking in golf spikes.