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Equipment Suggestions and Miscellaneous Hints

Let no one say

And say it to your shame

That all was beauty here

Until you came.

— Sign, Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania

This book isn’t intended to teach you how to hike or backpack. If you can walk, you can hike, especially the “very easy” hikes. You can learn about backpacking in Backpacking Basics by Thomas Winnett and Melanie Findling (see Bibliography). Just be sure the trip you pick is within your hiking limits.

This book is intended specifically to let you know where you can hike on Kauai, what to expect when you hike there, and how to get to the trailhead for each hike. And that, I hope, will help you decide which hikes to take.

This section contains suggestions which I hope will make your hikes even more pleasant, and perhaps better protect you and the environment. Of course, you’re the only person who lives in your body, so you’ll have to judge what’s really appropriate for you. But there are a few things you might want to know before you go—things that may be very different from the hiking you’ve done at home on the mainland. (Maybe you already know them, but it’s hard to shut me up when I think I have some good advice.)

It’s up to you

No book can substitute for, or give you, five things only you can supply: physical fitness, preparedness, experience, caution, and common sense. Don’t leave the trailhead without them.

Minimum equipment for very easy and easy dayhikes

Wear or carry these items as a minimum:

 Sunglasses

 Coach’s whistle—you can blow a whistle for help longer and louder than you can shout

 Appropriate footwear

 Strong sunblock applied before you set out

 Insect repellent if you are attractive to mosquitoes and deerflies

 Food—recommended minimum for easy hikes: high-energy, concentrated-nutrition snack bars

 Water—no open source of water in the U.S. is safe to drink untreated, so fill water bottles from treated sources (e.g., the bathroom tap at your hotel). Recommended minimum: 1 pint for very easy and easy hikes, 1–2 quarts for moderate hikes, 2 quarts for strenuous hikes

 Lightweight “space blanket”—a couple of ounces of metallized mylar film usable for temporary shelter or rain protection

 Appropriate clothing so you can keep warm when the temperature drops, when it rains, and when it gets windy. Even in Hawaii, and especially in the mountains, the weather can turn nasty quickly. Be prepared with extra, appropriate clothing— especially a warm cap—when it does so. See Hypothermia?, On Kauai?, below.

 If you wear corrective lenses and/or require special medications, take extra lenses and carry a small supply of your medications

Minimum equipment for moderate and strenuous dayhikes

Start with the minimum equipment for easy hikes, above. Add—

 Extra food and water—for moderate and strenuous hikes, carry lunch and some snack bars

 Extra appropriate clothing—see Hypothermia?, On Kauai?, below

 Map (and compass if you can use it)

 Flashlight with extra bulbs and batteries

 Means to dig a hole 6–8 inches deep and at least 100 feet from water, in order to bury solid body wastes; tissue that you will also bury (or pack out)

 Pocket knife

 Firstaid kit—backed by firstaid training

 Waterproof matches and something you can keep a flame going with (such as a candle) only when necessary to start a fire in order to save a life

Equipment for backpacks

The following is a minimal checklist for backpacking equipment.

Minimal Backpacking Equipment List

Everything listed above for dayhikes

Permit

Backpack

Tent

Sleeping pad

Sleeping bag

Cookware and clean-up stuff

Stove and fuel*

Eating utensils

Boots

Socks

Shirts

Shorts or long pants

Hat

Rain gear

Underwear

Personal medication

Toiletries

*You cannot take stove fuel on a plane. You must buy it at your destination.

Tennis shoes?

I’ve noted in the hike descriptions whether tennis shoes—that is, lightweight oxford-type shoes—are okay to wear or whether I think you should wear boots. I base that recommendation on the length of the hike and the difficulty of the terrain. What tennis shoes lack that boots can provide are ankle support and soles that grip. Only you can really decide how important those are to you.

Boot care

If you’re going to hike a lot, be sure your boot seams are freshly sealed and you’ve freshly waterproofed the entire boot, including the cloth portion, if any. Use a heavy-duty waterproofing compound like a wax, and bring some of it along in order to renew the coating if necessary. Chances are your boots will get wet, especially in the winter. And they’ll stay wet, because things dry slowly in the tropical humidity. It’s pretty tough on the boots and, together with the abrasion of mud particles, could cause boot seams to fail.

Hiking stick

Take your hiking stick if you usually hike with one. The flight attendants can put it in the closet where they hang the carryon suits and dresses or in the overhead compartments. Kauai’s terrain can be very slippery when wet, and a hiking stick can be a big help in maintaining your footing. And it can double as a spider stick (see below).

Spider stick

There are a very few brushy trails where you and some orb spiders may meet unexpectedly, head-on. You probably don’t like collecting spiders with your face, but these critters make it hard not to do so. Here’s one way to avoid them without killing them. Pick up and use a “spider stick”—a long, strong stick that you carefully wave up and down in front of you as you hike. You can feel the tug when the stick connects with a web. Detach the anchor strands that hold the web in your way, and lay them aside on the adjacent shrubbery. An orb spider normally rebuilds most or all of her web daily, so you’ve caused her only minor inconvenience. Your hiking stick can probably double as a spider stick.

Sleeping bag

It should be able to tolerate wet conditions. For example, it could have a Gore-Tex shell or it could have a synthetic fill. You are almost certain to get rained on a bit while camping.

Tent

You’ll need one for protection from the rain and the various campsite critters. None of the critters is particularly dangerous. They’re probably not what you’d choose to bed down with, though (for example, toads, centipedes, ants, cockroaches).

Clothes while backpacking

On the one hand, it’s best to go as light as possible, especially on a difficult trail like the Kalalau Trail. On the other hand, almost nothing—not even synthetics—dries overnight in Kauai’s humid climate under camping conditions. You can’t expect to rinse a shirt out in the evening and find it dry in the morning. Socks wet from soggy trails or stream crossings will probably stay wet for a while. Consider what things you can stand to wear damp and what you can’t stand unless they’re dry. Pack just one or two of the “okay if damp” things. Pack a set of the “gotta be dry!” things for each day plus one or more extras, just in case. (For me, it’s socks.)

At the end of a soggy day of backpacking

On those occasional rainy days, you may wonder how you’re going to get reasonably clean without getting any wetter than you already are. Well, the socks you’ve worn all day are “goners” for the time being, wet and muddy on the outside but relatively clean on the inside. While you’re changing into dry clothes, turn your “used” socks inside out and mop yourself off with them.

Hypothermia? On Kauai?

It’s possible if you go into the mountains. Remember that going higher is equivalent to going north into colder climates, Kauai’s mountains are very wet, and mountains are often very windy. Please be prepared as you would be for going into any mountainous region.

Biodegradable? Ha, ha, ha!

The following things are popularly supposed to be biodegradable if you bury them: toilet tissue; facial tissues; sanitary napkins; tampons; disposable diapers. That must be a joke. They often last long enough for either running water to exhume them or animals to dig them up. It’s actually pretty easy to carry them out if you put them in a heavy-duty self-sealing bag.

Getting hiking and backpacking food

If you are planning to backpack on Kauai, consider shopping for your hiking and backpacking chow on Kauai. Food prices are higher in Hawaii, but you have enough stuff to put in your luggage without bringing your food, too. There are several well-stocked supermarkets on the island, particularly around Kapaa and Lihue, and some camping stores. You can buy almost anything from the “raw ingredients” (oatmeal, bread, crackers, peanut butter, cheese, …) to dehydrated and freeze-dried chow.

Companions

The standard advice is: never hike alone; never camp alone.

Water

Take your own drinking water for the day. Plan on treating water while backpacking. No open source of water anywhere in the U.S. is safe to drink untreated. Treat water by boiling (bring to a rolling boil) or filtering (note that filters clog relatively quickly in Kauai’s sediment-rich water).

Don’t spread pest plants: wash off your shoes or boots

As I mentioned in the chapter on geology and history, Hawaii has been overrun by introduced plants. It’s important to try to control the spread of these plants. One thing you can do to help is to wash the soil, and with it the seeds of any pest plants, you hope, off of your shoes or boots before you leave a hiking area. If there’s no water avilable for this, use a stick to clean off the mud.

Avoiding leptospirosis

Fresh water on Kauai may be contaminated with the bacterium that causes leptospirosis. There’s a pamphlet about leptospirosis that’s available from the Kauai Department of Health (3040 Umi Street, Lihue, HI 96766, (808) 245-4495). The following summarizes some of its contents: Muddy and clear water are both suspect. The bacterium invades through broken skin or the nose, mouth, or eyes. It enters the bloodstream and infects different organs, particularly the kidneys. Precautions that would especially apply to you here are not to go into streams if you have open cuts or abrasions and not to drink [untreated] stream water.

If you do swim in fresh water on Kauai, you should know that the incubation period of leptospirosis is 2–20 days. The onset is sudden and is characterized by “high fever, with chills and sweats, severe headache, muscle pains, weakness, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.” You should see a physician immediately if you suspect leptospirosis. A “best” course of treatment hasn’t been established, but it’s believed that administering certain antibiotics early in the course of the disease will shorten the disease and make symptoms less severe. The pamphlet says that most cases are mild and that people [with mild cases] recover in a week or two without treatment. However, severe leptospirosis infections may damage kidneys, liver, or heart and may even cause death.