An adventurous slog through a portion of the rainiest place on earth

Posted by Jeff on Dec 21, 2015 @ 8:31 am in Hiking News | 0 comments | Last modified: December 21, 2015

A primitive plank boardwalk, across water redder than rust, is not something to inspire confidence in a hiker, especially an exhausted one. After 3 miles of climbing clay embankments on muddy handholds, descending scores of hand-hewn steps covered with chicken wire for traction and brushing aside the gnarled branches of ohi’a trees on level ground, you scramble to find your footing through Kauai’s Alakai Swamp in Hawaii.

Now, with the goal less than a mile away, you are truly in the bog that you came to see. The boards laid across the Alaka’i Swamp more than three decades ago are rotting away, and where they have fractured or disintegrated, your boots sink into gray mud. Around you is an almost unimaginable wilderness, one which time seems to have forgotten. There are sights of bright red lehua flowers and the hand-shaped leaves of olapa trees, the licorice-like smell of mokihana berries and the pungent, earthy odor of the hapu’u fern.

Moreover, the constant calls of native birds — red-feathered ‘apapane and i’iwi, the lustery green ‘amakihi honeycreeper, the wren-like ‘elepaio and others that have not been heard for decades beyond this swampland — enrapture you with nature’s symphony.

If ever a journey was itself the destination, this is it. The climax is worth the hike. The path finally rises past the swampy turf, re-enters an ohi’a woodland and emerges at a tiny lookout atop the contorted cliffs of Wainiha Pali. From a rustic wooden platform known as Kilohana Lookout, a view extends across the entire north shore of Kaua’i, from Hanalei Bay to rocky Kilauea Point.

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