Today, I ran from the Wailua
City of Refuge, Hauola near the north
end of Lydgate Beach Park all the way to Kalapaki Beach in Nawiliwili Harbour. The beach path Ka Ala Hele Makalae will one
day connect Wailua to Lihue but today it’s only a line on a map. The beach path ends on the beach just past the
Kamalani Kai Bridge at the south end of Lydgate Park. From there I ran on the beach two miles
passing the Wailua Golf Course, Driving Range, Kauai Motor Cross Track and the
Kauai Beach Resort.
Eventually, I got to
Nukoli’I Beach Park and filled up my water bottle. Just south of the beach park I traversed a
small lagoon by boulder hopping across it to the other side. Large rocks had washed up on the shoreline
and offered very technical terrain to run over.
Around the point of the lagoon, the shoreline was completely covered in
rocks so I tried running higher up off the beach on an old cane road but the
road was so over grown with Guinea Grass I couldn’t justify running through it
so I went back down to the rocky shoreline to run for at least another three miles until
I reached Hanamaulu Beach Park. The
coastline was so beautiful and dramatic to run over. I couldn’t help but feel lucky to be there
and see it in its pristine beauty.
In Hanamaulu Beach Park I
again filled up my water bottle and splashed cold water in my face to cool down. It was high noon now and very hot running
along the coastline. I took a few sodium
tablets and a GU gel to replace the electrolytes I had lost while running. I ran through the beach park to the end where
the Hanamaulu River empties into the bay.
The south side of the river was bordered by a steep ledge and the
shoreline was covered in rocks. I
remember looking at a map of the area and seeing that the road to Ahukini Point
was parallel to the river. I thought I could
reach it easily by climbing straight up the steep ledge.
I found what looked like a
trail so I climbed up the ledge to the top holding onto clumps of grass and
tree branches. I couldn't see through
the grass and short shrub trees so I pressed on thinking the road was just on
the other side. 30 minutes later I was
completely surrounded by tall guinea grass.
I could see the roof of a building about 100 meters away so I headed in
that direction. I eventually came to a 6
foot fence that I could climb up and over to reach the building and get out of
the weeds. As I got closer to the
building the grass seemed to get taller and denser, it took all of my strength
to push through it. I was so cut up and
itchy by the time I reached the building.
I was cursing my stupidity for blazing my own trail through a field of
Guinea Grass. I could see an opening in
the side of the building so I climbed through it and called out to let anyone inside
know that I was entering. Once inside I
found that it was an abandoned work shop so I continued on through it and out
the other side to another tall fence that I scaled and jumped over.
I ran down the driveway to
Ahukini Road and directly across from the driveway was the Lihue Airport runway. I could see a dirt road running alongside the
fence marking the boundary of the Airport. So I ran along the exterior for another two
and a half miles. The road was clear for
vehicular traffic so many people had driven back there to camp along the coast
between Kamilo Point and Ninini Point.
Eventually the dirt road
took me out to the Kauai Lagoons Golf Club.
I have run around the Kauai Lagoons before so I followed the roadway
back out towards the Kauai Marriott for another mile along Kalapaki Circle. I turned off the road to the back entrance of
the Kauai Marriott Resort and ended up on the far end of Kalapaki Beach. I covered nine miles of very technical and
challenging terrain in two hours. I washed
off in the ocean and laid in the sand to rest my weary body. I couldn’t help but feel lucky to arrive
there unscathed. I walked over to Dukes
and ordered a beer and a BBQ chicken flatbread.
One more another amazing day on Kauai.
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