Chasing Trails on a Hawaii Honeymoon

The good, the great, and the painful (but still not ugly...except the legs afterwords)

By Anya Gue (formerly Wechsler)

The adventure began when Anya and Owen "sealed the deal" this August with a good ol' fashioned Missoula Wedding ceremony and celebration.

The newlyweds embark on their journey
with an extra push from officiant, Phil Gardner

The first dance

Over three months later, we decided it was time for a belated honeymoon. So off to Hawaii we flew with not much planned other than 3 nights in Maui, and 5 nights in Kauai. I had spend the previous months pouring over Hawaii trail guide books, searching for the best running adventures. So intermixed with surfing, biking, paddle boarding, banana-eating and Mai Tai sipping, we scoured the trails. The following is a photo story of out favorites.

First up was the Waihee Ridge Trail, one of Runner's World's "Rave Runs," with beautiful views of the ocean and the wild West Maui Mountains.

Next on the list was a sunrise run down the Mount Haleakala crater. Haleakala is an old volcano that composes over 75% of the island of Maui. It gradually rises from sea level to over 10,000 ft. From the top, we descended  2,600 feet to the bottom of the crater, followed by a 2,600 foot climb back out. Ouch!

Sliding Sand's trail as it descends the Haleakala Crater

The lack of wildlife in the crater results in the most amazing silence. We found ourselves alone on the desolate trail, feeling as though we were on a different planet. Impressive!

Once we made it back to the top, I was lucky enough to get to descend the 10,000 ft. volcano back down to the ocean on a borrowed road bike. From above the clouds, down to the sea...Weee!

After a fun-filled 3 days in Maui, we took a quick flight over to Kauai to check out the wild Hawaiian jungle...

Our only plan for Kauai was to complete the infamous 22 mile out-and-back Napali Coast Trail that winds along the secluded cliffs of the north shore of the island and dead-ends on the Kalalau beach. We ended up with perfect weather for this amazing adventure, which was lucky... 

Owen prancing along the section referred to as "crawler's ledge"

We did not find out until we had completed the run that the Napali Coast Trail is rated as one of America's 10 most dangerous trails with 82 recorded deaths due to falls, flash floods and rip-tides. Luckily, dehydration was our only hurdle during the trek. 

Kalalau Beach

Owen, beginning the 11 mile journey back from the beach to the car. It got hot. We ran out of water. We both kind of bonked, but it was totally worth it!

Other than the Napali Coast trail and the Waimea Canyon trails (sadly, I do not have any pictures of these), there was one more that I felt the enticed to explore. I had heard about the Powerline Trail that traversed across the Anahola Mountains to make a scenic 13 mile point-to-point. I had read varying reviews about this one: some saying it was an amazing and scenic trail, and others saying it was unmaintained and essentially impassible. It turned out to be exactly both of those descriptions. 

I should have had a more realistic expectation for what an "unmaintained" trail in the Jungle would be like.

After about 1 mile, this is what I faced for the remained 12 miles and over 2,500ft elevation gain. 7-foot tall grass and thorns in about 6 inches of mud and swamp water. 

...Except when it was mud as slick as Mount Sentinel ice in February

...But the views weren't bad!

Over 4 hours later, I was thrilled to see Owen's shining face at the other end. Those Kauai thorns left quite a mark on my legs, and made swimming in saltwater slightly less pleasant the next day.

Of course, we did much more than seek out running trails during out trip, but I just wanted to share some of the pieces of our honeymoon that you might actually want to hear about.  

Aloha!