The world renowned 11-mile Na Pali Coast-Kalalau Trail was reopened Friday morning for public use following repairs to parts of the trail that had been damaged by heavy rains and had become impassable.
The trail was officially closed Dec. 2 for the repairs.
Two campers with a single permit to camp at Kalalau Beach were airlifted out by an Air-One helicopter Wednesday afternoon, according to Wayne Souza, superintendent of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of State Parks on Kaua’i.
The man, who lives on Kaua’i, and the woman, his companion, were in no danger, and wanted to be taken out of the area because they didn’t want to deal with the rain any more, Souza said.
The couple could have been airlifted off the beach at any time, Souza said.
That was the case for three others who were in an area of Kalalau that was not designated for camping, he said.
Four people left the Kalalau area Thursday, but it was not clear whether they included the three campers, Souza said.
The four people went on the trail even though it was officially closed Dec. 2, and could have faced citation, Souza.
“Our enforcement guys weren’t there,” he said, and no attempts can be made at this point to identify them for possible criminal prosecution because they have left the area, Souza said.
The four people made their way out of the Na Pali Coast after most of the repair work had been done, Souza said.
In the airlifting of the two permitted campers, some members of a six-member repair crew from the DLNR Parks Division flew to the beach Wednesday aboard an Air-One helicopter.
Some areas had been washed out by recent heavy rains, while other parts had been covered by mud, making the area of repair impassable up until Thursday afternoon, when the repairs had been completed.
The repair crews reportedly used hand tools and a “mud gun,” a version of a jack hammer, to make repairs, Souza said.
The mud gun was used to crack the rock face of the cliff above the affected trail area, as a way to construct a new pathway so that the trail could become passable again, Souza said.
The repair crew worked in the rain Wednesday, but sunny skies Thursday helped expedite the work, Souza said. “The leeward side of the Kalalau Trail was sunny and made it possible for the work to be done quickly,” Souza said.
