"So, which rep and which floor of the Cathedral would you say we're at?" I asked Monika during an uphill portion of the hike; we were coming up on about mile 8 of the 11 mile Kalalau Trail.

"Ummmm... 6th rep, 31st floor," she replied.



"That's not too bad." We had been training for the hike by climbing the stairs at the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh. 36 floors up from the basement. Then a quick elevator ride back down. The most we'd done was 8 of those with our packs on.

"Yeah, I feel totally fine with the uphills. It's the downhills that hurt." It wasn't like taking the elevator. And since the hike starts at sea level, goes up and down cliffs, and ends at sea level, there's as much down as up. By the end, our old knees had seen better days.



The knee-busting treks down weren't the only challenge that day. We had doubts whether the hike would happen at all, as it was raining consistenly through the morning. By the time it had stopped and we decided we would head out, it was already 9:00am. Then I spent the first few miles worrying we weren't making enough progress through the muddy terrain to finish the hike by daylight.












Difficulties aside, the cliffs (Na Pali in Hawaiian) were gorgeous, and each valley seemed to have its own unique microclimate and vegetation. And the reward at the end was Kalalau beach, a full 11 miles away from the nearest car.