Hi everyone, I'm Alice Ford and this week I'm in the Hawaiian Islands.

Not only is this the most remote state in the US, but it's also the only one made up entirely of islands, and each one is incredibly unique.

You have volcanoes, amazing mountains, summits, black sand beaches, sea cliffs that drop into the ocean, jungles, bamboo forest and so much more.

And during this week, it's going to be full of excitement.

We'll be visiting two very unique national parks, one full of volcanoes and lava flows, and a state park, one of Hawaii's best on the Garden Island, where I'll be doing one of the most iconic hikes here in the island chain.

I cannot wait to bring you along.

So let's lace up those hiking boots and get on the trail.

I'm Alice Ford and we're back in Northern Norway.

This is the Garden Island, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you guys can see, it is absolutely beautiful down here.

The views are just already stunning.

And we are on our way to Antarctica.

So right now we're having a traditional tea here.

Wow.

I have just spotted a humpback whale off the coast here.

It is incredible being here this time of year.

January to March is actually a whale migration time.

Thousands of them come to the Hawaiian Islands to breed, to have their offspring.

And everywhere I look, I see whale spout, whale tails and just whales everywhere.

It is absolutely amazing.

I'm here in Maui to check out Haleakala National Park, which is the second national park here in Hawaii.

A little bit smaller in size than the one on the Big Island, but got a lot of really great stuff.

Jungle, rainforests, waterfalls, and a really high dormant volcano that we're going to check out as well.

So I've only got about 30 hours here on this Hawaiian island, so let's not waste any time.

This national park is split up into two sections, and I was heading first to a section called Kala Hulu for a hike in the jungle.

To get there I was going to have to drive along a very long and winding road called the Pilani Highway.

If you've heard of the road to Hana, this is actually the back way to get there.

But calling this a highway is a bit misleading.

It's a remote one and a half lane, mostly paved country road hugging the coastline.

Several miles are just one lane.

They have massive blind curves and no room for cars to pass.

This part of the park is really remote, and there's just a few trails here that hike along the coastline.

The one that I'm on right now takes us to two waterfalls and also into a bamboo forest.

Well, this is the first one, a fantastic overlook down into Makahiku Falls, which translates in Hawaiian to water that has no friends.

And that's because this is a very fast flowing waterfall, and it has flash floods very often.

So historically, this is a place where there was a lot of danger and there still is today.

So there's actually no swimming allowed in this part of the national park because so many people have drowned and been swept away by the dangerous water here over the years.

One of the features along this trail is this amazing old banyan tree.

I'm not sure how old it is, but it looks to me at least well over 100 or a couple hundred years old.

Now there are banyan trees in parts of America that are actually several thousand years old, and this one is just really, really beautiful.

Once you cross over the bridge, you are in the bamboo forest here.

Bamboo is the fastest growing wood on the planet.

It's super sustainable because it is so fast growing.

It also holds an incredibly large amount of water.

And back when the Hawaiian Islands were being populated by the Polynesians, bamboo was actually one of the first things they brought with them.

We are just approaching the waterfall at the end of this trail, so if you do that trail, in total it is two miles each way.

So four miles round trip and that bamboo forest is just really massive.

Much bigger than I expected.

But this waterfall is called Wei Moku Falls.

This waterfall is several hundred feet tall and it is just absolutely beautiful.

This might be a short trip, but it wouldn't be a trip to Hawaii without getting out on the ocean.

And I'm heading out on a whale watch this morning.

I've done these in places all over the world, but never here in Hawaii, so I made a little bit of time this morning to do just that.

So I'm heading out on a two hour whale watch, and I'm actually starting in the town of Lahaina.

Now Lahaina, if you don't remember, burned basically to the ground in August of 2023, 101 people actually lost their lives in that fire, and most of the downtown was completely incinerated.

So it's also good to know that things are reopening here.

Companies have come back.

Tourism is coming back.

So if you do want to come on a whale watch, you can do it here in Lahaina.

I will drop details of the company that I went out with today as well.

But for now, let's get on the boat and let's get out and see if we can find any whales.

Okay.

We've seen a bunch of whales breach now up ahead of the boat, so we're just getting a little closer.

Okay.

We are on our way now, back on this crazy road.

But, wow, the views are amazing, and the road is narrow over to the other part of Haleakala, which is the more visited section because it is closer to the airport.

Where you enter Maui.

And this part of Haleakala is up on the crater of the Haleakala volcano, and it's a dormant volcano, so you don't have to worry about it erupting any time soon.

It's actually right now in this phase, which is the erosional phase of volcanoes.

Volcanoes have many different phases as they grow.

And an interesting thing about volcanoes here in Hawaii is that the entire Hawaiian Islands chain was built from volcanoes.

This is not a, place that was made from tectonic plates converging.

It's actually an area in which volcanoes just kind of grew out of the ocean floor.

And all the volcanoes here are shield volcanoes, which is pretty interesting.

And even though they're all the same type of volcano, they all have a lot of different minerals that come out of them.

So there's a lot of really interesting things that you can learn about volcanoes if you're into that kind of thing.

But, we've got a couple hour drive, to get through around this coastline and back up, to the volcano, will be going up several thousand feet.

Because this is going to be the tallest point here in Maui as well.

I found a spot to park, here at the Higher Up Visitor center, and, wow!

This is absolutely beautiful.

You know, everyone I've ever talked to that has come to Maui and come to this park has said that sitting up here watching the sun setting or the sun rising has been one of the most amazing experiences of their life.

And it is really, really, really awe-inspiring to be up here because you're above the clouds and driving up.

I thought we would actually not have a view because of all that fog and all those clouds are rolling in, but up here, you're just you're just 1000ft higher than that.

And it's just it's just remarkable.

Absolutely beautiful.

I mean, to walk around, and try to get you as many views from up here as I can.

I could not park at the top, but there's a bunch of hiking trails up here.

There's also trails that go down into the crater itself.

So lots of places to explore.

Next stop, the Big Island and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is both a Unesco World Heritage Site and a biosphere reserve.

And it's full of some really unique wildlife and ecosystems.

This park is home to not one, but two very active volcanoes, Kilauea, which you can see behind me, and Mauna Loa, which is way over there.

As I stand amidst these giants think of this.

Manila is the largest volcano on Earth by volume, and Kilauea is one of the most active reshaping the landscape in real time.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park takes you from sea level tropical forests all the way up to over 13,000ft, where you can gaze at ancient lava flows that have written millennia of history into the Earth.

Okay, it is really, really neat.

Up here.

The sun is just going down and there's just beautiful colors just hitting the top of the caldera.

Here there is steam coming out from all these different spots in the middle of the caldera to and over on the edges here, where you have these tall cliffs that I think go up 4 or 500ft, you have forests on top.

There is just this fog and steam coming off the top and just blowing through the trees and going off into space, kind of like if a old man was sitting in the cold and blowing his warm air through the forest.

So it's really neat.

And there's a tons of people out here taking in the view, lots of people inside eating.

But this is a really great start to this trip, and I cannot wait to see what else this park has in store.

This is my favorite part about staying at these National Park lodges, because this is my hotel here at the volcano House behind me you have the Kilauea Visitor Center, and then the museum is right here too.

And there are a ton of trails that start just right here, right by the visitor center, right by the hotel.

So it's about 7 a.m.

right now.

No one is in the park yet, which means I'm going to have some trails and I'm going to start with a trail called the Sulfur Banks, which goes out to some steam vents.

And I'm really excited to check them out.

Just like Yellowstone National Park, this park, because it is volcanic, has areas where you have these big steam chambers, holes in the Earth where combinations of water, carbon dioxide and a little bit of sulfur as well are coming out just everywhere you look Right now I'm standing next to this steam vent.

Oh, wow.

It's actually really, really cool because when it hits you, it's just this warm, just like perfectly warm steam.

And it feels amazing.

Oh my gosh!

right now I'm driving the chain of craters, which is a scenic drive around the rim of this volcano that goes all the way down to the coastline, down below.

There's some fantastic hikes to do along this route.

There are some also some fantastic scenic points.

The one I'm standing out right now gives you this fantastic view into one of the craters here at the top of Kilauea.

And there are several.

So this is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

Since 1823, there have been 61 separate eruptions, and each one of those forever changes the landscape.

Here.

Behind me is the Thurston Lava Tube.

Now, this is formed about 500 years ago in one of the eruptions of Kilauea.

It goes from quite a distance underground here, and it was formed from a 2000 degree lava as it came channeling through this area.

And when the lava flow stopped, it left this giant hole in the ground, which is now an ecosystem.

It's home to tons of animals and plants and insects, and it's going to be a little bit dark in there.

We're going to go check it out.

This trail round trip is 1.2 miles, so the Lava Tube itself is actually quite short, but it is really fascinating to be able to walk through that and just see the power of that 2000 degree lava and what it does to a landscape underground.

Because this volcano is still active.

There's no saying, you know, what kind of geological or landscape changes people will see here over the next couple of decades, couple of centuries, every eruption and even just the release of the steam and the sulfuric gases, all of that is constantly changing.

The landscape here.

The area that I'm walking around now is the 1974 lava flow here in the park.

I don't know what it is about volcanoes, but I just love them, probably because they're so different.

And sorry it is a bit windy so hopefully that you can hear me.

Okay.

You know, it's just such an alien landscape always.

And the cool thing about Kilauea, I mean, there's lots of cool things, but it has been erupting continuously for years and years and years.

And every time there is a big eruption, there is almost always a new lava flow.

So if you hike down into the crater and explore this whole park, you will see tons of different lava flows as you explore, I am so excited to be back on one of my favorite Hawaiian islands, Kauai.

This is known as the Garden Island.

I've been here in years past, and I've attempted to do the hike that I'm about to do many times, but for one reason or another or something got in my way.

So today is the day I am going to be doing the Kalalau Trail.

This is one of the most iconic hikes in Hawaii.

It goes right through the Nepali coastline, which you can see behind me, which is famous for these dramatic ridgelines shaped like fins and made by erosion and volcanic eruptions.

This is the oldest island here in Kauai, and it has some of the most beautiful landscapes because of it.

I am so excited to do this trail.

It's got ledges, steep drop offs, and a little bit of danger, but the end result is getting down to one of the most beautiful and isolated beaches here on the island, where I'm going to be spending the night.

So I cannot wait.

I'm going to grab my hiking boots, get my backpack on, and hit the trail.

Already we're in the jungle here on this trail and it reminds me of Jurassic Park.

There's a reason for that because Jurassic Park was actually filmed on this island and many other movies as well.

So a lot of this scenery may look familiar, but the first two miles of this hike is actually a shared trail.

Many people come to just day hike this trail out to the first beach, but only those with permits like me today are allowed to go past that and on to Kalalau beach I'm just approaching this first beach, and you can just hear the sound of massive waves crashing against the beach here.

This is where most of the hikers that are coming to do the day hike will turn around.

For me, I'll be continuing on past this for many more hours.

It's like, it's January right now, so the waves are much bigger.

It's not safe to swim at least this beach.

So I'll just be observing some of these waves as we get down here to the shoreline.

Starting to get some serious drop offs here.

This trail has been undulating up and down to the coastline and then back up high up onto the ridges here.

And as you can see, this is one of the things that makes this trail a little bit treacherous.

You have these really, really narrow sections of trail with not a lot of room for passing, and certainly not a lot of room for mistakes.

So best to pay close attention to where you're putting your feet along here.

And also, I just saw a massive amount of rocks falling off the cliff side.

So that's something that you do have to watch out for as a hazard when you're walking along this trail to.

When you read about this trail, you will see that people say the margin for error is very small because these ledges drop right off into the sea, and that is absolutely no joke, just a couple of feet wide.

And then it maybe a thousand, 2000ft down to the ocean.

So definitely you need to watch where you step.

Well, the trail seems to have disappeared.

But it does wrap around the corner.

This little section is actually called Crawlers Ridge.

And, I think I know why.

As my steps turn into miles, I keep thinking about how this coastline earned its name.

Nepali means the cliffs.

And walking here, it feels like the island is falling slowly into the Pacific valleys, cut deep by swift streams and waterfalls and the ocean and steep cuts and the cliffs edge.

The Kalalau Trail has its own story to this route, where hiking today was built around 1860, when the Hawaiian government expanded an old footpath using local labor and even dynamite to create a trail just wide enough for pack animals carrying crops like taro, orange and coffee.

From these remote valleys.

Along this trail, where native plants still cling to life, while introduced animals like wild goats and feral pigs have had a real impact, damaging vegetation and exposing soil to erosion.

All right, I'm not gonna lie.

This section is, It's a lot.

We are on a really small ledge.

You've got volcanic rock 50ft above my head.

Just a little, little bit of room here for my feet.

The ocean crashing down below.

Losing daylight.

The treachery of this trail.

Yeah, I'm seeing it.

Oh, wow.

What a day.

I did make it to camp.

I've just made some dinner, and tonight I'm having a Mexican quinoa bowl.

It's about 915 right now.

I am hammock camping tonight, so I've just got my hammock set up here as well.

Right along the beach.

You probably hear the waves crashing.

Well, there is a waterfall.

I just up the trail from here where I got, water to filter and, I'm very ready for some calories and then some good rest.

Now, there's quite a few people camping here.

There are a lot of permits actually available.

Really lucked out so far with some really great weather today.

Super warm, but I am ready for some rest.

Well, I think this welcome is, better late than never.

Good morning from Kalalau Beach.

I really had no idea what it looked like here until the light started to come up this morning, and I saw the outline of the waves, from the edge of my hammock.

And then as the sun came up, it's still on its way up.

Now, seeing the pink from the sky illuminating the ocean.

Looking up here at the Nepali coastline, it is just so beautiful and I wish I could spend the entire day here.

As you guys know, it is an eight hour, walk, back to the car.

So I've already kind of packed up my things, had breakfast, had coffee, and pretty soon I'll be hitting the trail again.

This is really, one of the few places in America that you will see that has been very unchanged from human presence.

And it's just beautiful walking through the the jungle and along those crazy ledges.

It's been a harrowing, trail.

Feeling pretty good today.

My knee is a little bit sore, but, excited to do all those ledges and ridgelines again.

So let's get back on the trail.

There's really nothing like this.

The sound of the ocean down below, the wind pulling at the ridge lines.

The feeling that you're walking through a place that's been shaped by fire, water and time.

I honestly wish I had more time to just sit here, listen, and let the coastline do what it does best.

Remind you to slow down and be small, even just for a minute.

This trail was brutal, beautiful, and completely unforgettable.

I'll be thinking about these cliffs long after the mud has washed off my boots.

I'll see you next time.

As always Im Alice Ford.

Never stop exploring.