Full participation in small town life entails tracking the web of high profile out-of-town visitors and remembering any time the town or region was featured in newspapers, film, television, music, or literature. This is especially true of Kauai, the smallest of the four major Hawaiian islands. People who live on Kauai might gossip that Oprah flew a helicopter to Puka Dog or that Tiger Woods visited Brick Oven Pizza or that Evangeline Li...

Drinking alcohol is a universal social activity that can bring people from all corners of the world together and incite a bond that may have otherwise gone unnoticed without a little liquid encouragement. But most travellers usually find themselves at the bar consuming alcoholic beverages, rather than making the liquor their guzzling down, in fact most people probably don’t even consider the job of a brewer, vintner or distiller as a possible emp...

17 Absolutely Essential Items for Camping, Squatting, or Living Long-Term in the Kalalau Valley 1. Spices – small plastic containers of potent powders and flavorful flakes like oregano, chili powder, garlic, onion, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass don’t weigh much and do wonders for occasionally feeling civilized in the middle the wilderness. Ditto for hot sauces.     2. Vacuum-sealed burritos – not everyone wants to catch fish, cut vegetab...

The morning of my second day in the Kalalau Valley, Isaac hands me a collapsible handsaw, shows me three dead trees, and tells me to split them. “These are guava,” he explains. “Java plum trees don’t burn well.” When I finish my work, I rinse my bandana in the stream. That afternoon we return to the beach via a path Isaac calls the “hippie highway.” It’s how those camping up valley get quickly to the ocean. About a quarter of a mile from the wate...

I’m headed with friends to the Kalalau Valley on Kauai’s Nā Pali Coast. My friend Isaac has boated in with most of our group’s gear. Jenny and I, carrying granola bars and sleeping bags and sarongs and books like “State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett and “Waking up in Eden” by Lucinda Fleeson and emergency supplies like Band-Aids and alcohol, hike the eleven miles of tropical trail that lead to the valley. I’ll stay six days. Jenny and Isaac wil...