Polihale State Park

Last weekend, Conor and I went with Prashant and Kalpana to Polihale State Park. This is the longest stretch of continuous beach in the state of Hawaii, with over 15 miles of golden sands. To get there, you take a dirt 4-wheel drive road. Since the Civic sits only two inches off the ground, we've never had the opportunity to visit Polihale before now. Prashant and Kalpana have rented a trusty Jeep during their stay, and it handled the dirt road with ease. After our Jeep experiences on the Big Island, we weren't surprised.

Although we had heard good things about Polihale, it turned out to be even more amazing than we expected. This beach is on the west side of Kauai, at the furthest point you can drive on the highway before hitting the Na Pali from the west. You can see the island of Ni'ihau in the distance from the shore. It has large sand dunes, and some people even drive their 4-wheel drive vehicles across the sand dunes. We started to attempt this, only to get stuck in the sand about two feet in. Luckily a surfer was there to give us tips on how to get out (the tip being keep the wheel straight and hit the gas). After that experience, Kalpana and I thought perhaps leaving the Jeep parked on the road was a better idea. The gentlemen finally relented.

Conor and I have a kayak trip of the Na Pali coast planned in a couple of weeks, and we'll start at Ke'e beach on the north shore and kayak 16 miles until we hit land at Polihale. We're pretty sure that Polihale will never look so good as when we land our kayaks at the end of the day.


The Jeep got us to Polihale with ease:



Many miles of sand to the left:

The western end of the Na Pali coast to the right:


A beach facing west is a nice spot to watch the sunset: