Adventures in Hawaii by Steve Harper

Adventures in Hawaii
by Steve Harper - Tour director

And the end of all our explorings will be to arrive at the place where we started, and know the place for the first time. T.S. Elliot

I recently lead a tour to Hawaii seeking beautiful life supporting places for expanding consciousness and living in harmony with nature, groups of spiritual adventurers are finding high energy spots, and making contact with highly evolved sea mammals (Whales & Dolphins). While many people associate Hawaii with overbuilt beach resorts and touristy attractions, some groups such as Self Discovery Adventures of Fairfield Iowa, seek out untouched locations far from the beaten path especially those where people have reported unusually tangible sources of subtle energy and healing. These included the Cave of Pele and Waip Haleakala volcano on Maui, Iao Valley, and the Na Pali Coast on Kauai.

Haleakala crater is unearthly. It looks like a set from Star Trek on a foreign planet. The scene is total devastation and emptiness where lava flows have blackened entire landscapes with solidified liquid rock. It is too recent for any plant life to take hold and begin breaking down the rich lava into the nutritious soil that supports abundant life in the lower valleys. These flows are juxtaposed with brilliant red, yellow and orange cinder cones that recently belched hot lava still sitting where it landed hundreds of years ago. It is still as a desert with only the perfectly symmetrical Silver Sword plants (they grow only in this valley) dotting the worn volcanic rims of countless eruptions that formed this island. Here time stands still and the I of the observer merges with the immensity of the observed. I am the beauty, writes one adventurer in his journal. Here I think more clearly, more creatively than anywhere on earth, writes another.

The Kalalau Valley is located at the end of the Na Pali Coast Trail. It is renowned for its mountainous coastline, idyllic waterfalls, sensuous beach, and remoteness from the tentacles of regulated civilization. It is Mother Earth personified, wild with fruit, flowers, birds, streams, pools and the pounding sea complete with wales and dolphins that can be seen from shore, breaching and waving their fins.

Immersed in this Garden of Eden, it is not long before all of Nature feels like part of the Self. Clothes, time, fat and separation soon disappear. The Guardian deities of the island, personified in the sculptured mountain peaks flow their blessings to the adoring wayfarers. Here a chronic wound is healed with the help of the Self Discovery Group Leaders and participants all psychically energizing the affliction. There a deep felt shame is released and a prayer is accepted by Loki, the Goddess of love at her ancient altar.

One of the participants records her experience on the Na Pali Coast:

DAY ONE: Hanakapiai

Winding up and down hilly paths, like a giant staircase for two miles, I was looking forward to being idle on Kalalau beach, but more than that I was nervous. We passed sweaty exhilarated travelers shouting, "aloha," proudly after their thirty-mile hike, offering us walking sticks.

"Mahalo," we said thankfully. "This isn't that hard yet," I told myself, wondering why everyone had said it was a challenge. It was to be five days, two and a half in and two and a half days out. When we got to our camp, at six o'clock, I set up my bivy sac, with a tarp under me, wrote in my journal, and meditated.

After dinner we set personal goals and shared them. I said I like the intimacy that I feel with new people that I haven't bonded with yet. I want to keep that sense of intimacy throughout the trip, I confessed. Then, Steve Harper, the leader, told us about the myth of the man who found his wife at the top of the water fall. He said the man came upon a goddess at every pool who claimed to be his future wife but intuition told him each time that this wasn't true and so each Goddess sent with him a colored gown to give as a gift to the woman who would be his wife. Soon, he had purple, green, red, orange, yellow and blue dresses bustled under one arm. When he got to the top waterfall she appeared out of the pool and said, "I'm so glad you've come and brought me all the colors of the rainbow, it was the only way that I could think of to trick you into bringing the rainbow to Kauai." So goes the story of the goddess of the rainbow, Anue nue.

Day Two: Hanakoa

After a breakfast of power-bars we left our packs behind to go for a day hike. We walked through swaying bamboo forests, up rocky paths, sometimes over riverbeds, and hopping stones. We quietly dreamed of our visions of soul-mates at the top. The water was icy as the pool was still shadowed from the sun, but I let the mountain water bounce off of me and purify me as my morning shower.

Later with my 40-pound backpack (lifted on for me, and hanging off of my petite 100-pound body), I felt like I'd turned into a new kind of mammal - a walking turtle-camper. I learned how to hold my self differently and adjust to the added weight. The trail wound in and out of the valleys to shady places, where the waterfalls and trees would arch overhead and provide relief from the dessert like trails.

All along the trails were little waterfalls. We passed at least half a dozen that day. One imagines that holy men walked in these places and sees that there are many people who find Kalalau a sacred place and pilgrimage.

One meets people from all over the world hiking there, sometimes living in the Kalalau valley for a season or two. At five 'o clock we landed at Hanakoa, a forested camp sight.

DAY THREE: Kalalau

We woke up before dawn drenched in rain. I had hoped to sleep longer because I was exhausted from the previous day. We discovered we'd slept in a rain forest. There was a foot of rain everywhere as I searched through the pines to find a good restroom sight with torrents of rain falling on my head, I was soaked to the core within two minutes. We packed up our wet gear hurriedly, then hiked along the trail edge of mountains on slick red clay walls. I was blowing in the wind at a peninsula point of the trail, two hundred feet above the crashing waves, I hugged the mountain side, laying against it upright, so as not to topple over.

My inspiration for sure-footedness on those unwieldy tracks were the little mountain goats side-stepping up and down the hillside. I followed their example, praying to the Greek Goat God Pan for his sprightly leg support and lusty humor to carry me through the rain.

I encouraged songs to the sun, and we sang wishing for it's warmth, since warm showers and down comforters were a long way off. After having a group discussion at 4:00, we decided to proceed. In relentless rain our adventurous souls wouldn't give up and we switched from wet hiking-boots to tennis shoes to soothe our tired feet and blisters. We hiked down one 100-foot mud slide, then inched across a rushing river jumping boulders, holding a rope rail. Finally, we arrived at an idyllic expansive, mile-long beach and a waterfall about seventy feet tall streaming into the ocean. It had two large caves, one occupied by campers, the other half-submerged into the ocean in the high tide of winter, and a rainbow hung above the mountain-side.

The rain cleared. It was near sunset, and people were playing in the waves running with glee like happy children, their golden bodies shining in the sun. At sunset, everyone came down to the beach. We shot many roles of film watching the dramatic performance of colors changing-crimson, lavender, apricot and rose into a spectacular explosion.

That night we went to a community potluck hosted by Kalalau locals aloha style. Many freeze dried specialties went into the pots around the campfire, some fresh green papaya (which tastes like broccoli cooked), and drumming and chanting beat rhythmically. "What does the song mean?" a newcomer asked. "All I know is that it brings us home," said the dark haired drummer. About 30 people huddled around the fire socializing with everyone from a international kaleidoscope of origins.

DAY FOUR: Enjoying Kalalau

The sun finally came out in paradise. I bathed, did laundry in the stream. I imagined a relaxed day writing and reading in the sun, playing in the ocean, and letting my ailing legs recover..... but Steve wanted to go on a "short" hike up to the pools and vegetable gardens in the valley. A short hike would have been o.k. But we hiked for a hour and a half, without luck. Then we met a boy who encouraged- telling us we were almost there. It was about 45 minutes later we arrived at the fancy Queen'spool... unfortunately it was the size of a jacuzzi! So we dipped in the cool water, took pictures of big orange flowers and hiked back down. At last we returned to camp exhausted and settled in for a early night under our tarps.

DAY 5 AND 6: Hanakapiai

We awoke to a mild storm. Dreading another slippery day on the trail, we hurried out of the national park in just two days.

The last day I said that I'd love it if a handsome man would offer to carry my pack the rest of the way out. Later, a beautiful dark haired surfer boy with a big straw sombrero and a backpack with a baby black labrador puppy hanging out of it, offered to trade packs with me. The puppy wanted to scurry on his own legs, so I was left with an empty pack over my shoulder, walking freely the last few miles. My legs felt light again.

Afterwards I looked to buy myself a T-shirt that said something like, 'I survived Kalalau,' as my reward. Instead, I found, "FACE YOUR FEAR NA PALI TRAIL."

This February, Self Discovery Adventures will offer a Dolphin Swim, Volcano and Na Pali Coast eco-tour in Hawaii which will include a GodSpark/ INNER HEARING WORKSHOP. The group will be in for the experience of a lifetime as Sunni Karll guides you in discovering your soul lineage, your life purpose, and facilitates your communication with your God Self, your teachers, and evolutionary friends such as plant & animal spirits, like Whales & Dolphins, Sacred Mountains (Mona Loa) and Devas like Pele, Shakti, whoever you want to communicate with.

Hawaii is the newest and most creative place on Earth. There is continuous initiation, continuous deepening of who we are as the lava, clear winds and surrounding ocean absorb all overwhelming and negative energies, making room for greater growth inside. We will also be spending lots of time on tropical beaches, exploring volcanoes, fragrant rain forests and waterfalls, connecting with nature devas, our selves, and swimming with the dolphins! We will look forward to a far richer experience with them by enjoying real conversations as well as swimming in their company, which was the experience of Self Discovery Adventure group leader Stephen Harper on his recent Dolphin Quest in Costa Rica.

We have been gifted with a huge opportunity to learn and work in cooperation with Nature. Inner hearing experiences in such lush expressions of Creation as in Hawaii will be paradise! Accom-medations for the workshop will be in a charming octagonal lodge or camping . For more details, please call Stephen at 515 472-7918.

Steve Harper: Self Discovery Adventures* & Natural Balance* Backpacks: The only packs that permit Correct Posture and Natural Movement! http:/www.GORP.com/advself · Tel/Fax 515 472-7918

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE='JavaScript1.1'
SRC='http://js.whatuseek.com/intraSearch/searchbox.go?rid=46171'>
</SCRIPT>