One hundred and twenty-one Hawaii hikers found themselves in trouble on Sunday night when rain swelled Hanakapiai stream along Kauai’s popular Kalalau Trail. A spontaneous deluge upstream created a flash flood, leading to one of the island's biggest trail rescues in history. Twenty-three people were rescued on Sunday night, including a toddler and a 12 year-old boy who had been swept upstream. But as darkness fell, 98 people had to wait for rescue efforts to continue Monday morning and two rescue workers spent the night with the group to teach basic survival skills.
While hiking is one of our favorite activities, getting caught in a situation like this, unprepared and without some basic skills, can ruin your day.
Here are some rules every hiker should follow and some simple tips for when nature goes wild.
- Pay attention to the weather, including the climate. If it's the rainy season, such as it is on Kauai from November to March, it might be clear at the trail but raining somewhere upstream. If it rains higher up the mountain, you might not even know about it. No matter how sunny it is or isn't, if the river surges, heed advice from the National Weather Service: Turn around, don't drown.