The infamous Kalalau Trail in Hawaii is as dangerous as it is beautiful. People have died from falling off cliffs, drowning in rivers, being carried away by rip currents, and other causes. Some have even disappeared without a trace.
This is a very weather dependent hike and the conditions can change pretty quickly. I’ve hiked Kalalau three times now, and I had a close call one of those times.
So how many people have died on the Kalalau Trail? As of 2026, there have been 17 confirmed deaths if you exclude drownings at the beaches, or 59 including the beaches.
Don’t get me wrong, Kalalau is a wonderful hike and I’m glad it’s open to the public, but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, and you should definitely be aware of the risks before you go.
The list of fatalities in this article is the most thorough list of its kind available on the internet at the time of writing (2026), although some details may still be incomplete. Each of these stories are tragic. Some may have been avoidable with more awareness and better planning.
I’m not trying to scare you out of doing this trek if you’re able. It’s such a special adventure. I just want to help you make informed decisions, and remind you to keep safety front-and-center during your time in Kauai.
Table of Contents show
My Guide For The Kalalau Trail
Before we talk about the trail deaths and safety tips, I also wrote a complete guide for the hike and how to do it step by step.
It has lots of tips, info, and photos for the hike. Definitely give it a read if you plan to do Kalalau! You can check it out in the link below.Don’t get me wrong, Kalalau is a wonderful hike and I’m glad it’s open to the public, but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, and you should definitely be aware of the risks before you go.
The list of fatalities in this article is the most thorough list of its kind available on the internet at the time of writing (2026), although some details may still be incomplete. Each of these stories are tragic. Some may have been avoidable with more awareness and better planning.
I’m not trying to scare you out of doing this trek if you’re able. It’s such a special adventure. I just want to help you make informed decisions, and remind you to keep safety front-and-center during your time in Kauai.
Table of Contents show
My Guide For The Kalalau Trail
Before we talk about the trail deaths and safety tips, I also wrote a complete guide for the hike and how to do it step by step.
It has lots of tips, info, and photos for the hike. Definitely give it a read if you plan to do Kalalau! You can check it out in the link below.
How Many People Have Died On The Kalalau Trail?
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how many people have died on the Kalalau Trail, but these seem to be the most accurate statistics:
- There have been 7 falling deaths from steep ledges on the Kalalau Trail, and possibly more.
- There have been 3 drowning deaths in streams along the trail (Hanakapiai, Hanakoa, and Kalalau stream).
- There have been 42 drowning deaths at beaches along the trail (Hanakapiai, Kalalau, and Honopu Beach).
- There have been 2 health related deaths, which were possibly caused by heart attacks, heat exhaustion, etc.
- There have been 5 deaths with unknown causes. These were cases where either a body was found and couldn’t be identified, or someone disappeared on the trail and was given up for dead after being missing for decades.
In total, that means there have been 17 accidental deaths at Kalalau if you exclude the beaches, or 59 deaths with the beaches included.
In the next section, I’ll review each of these cases and see what we can learn from them, and hopefully we can all be a bit safer as a result.
List Of Deaths On The Kalalau Trail (2026)
This list of fatalities at Kalalau is the most thorough list of its kind available on the internet at the time of writing (2026), although some details may still be incomplete:
- 2024 December – Lauren Cameron, age 32, of Alaska, was swept away by currents and drowned at Hanakapiai Beach. (Source: Kauai Fire Department)
- 2024 January – Matthew Wu, age 30, of New York, was hiking on the Kalalau Trail near Hanakapiai Falls when he fell 30 feet and died. (Source: Kauai Police Department)
- 2021 April – Jeremy Kanoa Hughes, age 43, of Hawaii, drowned while swimming at Hanakapiai Beach. Two bystanders jumped in the water to try to help, but they weren’t able to reach him. (Source: Kauai Now)
- 2020 June – Andrew Jardine, age 41, of Hawaii, was hiking to Hanakapiai Beach when he collapsed and died about 200 yards from Ke’e Beach. CPR was unsuccessful and a cause of death wasn’t released, but there were no signs of foul play. (Source: Kauai Police Department)
- 2020 June – Amber Philips, age 32, of Hawaii, drowned in the Kalalau Valley stream. She also had injuries consistent with a fall. (Source: Kauai Now)
- 2019 December – An unidentified man from China, age 27, drowned while swimming at Hanakapiai Beach. (Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser)
- 2019 September – An unidentified man from Hawaii, age 41, drowned while trying to swim from Kalalau Beach to Honopu Beach. (Source: Hawaii News Now)
- 2018 January – Timothy Axtelle, age 57, of Washington, drowned while swimming at Hanakapiai Beach. (Source: Kauai Police Department)
- 2017 January – Ramona van Schendel, age 39, of the Netherlands, fell and died while hiking the Kalalau Trail in an area known as Space Rock, roughly three miles from the Ke’e Beach trailhead. (Source: Kauai Police Department)
(Note: I was actually hiking the Kalalau Trail with some friends when this happened, and we noticed her abandoned backpack near the cliff, but we didn’t hear the news of what happened to her until later. My guess is that she may have been trying to peek over the cliff or take a photo when she fell, but that’s just speculation on my part. It’s normally easy to avoid the cliff at this section of the trail.)
- 2016 November – Janet Ballesteros, age 53, of Hawaii, drowned at Hanakapiai Beach. (Source: Hawaii News Now)
- 2014 August – Zachary Rose, age 29, of Hawaii, was hiking near the 7 mile mark in an area close to Crawlers Ledge and the red hill, when he fell off the edge and landed on rocks 50 feet below the trail. A hiker in his group tried to climb down the cliff and help him, but he was unresponsive. (Source: Hawaii News Now)
- 2014 August – An unidentified woman from Hawaii, age 19, was swept away and died while trying to cross the Hanakoa stream (Source: Hawaii News Now)
- 2014 April – Daniel Foster, age 31, of Texas, fell from a cliff and died while hiking deep into the Kalalau Valley. (Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser)
- 2013 August – An unidentified man from Germany, age 61, collapsed of fatigue and died near the 8 mile mark of the trail. (Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser)
- 2013 February – Norka Villacorta, age 43, of New York, was swept away and drowned while trying to cross the Hanakapiai stream during a flood. (Source: New York Post)
- 2013 January – Ilya Nikolayevich Lomov, age 42, of California, disappeared on the Kalalau Trail. He was last seen camping in the valley, and hasn’t been heard from by anyone since. (Source: SFGate)
- 2012 June – Rose Schlegel, age 30, of Hawaii, was walking after dark near her camp site in Kalalau Valley when she fell 20 feet down a cliff and landed on rocks. (Source: Kauai Now)
- 2008 March – Jesse Glen Pinegar, age 22, of Utah, disappeared while hiking the Kalalau Trail. His campsite was found near the 5 mile mark with some of his belongings, but he’s never been seen again, and his family believes he died on the trail. (Source: SFGate)
- 2004 January – Bradford T. Turek, age 28, of Ohio, disappeared on the trail. He was last seen at Kalalau Beach. (Source: SFGate)
- 1979 March – A hiker on the Kalalau Trail found two decomposed bodies lying next to each other in the Hanakoa Valley, with no identification and no cause of death. They’re still listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. (Sources: SFGate, NamUs)
- 1971 – A rappelling biologist found two separate remains off a cliff in Kalalau Valley of people who died years apart. (Source: SFGate)
- 1970-2012 – A total of 29 hikers drowned at Hanakapiai Beach from 1970 to 2012, and 7 drowned at the Kalalau/Honopu beaches in the same timeframe. Most of these deaths happened in the winter. (Source: Honolulu Civil Beat)
(Note: At one time, there was a makeshift wooden sign with tally marks at Hanakapiai Beach that claimed 80-100 people have died there, but that’s unsourced and unverifiable since anyone could add tally marks to it.)
Other Incidents At Kalalau
Hundreds of injuries and rescues have taken place on the Kalalau Trail over the years, plus there have been a few unusual stories.
It would be impossible to list every case here, because someone seems to get hurt on the trail almost every day.
However, here are some of the more notable examples:
- 2025 December – A 65 year old hiker from Utah was rescued near Hanakapiai Falls after falling 10 feet and getting a 6-inch laceration to his head. (Source: Kauai Fire Department)
- 2025 October – A 57 year old man was rescued by helicopter after a spider bite turned into an infection. The hiker had fever, weakness, and wasn’t able to hike out on his own. (Source: Kauai Fire Department)
- 2025 October – A 58 year old hiker with a head injury was rescued near the 1.5 mile mark of the trail. (Source: Kauai Fire Department)
- 2025 September – A 72 year old Swiss hiker with a head injury was airlifted from the trail near Hanakapiai Beach. (Source: Kauai Magazine)
- 2025 April – Approximately 50 hikers had to shelter in place overnight on the far side of Hanakapi’ai stream after heavy rain made it impassable. The trail was also closed for the weekend. (Source: Kauai Fire Department)
- 2024 August / September – At least 50 hikers got sick with vomiting and diarrhea after a norovirus outbreak along the Kalalau Trail, and it was closed for a one week disinfection. (Sources: Ars Technica, Department of Health)
