Spirit of Aloha | Features | November/December 2007

11 Ride a Mule to Kalaupapa

PHOTO: VAL KIM / PHOTO RESOURCE HAWAI‘I

Once upon a time mention of Kalaupapa, a wildly spectacular and narrow peninsula on the north shore of Moloka‘i, was cause for whisper. If you went there, you were sent and you probably would never return. For more than 100 years—until as late as 1969—thousands of men, women and children diagnosed with Hansen’s disease (then known as leprosy) were delivered by ship and isolated. When medicines finally controlled and even cured the disease, residents were free to leave, although a handful stayed on in the settlement, which is now a national park.

The best way to reach Kalaupapa is by sure-footed mule, supplied by local boys Buzzy Sproat and Bruddah Roy Horner of Moloka‘i Mule Ride Inc. Their animals negotiate the 26 steep switchbacks, leaving you free to gape at the sweeping coastline and sense the forces drawing you down the trail and into the past. The cliff-edged journey, astounding natural beauty of Kalaupapa and stories of sacrifice and survival you’ll hear in the settlement are experiences you’ll long remember.

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