Kalaupapa Pali Trail Closed

A heavy week of rain created a mudslide and damaged a footbridge on the Kalaupapa trail, forcing the National Park Service (NPS) to close the trail. It is the only land route to the Hansen’s disease settlement, which is also accessable by boat and air.

NSP Superintendent Steve Prokop said the repairs will take “several weeks” and cost around $150,000. The bridge is switchback bridge No. 3, a few hundred yards from the beginning of the trail.

The Kalaupapa settlement is the former home to Saint Damien, and now houses 14 patients. The settlement is administrated by NPS and the state Department of Health.