Your butt will ache, you knees will be knock, your vision may blur...but you'll be transported to one of the most spiritual -- and haunted -- places in the islands. It's a classic excursion, over covered and much extolled. Still, its a beaut. The trail to the Kalaupapa Peninsula plunges 1,700 feet over 2.9 miles and 26 switchbacks. In the 19th century this rugged trail was often the only...

lifeline to the peninsula, a national park that formerly served as a quarantine colony for sufferers of Hansen's Disease (commonly known as leprosy). Mule trains coming down the steep, forested trail that follows an ancient Hawaiian footpath brought supplies, mail, food and other necessities and the boats could not always land in rough weather so often the mules were it. Today these relatively docile mules still carry mail (on my trip, someone pulled up in a car at the last minute to drop off letters to go down the hill). But the mule's main cargo is visitors who take the treacherous trail for the stunning views of the heaving ocean and the vertiginous coast cliffs. The 8-hour excursion includes a guided tour of the Peninsula run by Kalaupapa residents who tell stories of life in the colony and of the colony's patron saint, the Belgian cleric Father Damien. He spent much of life ministering there before himself succumbing to the illness. Some of the darker details of this sorry page in Hawaii history are heartbreaking. Young native Hawaiians diagnosed with the disease were ripped from their families in other parts of Hawaii, transported in wooden cages to this isolated peninsula and then tossed out onto the beach to find their way in a new and extraordinarily lonely world. There are only a handful of residents left, all getting up in the years. They have chosen to remain in Kalaupapa despite the emergence in the 1940s of medication that cures Hansen's disease and their subsequent recoveries from the illness. They are living history, regardless. Pack long pants, a hat and some extra padding on your bottom. Space is very limited so book two weeks in advance. Only one company runs trips down and you usually get a very colorful tour guide / local who's both friendly and sarcastic. $165 per person, (800) 567-7550

—Alex, 07/24/06