Having said that, just before getting to "crawler's ledge" is a section of switchbacks that can be very treacherous if it has been raining heavily and the trail is muddy. It may not look scary but you definitely don't want to slip as you can get seriously injured or die.
Perhaps a worse spot which is both scary and dangerous is about a mile past "crawler's ledge" where there can be a very narrow passage with loose dirt where if you slip, you would surely die. Sometimes it is worse than others since the state rarely maintains
that part of the trail. There was a guy named, Bill, retired military who lived out at 8 mile camp for a couple years, volunteering his time to maintain the trail free of charge. He is likely responsible for saving many lives as he would get his shovel and clear the path that was covered with loose dirt that otherwise would be very difficult to cross. So what happened to Bill? The state arrested him twice for being out there without a permit and he left a couple years ago. Since he left, that section has been largely not maintained. Let no good deed go unpunished.
Finally let me say that I have hiked the 11 mile stretch literally hundreds of times over the past 35 years and have seen children as young as 5 hike the entire trail with their family. In 1996 I saw a woman, 8 months pregnant hike the trail who gave birth in Kalalau. In addition to her newborn son, she had three girls (Faith 3, Joy 8 and Hope 12). Amazingly the 3 year old Faith hiked the whole trail on her own two feet except for stream crossings.
