The Mountain Guide's Red Rope

In 2018, a group of inexperienced hikers attempted the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali Coast of Kauai — eleven miles of narrow cliff paths above crashing Pacific waves. Two miles in, fog rolled thick as cotton. The trail disappeared. One hiker, Marcus Chen, later described the terror of standing on a ledge no wider than a kitchen counter, unable to see three feet ahead.…