Maunawili Falls Hike

-

 Maunawili Falls Trail – March 25, 2011 

The Maunawili Falls Trail is located on the windward side of the island.  This trail is not to be confused with the Maunawili Trail. There is a 17 mile difference and the misunderstanding can lead to disappointment. The Maunawili Falls trail is a simple 1 ½ mile one way hike with some elevation gain. The trail is muddy as hell. There are some stream crossings, so expect to get wet. On this day, I went with my kids Malia and Jared. There is no parking directly at the trailhead, so you have to park on a side street about 1/8  of a mile from the trailhead.  

trailhead

I lead a good pace and the kids were game. Since the trail is used so frequently, you’d be an idiot to get lost.  However, there are sub trails leading to nowhere. With that being said, it wouldn’t be a surprise to encounter someone every 5 minutes, so you can ask for directions. There is one stream crossing  about ½ hour into the hike which might get you wet. Towards the end of the hike, there is some climbing of stairs and the elevation gain is gradual. The last part of the hike is a scramble through the stream, which wasn’t too difficult for the kids. We got to the falls in 1 hour & 15 minutes and enjoyed a snack with about 12 other people. Ten minutes later another 12 people arrived to enjoy the waterfall. When we started back we seen another 20-25 people coming up. Talk about no privacy. The walk back was quick, about 45 minutes.  Next time, I want to climb the waterfall and jump off. The waterfall is bigger than what the picture portrays, maybe because of the picture angle. 



Maunawili Falls


After completion of the  hike, we drove down the road for about 10 minutes and ate at Zia’s café. The prices are a little expensive for a lunch, but the Italian food was delicious. I had some Italian red wine which makes you happy.


Zia's Caffe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring a hike in Mililani

-
Image
Waikakalaua Stream – November 23, 2012 We didn’t find the tunnels today, but that’s okay. A few months back, I scouted possible access points to get down towards Waikakalaua Stream. Today, along with Erik, we would find what we were looking for. Erik has lived in Wahiawa his whole life and I have lived in Mililani most of my life. This hike, albeit an exploration hike would make a lot of sense. Waikakalaua stream separates Wahiawa from Mililani. The hike is described in Stuart Ball’s original book, though I don’t have that book, it wouldn’t matter today as we were going to explore a different route.        Our goal was to find the pool and tunnels. We would allot ourselves 2 hours in and 2 hours out, for a total of 4 hours. Erik and I met at the Park & Ride, and immediately we drove up the road. We took a left on the road across Mililani Ike and followed it till its end. After getting out of our vehicles, we immediately tried to find a trail going ...
Read more

Kipapa Trail to Schofield-Waikane

-
Image
  Kipapa to Schofield-Waikane – June 14,15 2013 First of all, the initial plan was to get to Papali-Uka, but that didn’t happen. It is apparent that this route was for the grinders. Knowing what we know now, starting from Manana and getting to Papali would have been a three day thing or a two full day excursion. What we experienced was two 10+ hour hiking days and it was a hard 10+ hours for both days.  The plan today was to start on Manana drop into the valley towards Iliahi ridge, then drop into the valley towards Waiawa, and drop into the valley again towards Kipapa. From Kipapa, we would make the long hike up to the Ko’olau Summit, then to Waiahole Uka, crossover to Waikane, and then all the way to the Poamoho Cabin where we would set up camp. In the morning, we would make the long traverse to Papali Uka. The plan seemed ambitious, it was. But with ambition comes character building and gained experience which makes us into better hikers. To be a good hiker, you have to pus...
Read more

Getting to the Waimalu Meadow

-
Image
Waimano-Meadow - February 4, 2017 This hike was going to be a grinder no matter what way you cut it up. The overall goal was to hike Waimano-Aiea with backup plan #1 Waimano-Meadow back to Waimano or backup plan #2 Waimano-Waimalu Middle. After doing Waimalu Ditch last week, I had a feeling that the Middle Ridge trail would be in bad condition to hike. This led me to the assumption that going down Waimalu Middle would be a bad idea and we would only  go down as a last resort.  I predicted a 12-13 hour hike. Sarah wanted to invite her boyfriend Uhi and friend from Japan Jena. I said ok, but they probably wouldn't be her friend after the hike. Going on the hike today was the overnight crew; Darren, Erik, Aprille, Bernice, and Sarah. Also Darren's girlfriend Jana would be coming.  I met Erik & Aprille in front of the Aiea gate at about 4:30am to stage a car. From there, I drove us to the Waimano trailhead. A lot of hunting trucks were in the area. We started the hike a l...
Read more