Hamama & Waihe'e Falls
Hamama falls & Waihe’e falls – March 3, 2012
---Exploring Hamama falls (upper and lower), unknown waterfall (upper and lower), Waihe'e falls (upper and lower)---
After the disappointment from the Hidden Valley hike, we drove to Waihe’e street to the Hamama falls trailhead where Waihe'e valley was firing on all cylinders. There were at least 5 1000+ waterfall chutes coming down in this area. This was my third time on the Hamama falls trail and Marvin's second. Hamama falls is no secret anymore, its popularity has expanded because of the articles posted on the internet. Tourist and locals who don't even hike, know about this falls. Since I found the trail a few years ago when it was still sort of a secret, I kept it in the secret trails category, however it should be in the the touristy category.
Neither Steve nor Ikaika have done Hamama & Waihe’e falls. They were in for a treat! As we parked on Waihe’e street, we seen a load of cars near the trailhead. This peaked our interest? Near the trailhead, there was this guy with all this beer. Little did we know that the Aloha Hash House Harriers were going to do a run. I didn’t know anything about the Aloha Hash House Harriers until Ikaika gave us some background info. The Aloha Hash House Harriers are a group of primarily Kailua residents who run religiously. After their run, they drink a load of beer. On their website it says, “We are a drinking club with running problems”. Lol, that cracks me up! As we passed a number of them going towards Hamama falls, the runners looked like they were in good shape. They were also cool people, and said hi to us.
The hike up to Hamama falls took 40 minutes. Before hitting Hamama falls, we looked left and saw a waterfall chute which doesn’t usually flow. However, it was flowing today. At Hamama falls, Ikaika took a nice cold shower. We took pictures and eye balled the trail to the right of the falls. It looked steep, but was doable. Before exploring the side trail, Ikaika and I climbed about 10 feet up Hamama falls to pose for a picture. Steve then took the trail going up the mountain. Ikaika and I, not wanting to go down, crossed the waterfall towards the trail going up the mountain to meet Steve, leaving our bags behind. Marvin started the trail and was in back of us. We started to scramble up the trail to a resting spot. There was a rope from the resting spot that led up the mountain. We all took our turn scrambling to the top of the falls. It was great! I never thought I could get up here. Steve and Marvin explored further, as Ikaika and I went down the trail, feeling paranoid that someone was going to steal our bags.
At the bottom, members of the Aloha House Harriers were drinking come Coors Light. Marvin and Steve came down and together we proceeded to the waterfall that doesn’t usually flow. The waterfall cascades, so Steve explored by climbing up the mountain and found a trail to the base of the main part of the falls. The flow was pure. After taking pictures, we stayed focus and continued with our plan to explore Waihe’e falls. On our way down from the falls that doesn’t usually flow, a loud noise resin in the valley, I saw a landslide, albeit a small one. Falling rocks and dirt fell down the mountain for only about 5 feet. Steve said he heard something, I told him I seen the landslide, holy shit.
Once on the Hamama trail again, we made a left to the Banyan tree to start Waihe’e falls. My goal for Waihe’e falls this time was to get to Upper Waihe’e falls. After 15 minutes of hiking, we hit Lower Waihe’e falls. It was raging. After some pictures, Steve led us up a side trail to the based of the upper falls. We all took a rest at the bottom of the upper falls. Steve decided to take a side trail to the top of the upper falls. We chose not to go up with Steve and waited for him. After 10 minutes, Steve came down, said that going up was sketchy and nuts.
Going back, the Aloha Hash House Harriers race was in full effect as runners were going up and down the Hamama trail. At this moment of the day, we were all tired already. I didn’t have too much left in the tank. I think only Marvin had enough left. We washed up near the stream, exited the trail and walked to Ikaika’s car. He drove us to McDonalds, were we all ate. McDonald’s is so greasy and bad food, but we just hiked 10 miles so what the heck.
Comments
Post a Comment