Mauanwili Falls Hike

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Maunawili Falls & The HTMC Clubhouse – April 28 & 29, 2012

Today I joined the Pearl City Hiker’s Club as they planned to hike in the day and sleep overnight at the Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Clubhouse (HTMC). I also brought Malia and Jared as this event would be a wonderful experience for them.

We started the day at 9:00 am, dropped our stuff off at the HTMC clubhouse and went towards the Maunawili Falls trailhead. Parking was at a minimum as it overflowed with local and tourist cars. After a few minutes of trying to find parking we all walked towards the trailhead. There were 12 of us; we walked at an average pace. Jared and Malia were doing well and in a little over an hour we hit the falls. There were, as always, loads of people. I made a statement that Maunawili Falls has taken over Sacred Falls as one of the most popular waterfall trails on the island, maybe even more so than Manoa Falls. One reason is because Manoa Falls charges a fee for parking.


at falls

After 30 minutes we went back towards the trailhead. The kids led a good pace and we got to the car in no time. After lunch, we made our way to the clubhouse and I had a chance to observe its beauty. There is an upstairs and downstairs. There are 3 bathrooms on the bottom level and both floors have a kitchen, although the upstairs has a full working kitchen. There is a beach volleyball court set up to the left of the clubhouse and a lanai that can fit a party of 20, plus a hammock set up in between two palm trees. Finally, there are all these fruit trees, like banana, coconut, and mango in the backyard. Oh, and to make things even better, it takes only 1 minute to walk to the beach. The beach rivals Bellows beach, actually, Bellows is further up the coastline.


beautiful Waimanalo beach

tried to catch the sunrise, but clouds obstructed our view

The night spent there was great. The students of the Pearl City Hiker’s Club appeared accommodating to my kids. We BBQ’d a dinner and the kids ran around for hours. I checked out a HTMC archive binder and fingered through it. You can get most of the articles online, if you searched for it. There are pictures, which many of the online sources don’t provide.

If you’re a member of the HTMC, you have to go here at least once. No doubt, it’s worth the price of admission. The date rate cost is free for members, $3 for non-members. The night rate cost is $6 for member and $20 for non member. Children under 17 years come at a cheaper rate.

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