My First Time Seeing Kulanahane Falls Flow

-

Kulana'ahane Falls - May 26. 2014


Out of all the times I've been in Moanalua Valley, I've never seen Kulana'ahane falls flow. Today would be the most opportunistic day as rain was in the forecast. The waterfall only spills after a good downpour. Its not from a stream or anything, just a waterfall chute. It goes off when there is rain. 

Today Erik was taking his friends on a hike. Joining the hike was Marcus and his girlfriend Loreece. We had a 9am start time. The hike on the road was uneventful like most of the time. It felt like a long time today because of my upper respiratory infection which is taking the wind out of me. At about the 2 mile mark, it started to downpour, a good sign since we wanted to see the waterfall flowing. It continued to pour as we meandered throughout the valley. Marcus and Loreece didn't even bring their jackets, but they go to college in Oregon so they can handle. I was freezing with my jacket on. The stream started to pick up, but we weren't in any danger. Moanalua Valley stream doesn't flow as hard as the other Oahu streams. 

In about 2.5 hours we got to the spur ridge. Erik thought we should summit, so that is what we did. Must have been a cardio crew as we got to the top in under 15 minutes. The view like I said in my previous post, is world class. I just was here a few weeks ago for Kenji final Ko'olau Summit hike.  After enjoying the view we went down the spur ridge and followed the stream to the waterfall. It was hard to rock hop as I only have 1 spike, lost my other one at Kawailoa. The falls was flowing today. It looked pretty good, its a very tall waterfall, but only spills a few thin strips. The view from the pool looking towards the valley is money though, a sight to behold.

flowing today

plane wreckage


view from waterfall into Moanalua Valley

After the waterfall, we blitzed it back and got back to the trailhead in less than 3 hours. We washed up and went to The Alley in Aiea Bowling Alley. I ordered the same thing as Erik, he ordered the fried pork chops. It was very tasty, get it with the gravy for more clogging. 

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