Rob invited Ryan L, Ryan M and myself to learn the ropes. Down a waterfall. We met deep in Palolo Valley. Early hikers get the parking.

Trailhead

Down the rabbit hole.

Familiar faces

We ran into Khym and Marvin on the trail.

Wai’oma’o Stream

Rob and Ryan crossing Wai’oma’o stream. Ryan donned his surfing helmet in case a good swell came crashing down from the marsh above us.

Trail

We passed a couple hikers enjoying the idyllic stream in the lush forest.

Trail

Following the water pipe to gain elevation.

Trail

The last of a handful of stream crossings.

Trail

Safe to take the helmet off now.

Ka’au Crater Falls #1

Looking down at the 60′ waterfall.

Rapelling

Rob tossing down the rope. Anchor. Biner block. Belay loop. ATS device. Locking biner. On rappel?

Rapelling

Rob went down first.

Rapelling

My turn. Hey, where is my helmet? Photos by Khym Ansagay.

Rapelling

Walking down next to a waterfall. Cool and refreshing at the same time.

Rapelling

Ryan M’s turn. Photos by Ryan Leano.

Ice cold pool

At least Ryan had a wetsuit on. The rest of us had to shiver and chatter our teeth.

Rapelling

Ryan L’s turn.

All pau

It was so much fun, thanks again to Rob for showing us the ropes. Talk of doing the second waterfall was dashed by the time and cold. Next stop – Climb Aloha. One day.

Met up with Alex, Gary and Gen deep in Palolo Valley to loop a hidden crater nestled against the Ko’olau Range. Early hikers gets the limited parking spaces.

Trailhead

Going down the rabbit hole. Last time we took the wrong road and ran into two large dogs. Protective dogs. They are still around.

Going down

Making our way down the flagged trail.

Ginger Shampoo

Abundant awapuhi growing on the stream banks. Forget Paul Mitchell. Straight from the source.

Wai’oma’o stream

Morning yoga.

Water follows the arrow

We soon left the stream and followed the water pipe as it snaked through the lush forest.

Human picker

Catch! Alex tossing out mountain apples like they were free or something.

Landslide

The black pipe’s continuity was interrupted by white PVC piping, a testament to the power of Mother Nature.

Which one carries the water?

Crossing the new pipe to get over the old pipe.

Waterfall #1

We dropped down into the first waterfall.

Seeking the magic mushroom

Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head.

Going up

We climbed out of the waterfall and made our way up the rocky trail to the left.

Looking down

Water plunging down the 40′ fall.

Waterfall #2

Group photo left to right: Alex, myself, Gen and Gary.

Contour

We climbed the trail to the right and walked on tree branches to make our way up the cliff.

Memorial rock

Alex making his way around the bronze plaque dedicated to Heidi Marie Page.

Close to the edge

Water gushing over the 50′ fall and trickling down the valley stream.

Follow the stream

We followed the stream that lead us to…

Waterfall #3

…the longest and gradual of the waterfalls.

Kalo patch

Got poi?

Synchronized hiking

Gary and Gen crossing the waterfall.

Slippery when wet

Need rope? Maybe not.

End of the waterfalls

We soon crested the cascading falls and took the trail to the right to gain the ridge.

Ridgeline

Straight shot to the Ko’olaus.

Steep climb

The trail became steeper, muddier and sparsely vegetated as we neared the top.

Ko’olau Range

Looking towards Mount Olympus and points beyond.

Ka’au crater

The marsh filled crater that constantly feeds the waterfalls. One day I would like to paddle a small boat in there.

Cloudy Olomana

Checked out a couple windward ridges for future hikes.

2,395′ summit of Palikea

Afternoon siesta and yoga at the top.

KSRT

Traversing the Ko’olau Summit Ridge Trail.

Another view

Peeking into the crater and the sprawling city of Honolulu beyond.

On the edge

Soaking in the cloudy views.

Zip line

If you build it, they will come. In droves.

Ridge hike

Hiking in the clouds towards the second power lines. Always a surreal experience.

Going down

Gary and Gen making their way down the ridgeline.

Connecting powerline

The trail soon leveled out. Easy peasy.

Barefoot hiking

Alex shed his shoes due to festering blisters as we took the ridge down that bypassed the waterfalls.

Rope vs branch

Whatever it takes to make your way down.

Pipe going down

The ridge dropped us back down into the stream trail.

Follow the arrow

Signs and ribbons sprinkled the trail like bread crumbs.

All pau

We came out of the canopy filtered trail and walked back to our cars.

GPS Tracks

The waterfalls, crater and ridge hike covered 5.33 miles. Post hike meal at Big City Diners. Side of Pad Thai.

The signs saying “kapu”, “keep out”, “private road”, and “no entry” all seemed to deter hikers from entering Ka’au Crater. What really gave us pause, after driving into Palolo Valley and parking at the end of Waiomao Road, was the two large barking dogs that sat in the middle of the road. After debating if we should hike another trail, my friend picked up a large stick and grabbed my can of bug spray, in case the dogs turned out to be more bite than bark. We took the left road which leads to the trailhead and the dogs left us alone.

First waterfall

We edged our way around to the left of the watershed fence, walked down a short paved road which eventually turned into the trail that took us to Waiomao stream and deep into the lush green Palolo valley. There is also a metal water pipe that runs along most of the trail and leads you straight to the first waterfall. We climbed down to the pool of the first waterfall from the trail and foolishly tried to blaze on our own trail to the top on the right of the waterfall, we did not succeed. Needless to say, the trail continues up the left side of the waterfall, after you climb back up from the pool and get away from all the mosquitoes.

Top of the first waterfall

We crossed the top of the first waterfall and peered over the edge to get a look, not too close, as we didn’t want to be doing a swan dive 40 feet down.

Second waterfall

The second waterfall looked just as nice as the first one, and for some reason had less mosquitoes. We followed the trail to the right to get to the top of the waterfall, there is a narrow ledge we had to walk across but we had tree roots and ropes to help us out.

Top of second waterfall

At the top of the second waterfall is a good sized boulder that has a memorial plaque for Heidi Marie Page, whose life seemed tragically cut short.

Third waterfall

We hit the third and final waterfall, which stretched the longest as the water cascaded from the crater down the side of the mountain. We started from the left hand side and eventually crossed over to the right hand side with the assistance of ropes and made our way up to the crater rim.

Lanipo Trail

We saw the still visible scars from the small plane crash off Lanipo Trail that happened back in January of 2010.

Ka'au Crater

When we reached the crater rim, we had our first good look inside the crater. Ka’au crater is a bowl shaped crater that collects water in a marshy environment that in turn feeds the three waterfalls. It looked surreal and out of place in a volcanic crater.

Windward view

We made it to the summit of the ridge and was treated to an amazing view of the Windward side complete with rolling clouds. After taking a break, we went back down the rim. There is another trail at the top of the third waterfall that took us down into the valley, so we didn’t have to climb back down the waterfalls. The entire hike took us about six hours and when we got back to the trailhead, the two dogs were still there and one of them actually chased us for a short distance. We took the hint and piled into our cars and went home for the day.