Another week of rain kept me off the mountains again. That is why I found myself in the Pali lookout with Chris, Jose and Thessa to go waterfall hunting. Waipuilani Falls to be exact. Thanks to Ryan for the idea, who unfortunately had to go to work instead of playing in the forest.

Feed me?

One of the stray cats looking for a handout in the parking lot. You would think with all the chickens strutting around. . .?

Waipuilani Falls

Walking on the Pali Highway, we caught a brief glimpse of the falls.

Spartan flashbacks

We forgot our keys, so we had to jump the fence.

Nuuanu forest

Walking on the jeep road with no jeep.

Bamboo forest

We soon left the jeep road behind us as we headed deeper into the forest.

Tie a pink ribbon

The trail was pretty much defined, reinforced with pink and orange ribbons.

Follow the stream

We soon hit the stream and followed it to the source.

Trickling

Group photo left to right: Chris, myself, Thessa and Jose. The falls on the left are usually dry, but we had some flow due to the heavy rains from yesterday. We were expecting thunderstorm weather which would have fueled the waterfalls. Where is Guy Hagi when you need him?

Tunnel

We climbed between the waterfalls to check out the grotto looking tunnel. The only thing standing between us and the tunnel was a spider web. Guess who prevailed?

Rat!

Heading into the tunnel, I saw a small rodent aka rat, drop from the tunnel ceiling and scurry into the pipe. At least he didn’t land on my head.

End of the tunnel

The tunnel ran for about 50 feet before it ended. Shucks, I thought we were going to pop out somewhere in Manoa.

Somebody has been here

Walking towards the light.

Orchids

On the way back, sometimes you have to stop and smell the orchids.

Whose wall?

Remnants of a time long ago.

Spider #1

Checking out the numerous spiders that make their home on the edge of the Pali Highway.

Spider #2

Too bad we don’t have man-made spider webs to catch all the rubbish that people seem to throw from their cars. That’s right, we do. It’s called a garbage can. Chris started picking up the rubbish as we made our way back to the Pali Lookout. The rest of us started to pitch in, but we barely made a dent.

Spider #3

Spider snacking on his lunch.

Hitchhikers

Nobody picked us up. Guess we weren’t showing enough skin.

Kalihi Saddle

Walking down the Old Pali Road, looking at Kalihi Saddle, one of the hardest hikes I’ve done to date. Still have to complete the Bowman side. Just waiting for the weather to dry out.

Pali falls

I heard there is a plane wreckage above these falls. Have to check it out one day.

From the old to the new

Looking at the falls cascading down from the Old Pali Road to the current Pali Highway.

GPS Tracks

Despite the no-show of thunderstorm activity that would have greatly enhanced our waterfall viewing pleasure, it was a short and fun four mile hike.

Taking a break from ridge hiking, I joined Nate, J, Tom and Glenn for some waterfall hiking in Nuuanu today.

I know that marker

We parked at the Pali Hunter’s Check-In Station and crossed the Pali Highway to enter an un-locked gate that took us into the lush forest. As we started on the trail, I recognized dirt ninja aka Chris’s tag tied on a tree, we eventually caught up with him before the irrigation tunnel.

Irrigation Tunnel

Soon we found ourselves at the entrance to the irrigation tunnel. Time to break out the head lamps, if you’re claustrophobic and don’t like stooping a lot, this tunnel is not for you. I heard there is a contour trail that goes around and above the tunnel.

Headlamps lead the way

Walking through the tunnel, we could feel the moisture above our heads and muddy puddles underneath our feet. This was a good sign. If the tunnel is bone dry, might as well turn around.

In Mo’ole Valley

After about 5 minutes, we emerged out of the tunnel and into Mo’ole Valley or Hillebrand Glen.

Waterfall #1

The first waterfall.

Tom the Swinger

Tom swinging on some tree roots.

Waterfall #2

The second waterfall is the largest and most impressive of the waterfalls to be found in Mo’ole Valley.

Waterfall #3

We had to backtrack a bit from the second waterfall and climbed down a trail to see the third waterfall.

Waterfall #4

The fourth waterfall had a lot of tree branches obscuring the view. A short while later, we came upon the fifth waterfall which was a footnote compared to the others.

Waterfall #6

The sixth waterfall.

A little climbing

We contoured and climbed to the right to continue to the next waterfall.

Going upstream

Walking upstream on sometimes slippery rocks. If you’re not sure-footed, it would be good to invest in a pair of tabi’s or reef walkers that provide a solid grip on wet rocks.

Waterfall #7

The seventh waterfall. I heard that there was an eight waterfall further ahead, but it was mentioned that it was nothing to look at. If one is feeling more adventurous, you can actually climb all the way to Lanihuli. Not today.

Back into the tunnel

Going back into the tunnel and coming out on the other side, we met Chris again who had stopped at the second waterfall before turning back.

GPS tracks of Mo’ole Falls

The entire hike was a little over 3 miles that was done in 3 hours.

Off the Pali Drive

We were not done yet! Still had another waterfall to explore – Waipuhia Falls. Armed with GPS tracks and information, since none of us had ever done this hike, we drove up to the Pali Lookout and parked on the road going to town.

Back in the forest

We followed the trail deep into the forest.

Today is Sunday

A leftover from this past Easter? I don’t know if somebody was trying to drag this huge cross to the falls, gave up and left it here?

Under trees, over trees

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Waipuhia Falls

We arrived at the barely moist Waipuhia Falls or Upside Down Falls. It would have been something to see, if the falls were flowing and the wind was catching it and tossing it back upwards. Not today.

Going up…

We climbed up the hill to our right to check out more of the scenery.

…Going down

It’s always neat to see the contrast in terrain, the hill we had just gone up was carpeted with grass and low lying plants. The other side of the hill going down was mostly barren of grass but heavily forested with trees.

Upside down falls … not today

Being in the company of extreme hikers, the talk naturally turned into ” Is climbing up these waterfalls doable?”

What’s for dinner tonight?

Coming back, Tom under the expert advice of Nate, picked some wild mushrooms from the forest for his stir-fry dinner later tonight.

GPS tracks of Waipuhia Falls

The entire hike was under a mile and took us a little over an hour to complete. We had Thai for lunch and was going to cap the day with a short hike up the Pali Notches. Mother Nature decided otherwise as rain started falling on us as we parked at the Pali Lookout. It was still a good day.