Today we went to O’heo Gulch. This is the location of the Seven Sacred Pools. Our ultimate goal was to hike to the Waimoku Falls at the end of a 2 mile (or so) trail.
Before we can get there though we have to drive the long and winding road, known as the Hana Highway. For those that are unfamiliar with this road, it’s an experience not to be missed. The road is only about 60 miles or so long but takes about 3 hours to reach your destination. The road has over 600 curves and about 60 bridges, some of which are one lane. We made a quick stop at the local Safeway and picked up food and water for the trip.
The road didn’t seem like we remembered it. This could be because of the hurricanes, road construction over 20 years, or just plain bad memories. The views are gorgeous as we traveled through this part of the island. Having a convertible allows you to see a lot more than if you are stuck inside a car with just a side window to look out of. If you only get a convertible because of this drive, do it.
We stopped at a rest stop and stretched our legs. Across the highway was a little picnic area that had a nice waterfall. It appears that it had rained pretty recently as the area was quite muddy. We wandered around for a few minutes and then headed back to the car to continue our journey down the highway.
We reached the town of Hana, it has sure grown. They still don’t have a street light, but there are many more homes and buildings now, even a police and fire station. We got a little lost as I had not consulted the GPS for which direction to turn out of Hana to continue to the pools. Once I found how the GPS spelled the national park, it was about another 10 miles outside of town.
We reached the national park and paid our $10 to park. We paid a quick stop to the visitor station to get our national park stamp and check on the trails. Everything was open, but because the water level was so high, they discouraged people from swimming in the lower pools. We loaded up our backpack with our lunch supplies and water and headed to the trail head. The trek is about 2 miles according to the ranger (but I swear it’s more than that).
As you can see from the sign, the trail goes along the river and there are several points at which there are overlooks to take pictures. The ranger says the trip is 2 hours round trip. It’s a lie, it was a lie 20 years ago and it’s a lie now 😉 Plan to take about 2 hours just to get to the falls. Do not be discouraged by your progress if it takes you longer. The end result is worth all the pain and struggle to get there.
We headed along the trail and passed the first overlook about half a mile in. Most people just stop here as they think this is the main falls. Don’t be fooled by this, and learn to read a map as a half mile is not 2 miles 😉 There is a little metal swing gate that many people think is locked or closed. It is not, push it open and continue through.
After climbing up a lot of rock steps we reached an incredible banyan tree. This is one of the largest trees I have ever seen. After a little while we came across two bridges over the gorge. They offered some nice views of the river and falls, but this is still not the prize at the end of the trail.
This is a great place to stop and drink water and enjoy the view. There are a few good sets of stairs to climb up after the bridges, but once you are up them, it’s on to the bamboo forest. The forest is amazing. It starts out pretty open and airy, and then gets pretty closed and dark. It reminded me of the forbidden forest in Harry Potter.
The trail is well maintained through the forest and in many places there are wood walkways that are like mini boardwalks. Even though there is a walkway, it does get slippery from the rain and mud, so be careful to watch where you are walking.
Once we exited the bamboo forest, we walked along the trail until we were in site of the final falls. We still had to cross the river twice at the end. It’s interesting because the ranger basically told us not to cross the river, but it’s not possible to even get to the falls without crossing here.
Finally, we reached our destination. It is just as incredible as we remembered it. I am sure that my pictures can not do it justice. Realize this was shot with a 18mm wide angle, so you can get an idea how big this area is. The water fall is over 400 feet high.
We sat on the rocks and broke out our lunch. The entire area is nice and cool, it is amazing to sit in front of this natural wonder and realize how small we are. There are other waterfalls in the world that are bigger and stronger, but something about this one holds you in awe.
While we ate, we had a visit from our token squirrel/ground rodent (I think it was actually a mongoose). We have not been on a vacation yet where some sort of squirrel has not come to visit us. After we finished eating, we took some photos. I would post them here, but they are on Angie’s camera and I do not have a way to read her memory stick as we didn’t bring her cable.
We met one guy who had told his wife that he would be back in an hour (hah!) There is no phone service here, so I am sure she was waiting for him anxiously. We took his picture so that his wife knew he made it.
We packed up our lunch and trash and started our hike back down. There are definitely less steps going upwards on the way back. The hike took us about 2 hours and 45 minutes with a 30 minute stop for lunch. On the way back down we passed many people with young babies on their way up. I am sure they would only get to the first half mile as the rest of the trail is pretty rough to hike with a baby slung over the shoulder. One group had three of them, babies that is!
We decided to take the back road home. Many of the guide brochures have warnings all over the place about voiding your rental car insurance, but nowhere in the contracts is this talked about. I think they do this to scare people away from it because the road is a pretty rough road, and about 5 miles of it was dirt. The road wasn’t as bad as I expected, but if you are not used to 1 lane roads and dirt road driving, this road is not for you. We did get back in half the time though and saw the back side of the crater. This is where all the lava flows from 200+ years ago were. It’s generally used for cattle now and there is almost no green there.
We stopped at panda express for dinner (take-out) because we knew we would be too tired to go forage for food. We returned to the hotel and ate our dinner. Afterwards we went down to the spa to soak. My feet really needed it. Although I had decent shoes on, my feet could still feel every rock I stepped on. I wish I would have brought my hiking boots.
While in the spa, we met lots of people from California. Some people were from from Tustin, a group from the bay area and another from Coronado. The folks from Tustin went to Hana but didn’t go past the metal gate because they thought it was closed. I felt bad for them to have come all this way and missed the falls. After a good soak in the spa, we returned to the room for some much needed rest.
