Kaipapa'u Gulch Hike

Last Saturday, we went on a hike with Tonie and Nora in Hau'ula, HI. During Thanksgiving weekend, we got in trouble for going to Sacred Falls in Hau'ula, so we've been forced to find more legally accessible hikes. (In case you were wondering, we had to pay a $50 fine, and it got lowered to an "unknown citation" when we showed up to court.) This is why we went to the Waimanu Falls over Christmas and then Mikey found this other one near Sacred Falls that is totally open.

http://punynari.wordpress.com/

Here's the blog, Mikey found that showed us where to hike.

This is was the waterfall at the end of the gulch. It was superb. I have never seen a waterfall this majestic.

     The hike was a lot of fun, it is 7 miles round trip and a 900 elevation gain, but it is not steep except the very beginning on a paved road. It was really fun except it took us so much longer than we planned. We started hiking around 9am and assumed we'd be done around 3 or 4pm, but we ended up setting a pretty slow pace and not finishing until 6:30pm, I would recommend going very quickly at the beginning and taking it easy on the way back. Once you're on the trail you start crossing back through the river about 40 something times. It's not hard, and you should just commit to getting wet to making the pace quicker. The first twenty or so we tried to stay as dry as possible instead of getting our feet wet, next time I'm just trampling through that water. 

    The trail also curves back, so every turn you expect to come upon the falls, and it was a little discouraging to get to the falls, but once we arrived, it was all worth it! This waterfall is amazing! We went swimming as soon as we got there before we got too cold and we were able to swim under the falls. We even saw a frog hiding in the rocks under the waterfall. This was a truly memorable experience. This is the only legit waterfall I've swam underneath, and I couldn't imagine a better one. The water was freezing, don't get me wrong, but it was really refreshing once you numbed up to it. Riley was exhausted by the end of it, but she does it about three times because she is constantly running back and forth between us. Everyone should do this hike at least once while you are in Hawaii if you are capable, it was easy and gorgeous (a little long), but a very manageable hike! 

    Here's a video I made of our hike. I tried for three days uploading it only on my computer, but finally had to give up and use youtube. The three songs are my favorite right now, but the audio from the videos got a little messed up.

Love always,

Ashtyn