Waipoo Fall's

The Waipoo Fall’s hike was the first one in a series of three planned hikes while I was on The Garden Island. This waterfall is generally seasonal, thought during the dry season, there is normally some water, however not the volume as during the rainy season. I would think during the height of the rainy season, it would be not safe to venture beyond a certain part of the trail.

Waipoo Falls has significant personal history with me. While in scouting, we hiked to this waterfall a few times during which it felt like it was miles and miles through the deep Hawaiian jungle, threading ourselves through endless miles of thick ginger and thorny berry bushes. In reality, it was most likely 50 yards or so.

In terms of preparation, there was a lot of time spent doing Internet research including mapping, blogs, and hiking sites. I really did not want to make a wrong turn and find myself going in circles. There was no time for that.

So, I picked up Bill, a childhood friend and fellow Boy Scout, who lives on Oahu, at the Lihue airport early Friday morning around 6:20. From there, we proceeded directly to Waimea Canyon. We stopped at Kaumakani Bakery to pick up some breakfast and coffee. This bakery has been around forever. It was fairly still early in the morning as there were many high school kids waiting for the school bus. Bill and I had our quick breakfast and coffee, then got back on the road to Waimea Canyon, Kokee. Proceeding up to the canyon, we stopped at Panini’s lookout for a quick look at the Waimea and Kekaha plains. Niihau is out there in the distance, pretty blue Pacific Ocean, early morning trade winds. We stopped at all of the lookouts along the way to take in the sights, sounds, smells, snap a photo or two, then arrived at the departure point, Halemanu Road.

We elected to drive down Halemanu Road. There is ample parking just off the Waimea Canyon road. By driving down Halemanu, it did help to save some time. It was about ½ mile down a slight inclined and bumpy dirt road. In the rainy season, that would not be advised. A half mile later, we got to a point where there was a sign pointing to the direction of the trailhead. We parked off the dirt road, geared up and started off down another dirt road toward the actual trailhead. It was clearly marked and fairly impossible to go in the wrong direction. Still, the advance preparation was not in vain.

Approximately ¼ mile from where the car was parked, the dirt road opens into a large clearing with additional signs pointing the way to the Canyon and the Black Pipe trail. This clearing also serves as a junction point where footpath access to a lookout is possible. That particular footpath is the end point. It actually starts at Pu’u HiniHina lookout. Starting the hike from here would not add that much to the overall distance, you would just start from a different location, maybe with more outstanding views. From this clearing point forward, we were on a well-maintained and clearly marked trail. So, we proceeded following the Canyon/Black Pipe trail. This was late August and with little rain, there was a small amount of dust kicked up by normal walking. The morning was turning into mid-morning. There are no flat areas, either we are climbing a slight to moderate grade or descending a slight to moderate grade. In either direction, the amount of climb or descend is not that far, not even 50 - 100 yards before it starts in the other direction.

Trails have many forks. The first fork on the Canyon/Black Pipe trail is actually straight ahead. Proceeding straight will lead you to a canyon lookout. Going to the left is the Black Pipe/Canyon trail. Now, I did mark the waterfall location in my GPS. It never or rarely showed its distance being over 500 yards, a par 5 from the longest point. The winding paths were sure to make the distance a bit further. So, we proceeded left and continued up a slight grade then down into a valley with lots of tree cover canopy and kept on going. Still the trail is in good shape. There is no sounds except nature. One of the landmarks along the way is a deep stream with steep sides. It is too far down to touch the stream. Because of the tree canopy and denseness of the forest, this whole time we are actually getting closer to the canyon, but you really can’t tell. The trail continues up the other side of this valley, then twists through and straightens out to another sign which reads, Black Pipe trail (left) or Canyon Trail (right). The GPS pointed in the direction in-between at 200 or so yards. At this point the preparation came in handy. We stopped and discussed which way we should go. I recalled printing out trail literature specific to Waipoo Falls. I took it out to review it. Sure enough, the literature said, go right along the Canyon Trail. Chalk one up for preparation. Incidentally, the word “falls” was also scratched in the sign as well. Guess we got pointed to the correct direction.

Proceeding right, it gets kind of steep in a downward direction. Its just a few minutes going forward before the dense forest and tree canopy opens up and there is a 270 degree view of Waimea Canyon. From this point, it is a simple, maybe a 10 minute walk on a wonderful red/orange ridge that is easily visible with Internet mapping software. Of course, going too close to the edge and slipping will result in (at least) a 2000 foot plunge below. After 10 minutes of incredible views, the trail to the waterfall is just ahead on the left. From that point and the floor of the waterfall is perhaps a 100 foot or so elevation change (down). Not much further. So we proceeded forward and downward. There you land at a fork, a junction to upper and lower Waipoo Falls. Time has done nothing to this area.

Words will not do the rest of this blog justice. Upper Waipoo falls had a decent amount of water coming down and into the pool. It was easy and safe navigating and climbing around the large rocks. Not too slippery or other dangerous areas. Lower Waipoo does have a danger area which is an 800 foot drop. So we were careful not to get too close. We just hung out there a bit, talked about scouting, made some phone calls, and enjoyed and absorbed this special view.