It is time to hike Waipoo Falls again, but this time starting from the Pu'u Hinahina Lookout trail head (no photo). Knowing this is to be done during the hot part of the day, the gear list included 2 liters of water. I've done this hike two years in a row. Both of these times were in the cool morning. Once was when the sun was low in the morning sky just after sun up. For these two earlier hikes, I also drove down this dirt road either to the very close proximity to the trail head or just off the fork in dirt road. This and the next photo is the dirt road that takes about 25 minutes (each way) off a foot hike.
With full knowledge that taking the Pu'u Hinahina trail head adds to the total distance, time needed and difficulty factor, I figured to do this in the late morning, pack additional water and take my time. As the hiking books and other sources mention, the Pu'u Hinahina trail head starts out slightly level, then quickly begins a decent.
With a decent usually means an ascent which is exactly the case. It was beginning to be the hot part of the day and the going was pretty tough on the ascent into the dual Cliff Trail, Black Pipe Trail heads. The gps had a decent signal but I was not able to get the track off the device. There are no photo's of the Pu'u Hinahina trail head or the trail itself.
This is the fork in the trail. Take the right fork to go the the falls. That is scratched into the sign. For the map readers and those with common sense, it is obvious that one should go to the right, it is the direction of the canyon!
The trees shown below are visible with google maps.
There was the familiar white ginger and other normal Kauai forest type of trees and bushes. The white ginger was very fragrant on this trip. It was helpful to cut a piece with the blossom's and leave in the rental car.
Protocol this time was a little different, gps was the priority the whole time. Unfortunately, the gps had a decent signal but I was not able to get this track off the device. One the way back, instead of taking the Pu'u Hinahina trail back to the lookout, I chose to take the dirt road back up to the main highway and walk along the main highway about 1/2 mile back to the look out.
Distance estimations are: Pu'u Hinahina .3 to Cliff lookout / Black Pipe Trail head, Waipoo Falls round trip 3.0 , dirt road .5, paved road (.5), for a total of: 4.3 miles.
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