One of my favorite hikes on the island is Waiakeakua Falls. It is technically a hike that you are not supposed to do, so I won't give directions here other than to say it is in the Manoa Valley, (there are 6 waterfalls besides the famous Manoa Falls in that valley, so go and explore to find some!) Anyway, we are in the middle of the rainy season, so the falls on the island, devoid of natural sources, are flowing amazingly well these past months.
When I got home from helping my Mom with her work in July, I was super excited to get back out on the trails again, and the first hike I wanted to do was Waiakeakua Falls. The first outing I took was with a friend I have done a few hikes with and was planning an epic October mainland road trip with. We had become quite close on our hikes, as hiking partners do, so I was excited to show her my favorite most zen place on the island.
As we started out on the trail, there were some major differences from the last time I hiked it with my boys. First off, there are 4 areas with downed trees, and these trees are massive! I mean, seriously I am glad that I wasn't there when they fell, as I certainly would not be here any longer. The first two downed trees block the trail, but are maneuverable without adding in any additional detours. The largest downed tree, is over one of the bridges on the road, and poses a bit of an excitement factor as one has to wonder if adding your additional weight to the downed tree and bridge will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and sends you tumbling into the shallow river below. Luckily, this did not happen to us.
The only unfortunate event on this particular outing was the top portion of my trusty hiking stick that I found on Mt. Haleakala broke off! I was clearing the path ahead (we have had too many spider web run ins, so I have taken it upon myself to use my walking stick to lead the way), and "snap!" it just broke off in my hand. The stick was a tad bit too tall for me anyway, so the remainder of the length was still perfect for my height, it was just sad that the leather wrapped detail I put on was now useless. Knowing that it is best to release those things that no longer serve you, I tossed the broken piece into the brush and continued on with our hike.
The second downed tree is very close to the first, and once again doesn't need to be detoured around. The third downed tree (that is newly down, there is another large downed tree that was there the first time I went earlier in the year) does require a change in route. There are two ways to circumnavigate this downed tree, the first is to cross the river and go along another foot path on the opposite side. There are a few ways to cross, you can pick your way across the rocks in the stream, or you can be more adventurous like we were and balance your way across a downed limb over a tiny little falls. (I wouldn't recommend the balancing, it took years off my life.) The second way to detour it is to head into the vegetation just before you hit the main section of the downed tree. If you look carefully, you will spot an orange path marker, keep heading upstream, and eventually you will reconnect with the original trail and the flight of random stairs in the forest.
The fourth downed tree (which wasn't down until my 3rd outing) has fallen in the middle of the river just below Queen's Bath. This tree blocks some great photo opps, and I have half a mind to go back out there with a saw and remove it, because that place is generally a great open, serene spot. Queen's Bath Falls also marks the exact midpoint of the trail, so once you go across the stream there, and head up the old stairs, you can sit on top of the falls and take a little break. The rest of the trail is fairly simple to follow, so there shouldn't be any issues there.
On my original outing, with my hiking partner, we made it up to the second tier of the falls. It had been raining throughout the week, so the water was deeper, and running faster than I had seen it before, however, I was determined to climb up the falls. I set out and where other bloggers had mentioned the water only being waste deep, there was a point where I could no longer feel the bottom of the stream and had to take a leap of faith to catch the rope on the side of the falls. (I am 5'9" for reference here).
Climbing up the falls was a huge rush! I have never felt more invigorated, refreshed, and terrified in my whole life! The amount of focus that you have when you are climbing is astounding, literally nothing else in the world mattered, nothing else was important, just the goal of attaining the next step, and reaching the top was the only thing in focus. Unfortunately, I tired out about 3/4 of the way up the falls, and ended up repelling back down into the stream. From there we took our snack break, and took the time to meditate with Buddha. As I was posing for Buddha pictures, it began to rain, and as we continued on and reached Queen's Bath it rained harder. It was an amazing hike!
Now, the reason I've done this hike twice in the last month. The first time I went, I took a friend who I had been quite close to, and this hike to me is one of the most amazing hikes on the island. I honestly find this hike to be my go to whenever I need to clear my head, so to me this hike is sacred. Well, shortly after I took this friend, we had a very large rift come between us that is irreparable and broke my heart. The memory of her on the trail with me, knowing what had happened between us, was too much for me to bear. So, the weekend of the most recent hurricane, my neighbor and I went and did this hike again to clear the trail of the painful memory for me.
Water is the element of purification, and since this trail needed purification in my emotional memory, going during a hurricane was definitely the best time to go. There were no additional major changes to the trail, however it rained nearly the entire time we hiked. When we reached Queen's Bath on the way in, my neighbor decided to be a ninja and climb along the top of it to stand just beneath the top, and the heavens opened and began to rain even harder.
For anyone who is wondering, climbing up the side of a 50+ foot waterfall on a day when it has been raining, when you are slightly overweight and carrying a backpack is hard! My neighbor, April, led the way, making it to one of the ledges and waited for me to catch up to her on the ledge. Once there, we soon realized that it was not roomy enough for two, and April continued up the rock face to the top of the waterfall. I however, was running out of energy quick, and although I was so close to finishing the climb, I knew that I needed to head back down, or face the real possibility of not being able to get back down later. So, I started my decent. As I was going along, footholds that were obvious on the way up were seemingly nonexistent on the way back down. I ended up losing my footing and slipping a few feet, screaming bloody murder the whole way, until my feet magically found a ledge and I was able to recover my balance and footing.
Right when I was starting to feel a tad bit safer, April let out a scream. Turns out as she was trying to get a shot over the top of the water fall, she lost her footing, and only managed to grab on to a tree on the side of the stream at the last moment before she would have been sent pummeling over the edge! Exciting stuff, right? As I continued down, I reached the trees to the left of the rope, and thinking I could use the roots to aid in my efforts, I placed my left foot on what I thought was a solid hold, turned out it wasn't and I got my lower thigh wedged into a cross in the tree roots very firmly. I struggled, and screamed (because it hurt) and April, being afraid for my safety and well-being, started to frantically pick her way down the side of the falls.
Luckily for me there was a very solid foothold where I was stuck for my right foot to take advantage of while I struggled against the wet tree roots to free my leg. I still had about 10 feet to go until I reached the safety of solid ground. I pulled with my hands, pulled back with my leg, everything hurt, and the angle I was at made it so a directly straight pull was impossible. Right when my foot started to go numb, I was finally able to pull the roots far enough apart with my hands, and yank my leg forcefully enough to free myself and continue down to the rocks below. By the time April reached me again, my leg was just slightly tingly and I was certain I would be 100% fine to finish the trail.
As we continued off the trail, when we came to the midway point at Queen's Bath I searched for a side route to get to the face of the falls, as I had never gone to the face of that particular falls on this trail. It was easily found, however there were some spots where I needed both hands, so I took my trusty hiking stick and tossed it down below me (after the fiasco on Mt. Olympus you would think that I would really stop throwing it ahead of me) and it bounced off the rock and into the stream, over a small fall and down it went. I was quite disappointed, but figured if I was meant to have it, it would be down at the shallow area waiting for me when we finished.
As we reached the second of the fallen trees, the rain stopped and the sun began to shine, when we got to the trailhead the day was turning into a muggy, sunny day, and I knew my purification hike was complete. I felt better, my sacred place was returned to me, and I reached a higher height than I thought I could attain. Our motto at the end of this particular adventure has now become "But did you die?"
Moral of the story on this hike, trust yourself and take the leap of faith. Even if you end up being hurt, all of that pain can be washed away with time. And most of all, don't let the fear keep you from trying, even if you don't reach the top, it was still an experience worth having... because as we now like to say, "But did you die?"
Until the next hike...
