Kahawainui Falls

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Author:  Pete Clines <peteclines@YAHOO.COM>

My long-time hiker partner, Dave Webb, was visiting Hawaii from his (slightly) colder home in Oregon, so I got to take him on one of my favorite hikes. Between jeep-road-walking segments, we got to spend three adventurous hours in Kahawainui Gulch, negotiating 18 waterfalls and a crazy hau tangle along the way. 

Not surprising, the busted up kayak was still present. However, this time it was between the hau tangle and the first falls. Last May it was at the base of the 8thfalls –a good distance upstream. How this thing gets downstream despite all the obstacles is a mystery. The water level must rise A LOT to accomplish this. In any case, it was busted in two now, with the pieces several feet apart and well above water level. Here is Dave hoping for a big swell to ride it out.

The flow was about perfect this time –not too low and stagnant, and not too high and dangerous. We didn’t get rained on, and the sun even poked through at times. Below is Dave making an attempt on falls #3. This one has deep pool, slick handholds, and is one of the trickiest ones to climb.


Falls #5 is much easier, but still has a deep pool to swim through.

#8 has a nice double falls and tends to get more sun as the gulch widens briefly here.


Below is notorious #10. This is the most dangerous one to get past. Dave (and August) can attest to that.The route that I have used twice prior is seriously degrading, and Dave watched in horror as I nearly fell to the bottom when the delicate handholds gave way. 

Side note: Another friend (who will remain nameless) was with me the first time I discovered this hike. He freaked out at #10 and we got into a huge argument on whether or not we should continue. To this day, he still excitedly tells people (usually after several beers)how he entered the woods a boy that day, but left a man. And he refers to this as a “rite of passage” versus a hike.

#12 is another beauty. Here is Dave at the middle tier of that one.


 #13 is my favorite one to climb and the only one that would be “unclimbable” without a rope on it. This would easily become “Unlucky#13”if the rope were gone when you got here.


 #14 was Dave’s favorite. It was twisting and stair-stepped making for a very cool climb.


#16 is the last big climb. Not far after this are the 17thand 18thfalls and the trail back out of the gulch.After a much anticipated lunch break, we exited the gulch, headed back to civilization, and celebrated with a couple cold beers. Good fun hiking with Dave again!

 

Author:  Pete Clines <peteclines@YAHOO.COM>

Hike date: March 2011

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