by Gudrun Enger, of Kitchen Gadget Girl
After many days in a hotel, on a beautiful beach, believe it or not, we were ready to explore the island of Maui. With the help of my favorite Hawaiian guide book, Maui Revealed, we hit the Road to Hana, intending to find a nice waterfall hike. And boy, did we ever!
Just past mile marker 6 (most of the roads and destinations in Hawaii are related to mile markers. We have those on the mainland too, but don’t use them nearly as well), across from a large fence and a grove of pine trees, was a low barbed wire fence.
Just beyond mile marker 6
Crossing over the fence, we entered a forest of bamboo and began our search for the The Four Falls of Na’ili’ili-Haele. Hiking in and around the bamboo (with a wrong turn or two!), we finally came upon the first waterfall. Below was a refreshing pool that the kids jumped right into. I suggested they swim with their hands, rather than their feet, since I could see several boulders in the water.
Onto the next waterfall, which required a scramble up a muddy dirt hill. Fortunately, some kind soul had fastened a few ropes to the trees above, and we used those to hoist ourselves up the hill. A little more walking, and we came to a wooden ladder (rickety does not begin to describe it!), which my kids climbed up like monkeys and my husband and I climbed ever so carefully.
Waterfall #2 (or is it #1?)
When we reached the top, we walked out onto the rocks for a view of the waterfall we just left. As it turns out, this was waterfall #2, and #3 and #4 were further up the path. A group of hikers coming back down gave us the scoop – sounded like the next two waterfalls were going to be a bit of bear to reach (including swimming across one pool to get to the climbing path for the next waterfall), so we decided that two was good for us.
Bamboo Forest
Even today, my kids talk about that hike with such amazement and excitement. My daughter decided that all hikes should involve mud ladders and my son was all for getting lost in a bamboo forest again.
Reminder: getting off the beaten path can sometimes be a great way to visit a destination!
Related Posts:
Maui’s Road to Hana: 5 Best Sites for Travel Tips
Maui’s Haleakala National Park: The Seven Sacred Pools
Hawaii on the Cheap, Day 7
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5 Responses
[...] week I wrote about a hike we took while on the road to Hana, upon a recommendation by Maui Revealed. We also followed their recommendation and explored the [...]
On our honeymoon this fall we did this same hike. Despite turning my ankle before the first falls (just found out it is a torn ligament and will require sugery) we absolutely loved this hike. I never imagined I would be deep in a bamboo forest climbing waterfalls. I was in such amazement that I didn’t think twice about climbing that ladder, I know look at the pictures and am not sure how I convinced myself (let alone my wife) to climb that
I really hope we make it back someday to take this hike again. The pictures don’t do justice to the awesome experience.
I did this hike with my children(12,15,17) recently. It was a wonderful adventure and is one of the gems we will remember about this trip. To be honest, you were past the hard parts once you got up the ladder. The rest was a bit of boulder hopping, a walk through a large ginger patch, and then a very reasonable swim to the base of the last waterfall you needed to scale….it was an easy scale. The swim was really cool. It felt like you were swimming in a different world with all the jungle around you. On the way out the kids spotted something that looked like an oversized crayfish in the water. About 10 inches long with very long pinchers. They were rather horrified to realize that these animals were in the water with them while they were swimming. Great hike.
I just did this hike with my wife and we got incredibly lost right at dusk. we ended up scrambling up an embankment and had to hail a car. Out of the stupid things we did, the dumbest was to attempt this hike too late in the day.
the worryer in me was a bit nervous from the ladder and beyond. my wife and i made it back from this one, but not everyone has been so lucky. just be safe…
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/16432244/maui-vacation-ends-in-tragedy-for-missouri-family