We got off to a late start last Saturday, but decided to take an adventure to the Maunawili Falls. It was about a 3.5-4 hours hike start to finish, with some time allotted at the waterfall itself to swim. It probably wasn’t the smartest decision to go so late in the afternoon, but we made it out alive and we can definitely boast about it.
When we arrived, it was muddy. Nothing glamorous about it. We were trying so hard to keep clean, but it just wasn’t going to happen. The ginger walk up the trails to try not to break my hips caused us some much precious daylight coming back down. At times it was almost like ice skating and trying not to lose my balance. There’s my little guy at the beginning of the trail and probably where it’s the most driest.
I didn’t take too many photo’s on the way up because I was so afraid to bust up my camera or drop it in the mud. So it kept safe in my backpack. We met several people on their way down and we kept asking “So how much longer to the falls?” We just wanted to get there. We got varying answers from 2 hours to 30 minutes… I guess it really depended on how many breaks you were taking on the way. Traversing up through the mud, up through some steep stairs then back down another set of steep stairs and then to the mouth of the river itself leading to the waterfall all amongst a beautiful jungle of lush green plants and trees and mosquito’s (bring bug spray!) . Oh, my aching thighs!!! The photo above is the last lurch to the waterfall. Hike upstream, knee high in the water and you will find the waterfall.
The kids just wanted to start swimming. I plopped myself on a rock and carefully got my camera out and started shooting. We arrived around 4:00 and knew that we didn’t have much time as the sun was going to start setting very soon and our hike down would be in the dark.
But how do you tell a bunch of anxious kids who just spent 75 minutes hiking in the mud that we only had 10 minutes to play in nature’s paradise? Well, you tell them, and then they don’t listen and you watch them have fun and figure the hike in the dark will have to just be and resign to it.
The water was refreshingly crisp! But it didn’t matter as my kids and husband kept going back for more!
My kids had such a great time. It was beautiful and we were lucky as it wasn’t that crowded with other hikers. We spent about 30 minutes there and hustled our way quickly back up the stairs, then down some stairs and hiked our way back down a muddy decline. I was ready to get out of there and grab me a huge cheeseburger. Special thanks to my phone for providing me with a flashlight to see exactly where I was going, not to mention.. I was so afraid of veering off the trail… I fell on the muddy trail 3 times!! Camera safe! It definitely was an adventure as I really did feel I was in an episode of Lost! Definitely a hike worth doing at least once in your life! Warmest Aloha, ~j
Oahu, Hawaii based professional photographer Jennifer Brotchie specializing in vacationing families and large groups, high end weddings, international, destination, portraiture, candids.
