"ALOHA" Hawaiian Adventure #3 March 14

Saturday we got adventurous.  I really wanted to see a Hawaiian water fall so I did some research in a very large book on Hawaii that was in our hotel room desk drawer.  

Needless to say, I found the Manoa Falls and instructions how to get there.  We took the city bus, #5 to be exact and got off not far from the entrance to the trail that would lead us to the falls.  .8 mile sounded quite easy after some of the miles we had been walking.  


You can see that the whole area was encircled by 
mountains or tall hills, like a amphitheater like shape. 

SO, The hike begins.

Manoa is the name of the whole valley with its amphitheater like shape of the hills and valley.  

Manoa means vast or wide. 

Jeff and friend Arnie led the way.

Yep, we are still all smiling as we begin the hike.  it was a good thing the temp was a mild 75 degrees.   Very green  and beautiful but we soon found out those beautiful tall palm trees and Hawaiian flowers aren't your normal in the rainforest. 

Here we are at the bridge and about half way up.  Jeff was starting to feel a little woozy or low.   It wasn't much further and he found this flat rock to sit on.  He was not doing very well and decided to stay there until we made it up and back down to him.  It was a good thing I had a salted nut roll in my bag for him to eat.   We left him sitting on the rock and little did we know that before we made it to the falls, he would be feeling much better and catch up to us.  It was a joy and blessing to see him as I felt very bad leaving him at the rock as he insisted.   

Jeff on the flat rock.

The area is very lush, green with big ferns, leaves and Eucalyptus trees.   Part of the movie Jurassic Park was filmed in this area and also the TV series Lost.   There were a lot of people hiking the trail.  We did not see any wild life and very few birds.  They do warn about wild pigs in the area.  

The roots of the trees are amazing.
Below you can see how they form a arch.  Very interesting.    

This is tall Bamboo. 

What a climb.  The trail is just under 1 mile but with the gradual ascending trail through lush rainforest, from 400 to 800 feet elevation and winds through a shallow stream and over rocks, steps and rocky inclines, it was not as easy as it sounded. 


This waterfall is in a conservation area and is not accessible by car or bike, only by trail.   

KEEP CLIMBING,  ALMOST THERE!

Below,   

This was our very first glimpse of the 100 ft tall Manoa Falls. 

 We were still far away but fun to see it from a distance.  

This picture to the right was a bit zoomed in.
 Just seeing it from afar made us hopeful to reach it.

WE MADE IT!    Time to take a rest,

 drink of water and a snack.  

 The gal in the pink to the right was not in our group, just got in our picture. She looks just as tired as we do.  

Jeff and I, just to prove we actually made it.  

Betsy and Arnie, just to prove they both made it to the falls.

Mitch and Val, just to prove they made it too. 

Time to head back down the trail. 

 We enjoyed much green, leafy trail.

Back over the stream.

What a shame that people have to carve in this big tall tree. 

One of the biggest ferns I have ever seen. 

A little pond of water in the winding creek. 

We were not real sure what these big fruit was but I am sure it something good to eat and they looked very healthy. 

Below is a orange tree with plenty of oranges on it.   

Now this big yellow thing/fruit was about the size of a small volley ball.  Well, maybe not quite but it was big.  
We also could not figure out what this was.  It was growing in someones yard as we walked tward the bus stop.  

The Hawaiian name for the Manoa waterfall is Waihi, which means "trickling water."   

The amount of water depends on the rainfall.  There is always a water in the falls but when dry, the fall is thin.  You can see from these close up pictures that it was very thin and just a fun trickle.

This is a picture of a post card of the falls when it was flowing heavy after or during a rain.  They say it is very beautiful then but very hard to make the hike due to mud and slippery conditions.  We were just happy that it was dry and that our whole group could make it up the trail and to the foot of the 100 foot tall waterfall.  They say it is actually in four 25 foot sections making it 100 ft.