Manoa Falls

I really wanted to go hiking when I got to Hawaii. I'd heard the waterfalls and rainforests were out of this world! And, they were.

We drove through the center of Oahu to the north east side of the island. The east side of Oahu, or the windward side, get all of the rain. Our resort is in the very dry, or leeward, side.

The hiked up to Manoa falls takes about 10-15 minutes. We hiked through lush forrest, bamboo along a very nice graveled trail. There was even a model out on the path having a photo shoot. She looked less than thrilled to be there. I was shocked by the number of people hiking in flip flops. When did flip flops become hiking shoes?!



The falls were beautiful. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it's like 200 feet to the top.



Then, G decides he wants to take this other trail another mile or so where we're supposed to have a great view of Diamond Head. This trail is marked "moderate". Moderate my ass !! It was muddly, slippery,and covered in sharp volcanic rock. yes, some of the trail was moderate. But, there were parts where it was just bolders straight up to the point where you were almost rock climbing. Not something I'd call a moderate hike. We only saw one other group of people hiking this trail the whole time we were on it. It was very poorly marked with an occasional splotch of orange spray paint or a tree tie. After about 30 minutes of climbing I'm sweaty, muddy, probably stinky and it seems we're getting nowhere fast. I call up to G "I am no longer having fun!". G looks visibly relieved. He'd stopped having fun too. View of Diamond Head be damned ! And, we headed back down.

Back on the easy trail back to the car G loses his footing. He is COVERED with mud. One big muddy butt print and all the way down the back of his pants. He's less than pleased. Fortunately, back at the car the gentleman who watches the parking lot had a giant tub of baby wipes. I loved this guy! I baby wipe my grimy face and attempt to get off all the mud. For G, it was a losing battle. He just needed a hose.