Walk In The Park

The first hike of the year was nice and easy. It gave me a chance to recuperate from the previous week's ass kicker to the waterfalls. I was still sore but looking forward to a change of pace.

We talked about hiking this one before but the discussion was typically brief and often ended with not interested. The unwillingness to try it is probably my fault as I never really knew much about the trail. I had an idea what it was about but was mostly talking out of my arse. Sorry.

Anyway, on a previous hike we were off on a red herring trying to find this trail and maybe that contributed to it. We were off on a long trail that seemed to twist and turn endlessly. Ultimately, it was the wrong trail and we cussed a bit on the way back up.

Now, with everything set, preparations were made for what was considered to be a "walk in the park". An easy trail, it was part of a well manicured nature park that attracted many visitors each day. I can't recall being there in recent 30 year memory so I too felt like a touristy visitor.

The morning of the hike was still iffy. We agreed to attack the dry, mountain ridge if it was a duo. But the call did come in and the trail is now part of our repetoire.

It was a nice day with a steady cool flowing breeze. The trail itself is lush with plants, flowers, trees, birds, running streams, bugs, and a nice big waterfall. Yes, it was quite similar to the other falls trails but still natural and thankfully easy on the body.

What struck me most about the trail wasn't the natural setting but rather the endless flow of visitors. From the time we arrived there were droves of people walking in. Most probably walked in from the road or paid the $5 parking fee. We were asked to move from our original spot due to tow risk so we also ended up parking outside.

Unlike our previous hiking adventures it was getting too busy. Seemed like lots were either out of state visitors or foreign exchange students. By the sound of their accents I'd say only about 20% were recognizably from Hawaii.

Still, everyone was cool taking each other's pix and what not. A couple of them even stopped by us on the way out offering us a ride to our cars. Way cool!

The trail is moderately paced so you can complete it in only a few hours. There are lots of pix opportunities throughout the trail. Waiting at the end of the path is a spectacular waterfall.

From what I've been told the natural landscape of the area was permanently changed following a recent landslide. Large boulders and trees crashed over the waterfall ledge and smashed into the pool. It appeared to have been as deep as 5' in certain areas but most of it is now less than 2'. Medium sized stones fill the bottom.

Most of the larger debris have been moved to the outer perimeter creating a natural barrier of sorts. To help prevent unnecessary injury, the entire area is marked off limits. But I think this only challenges visitors to capture more shots "behind enemy lines".

There are two trails to the left of the pool. One is now closed and I hear used to lead to the top of the waterfall. I wouldn't doubt some fool caused the landslide which is why the area is now blocked.

Alternatively, the second trail is open for business. The name was suspiciously familiar and I didn't catch on until it hit me. This was the same trail that started in the bamboo forest on the way to the lookout. It was the lower of the two and we'd always passed it up as a waste of time. Now we know better!