Secret Forbidden Waterfall Hike, Oahu

  There are all kinds of hikes here on Oahu from ridge line hikes, to coastal treks, to muddy hikes thru lush rainforest. This hike was definitely the latter. This is one of Oahu's popular forbidden hikes. It is off of the Pali highway, and cars are often parked at the trailhead, but keep out signs are posted all along the first park of the hike.

   After a brief walk through a dense bamboo thicket the trail emerges at a huge reservoir. "No Diving" signs were posted along the concrete pier. I've always wanted to explore this part of Nuuanu valley. On rainy days I've seen numerous waterfalls cascading off the steep cliffs in this valley. Now was our chance to explore.

  I found out about this hike after doing a little research online. I couldn't find very precise directions, so we initially followed the path marked with pink ribbons tied around the trees. Turns out that it was the wrong trail. We followed the ribbons deeper and deeper through the mud, until finally arriving at the end, we found a pig hunter's camp. Time to turn around.

  We backtracked until a fork in the trail and took the other direction. Once we found this stream we knew we were on the right track. Again the trail led us off course, this time up and to the right. Luckily we met some hikers coming down who told us it was not the way. We safely slid down the muddy hill back to the river and found the correct path again.

  After a few more minutes of rock hopping and multiple stream crossing we came upon a beautiful three tiered waterfall. The water tumbled down on a pile of rocks and emptied into a shallow, clear pool. We stuck around for a few photo opts. The long exposures turned out nice with the water flowing down and around all the rocks at the base of the falls. Sometimes hikes like this, where you have to overcome some obstacles and end up getting a bit lost along the way, make for better adventures and more memories.