Before I even begin, let me warn the reader that this area is a protected watershed and a restricted site. Anyone found loitering or swimming in the pools within this site can be cited for trespassing. The only legal way to visit is to get a permit!
Ok, now that we have that out of the way... on with the good stuff. This location is known locally as 'Narnia'. It may be due to its resemblance to various scenes from the Disney production called The Chronicles of Narnia. For those who are not familiar, its a place that you can perhaps relate to the 1984 film called Romancing The Stone. Ok, there are no crocodiles in Wailuku River but at least that's the feeling I got when I first laid eyes on the area with its many waterfalls, cliffs, and greenery. The adventure starts with crossing the Wailuku River bridge at Wai`ale Falls.
Those who do not read the "ti leaves" well, will wrongly assume that this location or its neighboring tributaries is the Narnia that everyone is instagraming about. Just keep walking. This is a quiet neighborhood and it will do well to respect it. As we turned into a narrow lane, the houses become sparser.
The sidewalk grasses looked unkempt like it had not been trimmed for years. Then out of no where, an abandoned shack came into sight. Heavily graffitied, and ghastly dilapidated beyond repair. Then another appeared, still standing way past its' age and glory days.
The road is now no longer a road but turned into a graded lava bed mostly covered with invasive weeds and wild flowering orchids. The air was heavy, and sweat was literally oozing out of every single pore of our skin. Tall palms and albizia trees provided the canopy above us as we trudge through the uneven pathway. Needless to say, this part was the most mundane.
In what seemed like a long death march, we finally reached a junction next to a water tank. We turned off and followed a trail. You know that you're on the right track when you come across the many 'No Trespassing' signs along the way. This has to be the Narnia everyone is romanticizing. The short trail eventually ends at a grassy patch, overlooking the Wailuku River, the weir, and the many falls that comes thereafter. I was quite surprised by the number of people present, and the hopes of having the place to ourselves was short-lived, at least for now.
We got down to the weir, crossed over, and decided to take the left fork following the Wailuku River upstream. This is where the real fun begins. Majority of the crowd went right following Ho`okelekele upstream. As we carefully made our way alongside the cliff edge, we got a clear view of the pools below - a perfect emerald green hue, just waiting to be jumped into.
Surefootedness is the key here as the ground is covered with moss and silt making it horridly slippery. One false move and you will go flying or worse, end up below the cliff and into the water below. That would not have been good as we had our DSLR with us without our water bag. We hugged the cliff edge, inching our way towards the back, where the tall hidden fall is. The person in front would climb onto a safer spot, and the second person would hand the DSLR over. A good amount of teamwork, helped us over the treacherous spots, without getting the camera wet.
Once we got past the obstacles, we were greeted at the top with an open grassy space. There was a large pool of water right in front of us. It must have been filled during heavy rain when the river overflows onto this part of the cliff. We parted the tall grass, and the tall fall called La`uiole came into sight. The pool at the base of this fall was easily half the size of an Olympic pool. Around it, large and small boulders abound. If you inspect the rocks closely, many have small pits on their surface. This is due to the amount of force and stresses on the rocks as they get washed down from above. There were no crocodiles to wrestle, and there were no gem stones to be had, but we had was a good time exploring and climbing to this hidden waterfall. Click here to see the video for this outing.
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