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Wailua Valley - OHE April 29, 2001 (Best Hike on Maui)

This sounds like a great hike in the Wailua Valley to do on Maui:

I've copied the entire text here because goecities will be shutdown soon:

OHE April 29, 2001 (Best Hike on Maui)

OHE April 29, 2001 (Best Hike on Maui)

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 16:43:25 -1000
From: Eric Stelene (stelene@email.com)
Subject: Best hike on Maui

Yesterday I found the best hike on Maui that I've done so far and I've named it Wailua-Keanae. This 12 mile round-trip hike on easy dirt roads takes you past no fewer than 20 waterfalls as it parallels the Hana Highway then decends gradually down the sheer pali into Keanae Valley. A short walk along the broad valley floor then leads to a stunning climb straight up the back of an amphitheatre on a long-forgotten trail to a notch in the pali with thundering waterfalls. You'll also get an up-close view of the East Maui irrigation system that takes water to central and upcountry Maui. All you'll need is a wavier from East Maui Irrigation to acess the land (not that I had one or anything)

Stop at the Wailua Valley Lookout Park on your way and you'll see part of the route. On the right of the valley notice a prominate waterfall spilling into the valley. That's Waiokamilo Falls. Look closley and you'll see a road cut into the vertical cliffs and a bridge right at the falls.

The route starts a few miles short of the Puaa Kaa State Wayside. Cross the Wailuanui Stream then look for a dirt road with a gate mauka of the highway. The dirt road is Wailua Iki Road and is the trailhead for the hike. Go around the gate and and uphill. Another dirt road comes in on the left. Keep to right and go around another gate. Soon come to a concrete bridge by a large pool and rushing waterfalls. A German couple was there swimming. I bet they didn't have a waiver either. The road contours for about 3 miles at the 1200 foot level. Its wide open, sunny and very easy walking. The ups and down are very gradual as it goes in and out of gulches. In each gulch, you'll pass all kind of dams, dykes and pipes as the stream water is channeled into the irrigation system. In a few places, a small tunnel with wooden support beams cuts a few feet into the cliff to access the irrigation tunnel. You can hear the water roar and hiss as it passes by. The concrete briges you'll cross are similar to the ones on the highway and are all marked with the year 1923 on them.

You'll pass many waterfalls and swimming holes on the countour road. There is great potential for side trips up the valleys if you feel so inclined. In less than one hour you'll get your first look into Keanae Valley. It was a cloudless day and I could see all the way up Koolau Gap to rim of Haleakala. The road now decends almost imperceptibly downhill along the valley wall. This road is really an engineering marvel to be perched on these vertical cliffs like that. You're now walking along the stretch of road you saw from the Wailua Lookout. Waiokamilo Falls is roaring up ahead. >From its big concrete bridge you have great views all the way to the Keanae Pinninsula and the ocean as you wonder how any bridge could be built all the way up here. This bridge had the year 1922 on it, so I concluded that the road was constucted from the valley floor up the pali rather than down into the valley from above.

After the bridge, the road steepens and gets a little rough, but its still easy going. You're soon at the valley floor and another gate. Go around the gate and reach the juction with Piinaau Road. There is something that looks like a headstone here with Chinese writing on it. I posted a picture of it in my photo album, if anyone knows what it says I'd love to know. Turn left onto Piinaau Road and follow it up a short ways. Another road comes in on the left by a concrete bridge. Go left and cross the bridge, you'll soon see waterfalls hundrereds of feet high cacading over the valley walls. Follow this road to the back of a deep amphitheater. The road suddenly ends. Look carefully and you'll notice a faint path leading up the embankment just before the end of the road. The path widens a bit and starts to switchback up and up. 600 feet straight up the pali. It's overgrown and very narrow in places. I could just tell that I was the first person to use this trail in a long time. The blanket of leaves on the ground looked undisturbed, so did the thick carpet of moss on the loose rocks. I decided to name this the Lost Pali Trail(LPT). In less than 30 mins I came to the last switch back and a notch in the pali with a powerfull waterfall. Above that, two waterfalls tumbled about 200 feet from the plateau above in to a plunge pool which fed the lower waterfall. There were some parts of the irrigation system all the way up here - a small concrete stucture and and tunnel leading into the mountain.

For the unobservant hiker, the pool here would be great to jump into after the steep climb. You may notice all the water flows into the pool yet none flows back out. There must be some kinda of tunnel in the pool itself that could suck a swimmer to his death.

I rested here a while, it only took a little over 2 hours to get here. I waived at a tour helicopter flying low overhead. The pilot circled around and came lower apparently to see if I needed to be rescued! I bet he was a little surprised to see someone all the way up here.

I had my rest then headed back down the the LPT and got to the bottom in about 20 minutes. I was soon climbing back out of Keanae Valley and at the Waiokamilo Falls bridge. I took another short rest at the top then was back in the Jeep in less than 5 hours total. Thanks to the easy roads, I was in very good condition considering the distance I travelled and the terrain I crossed. I had only slightly sore knees and a mild case of Monkey Butt. This was also the first hike in long time where I didn't fall and bust my ass at least once.

Blurry pictures and a map of the route are posted at:

http://photos.yahoo.com/eric96753

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