Over the River and Through the Woods...

to Waimanu

I've been wanting to make the 9-mile trek into Waimanu Valley for ages, especially after we flew over the area in a helicopter more than year ago. The lush vegetation and the steep gulches and cliffs made the land look completely impassible- which made me want to go even more. This weekend I got my chance.

We parked at an art gallery about a mile from Waipio Valley and hiked down the ridiculously steep road in the pouring rain. By the time we reached the bottom the rain quit and never started up again for the rest of the trip. We set up camp on the far side or the river, sat around a campfire and slept to the sound of crashing waves.

Friday morning we headed up the other side of Waipio on the Z trail, which was more difficult than I anticipated. It's steeper and longer than it looks from the beach, especially when you're carrying a 30lb. backpack. The Muliwai trail then weaves around 9-11 gulches (the number of gulches was up for debate by our group) and through forests of ironwoods, eucalyptus and Norfolk pines before dropping down into Waimanu Valley. The descent took about an hour, it's steep and long and the trail is covered with kukui nut shells. Imagine walking down a mountain face covered with marbles when your legs are tired. When we got to camp and I looked up at the pali (cliff) I was amazed hiking down was even possible.

Saturday was a layover day to enjoy the valley and Sunday we packed up and headed home. The hike back took about 6 hours. That's not counting getting back out of Waipio Valley. In my great wisdom, I decided to hike out of Waipio with two other people in the blazing afternoon sun to get the Jeep and drive down to pick everyone else up. At least I had enough sense to leave my backpack in the valley. We made it about a 1/4 of the way up the hill with a local couple offered us a life saving ride.

A view of Waipio Valley from the top of the Z trail. You can see Mauna Kea in the background, and the road we hiked in on cutting across the pali.

Well worth the effort: after a good day of hiking we were rewarded with this view of Waimanu.