Sacred Falls - November 29th, 2010

Amanda(lower left)-Tara(upper left)-Me-Michelle

Well, I decided to finally just go ahead and take the group of three(Michelle, Amanda, and Tara), who are all military wives I met on facebook, and wanted to still do the hike. I had a few bails, or schedule conflict problems, but we had a nice group. This is the 2nd time for me doing this hike, the 1st time I hiked this I went with Matthew, Jenna, and Zach my normal hiking buddies! Regardless if I never did it, or did it 100 times, it's still a scary hike, giving it's not so great past! A brief history of this waterfall's past! 

Me and Matthew the first time I did the hike

"Sacred Falls State Park has been closed to the public since a May 1999 landslide tragedy. Even before that incident occurred, the park was considered dangerous, because the footing on the park's trails can be very slippery, and because deaths have occurred on the waterfall trail when flash floods from rain storms in the mountains swept hikers down the canyon. 

Eight people were killed and fifty others were injured on Mother's Day 1999 when boulders and rocks collapsed into the narrow valley where Sacred Falls is located. The park has been closed since that incident. The families of the victims received a $8.56 million settlement after a judge declared that ten signs at the start of the 2.2 mile trail leading to the waterfall warning of possible landslides were inadequate. "

Gorgeous views of the Ko'olau mountain range!

It is located about one mile south of Hau'ula Town, on Kamehameha Highway. The park was named after an 80 foot waterfall that lies at the end of a narrow canyon. The hike to the waterfalls is two miles one way, and it can be dangerous. Hikers have died when flash floods swept them down the canyon. 

It's true what they warn of this hike, it is very muddy, slippery, and there are plenty of narrow walk ways, leading to what I like to call a "game over" drop off along the side! There is also no lack of water in the area! Michelle and Amanda just decided to give up and walk in the water instead of trying to brave the extremely slippery rocks, not that walking in the water would hurt anything, I am just a priss about most things and prefer to NOT get wet! Not to mention the nasty snails we saw along the way! I let out two extremely girly screams!

Sacred Falls

Ok, on to how our day went! I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. to get my Matthew off to work and make his breakfast and lunch, sat around and watched some TV for a few hours, got ready and headed to pick Michelle up at 7:30, I absolutely LOVE PT (physical training) hour here on base, with the 10 MPH speed limit, and all of the LOVELY stop lights in Wahiawa, that I managed to get stopped by all! Well, I finally got to Michelle 30 minutes later! We then headed to the falls, we pull up around 8:45 a.m. and wait for Amanda and Tara who were heading from Kaneohe Bay. They then arrived a few minutes later, in the meantime, 3 COP cars drive by, and 2 city workers actually head into the sacred falls park! This is making me very nervous since it is a closed hike, and tickets have been issued to those violating the posted signs saying it's closed.

Stream beds that had to be crossed

Well, we got in the park and started down the trail, which to begin with is a dirty road for about .50 miles, then into heavy shrubs! Before we got off the road the city workers spotted us, and started yelling "HEY", Michelle says, "RUN, they are yelling at us!", so I start booking it!! They didn't end up catching us! Shrubs, Shrubs, and more SHRUBS! We make it into the trail, and notice yes, it is muddy, yes, it is slippery, BUT no one fell down the whole time! I was super shocked! It was a pretty mellow hike, with an elevation climb of only about 525 feet, we were all cautious and took our time, which lead to a successful trip to the falls, where we sat and took pictures and ate a snack. We then headed back, saw 4 other people hiking towards the falls, not sure what these people were thinking, 2 of them had flip flops on, which included 1 of them wearing a skirt, definitely not hike ready, but they were nice we informed them of the distance they had remaining, and to watch above, since we believe we heard a rock fall but was just a tiny one if it was! Still scared us and we definitely put a little pep in our step! 

Another awesome view of the mountains on each side

All in all it was fun, I will not be doing another hike to the Sacred Falls though, it's not worth taking all those chances!

Elevation: 539 feet

Distance: 3.0-4.0 miles

Difficulty: Medium


Directions via car: Take H1 to Likeke or Pali Highway or H3 northward. Take Kamehameha Highway up the windward coast. After Kahana Valley and pass Punaluu. After Puhuli St on your left, the park entrance will be blocked on the left.


Directions and Map