Hiking Hawaii: Oahu's Manoa Falls

Since I have a lot of Hawaii pictures floating around my hard drive, I figure I should just get at it and write before I forget what happened. I'm going to try little mini-series topics, since wading through huge slews of pictures intimidates me.

For example, I have like 20 pictures of this white rump shama bird. Most the shots are of his bum!

Oh! And I'm also working on a big google map of Oahu, to pin point food/beaches/shoppy places I liked.  My boss shared hers with me before we went on our trip, and it was pretty cool.  Better than reading through Yelp reviews of people I don't know.  She asked me to share one with her since she's going back soon, so that's the plan! Maybe I can share it here too? I'm not sure how that works.

Anyway, other than the Kawaii Kon convention, Sak and I really wanted to do some hiking this time.  The past few times we've gone in winter it was too rainy and muddy, so I was glad that early April was a bit drier!

Our first stop, the popular Manoa Falls Trail.  It's about 1.6 miles (0.8 miles each way), with a small incline.  We packed a water bottle and got there around 9-10 am. We weren't sure where the road stopped, and where we could park, so we ended up on a residential street curb next to a small tour van.

We walked about five minutes or so into the "paradise park" area, where there was a full lot and a parking attendant for $5. Oh well, at least we parked for free!

The trail began shortly after the lot, and right away it was like stepping straight into Jurrassic Park.  Breathtakingly surreal.

What? Need help visualizing?

Legit.

Ahem.  Anyway, I decided to photograph all the ferns I could find, because they are so weird and cute - my favorite plant!

Okay, fiddlehead bottom right ain't so cute, I admit.

Not a fern, but kinda cool to see a plant growing out the body of fallen tree.

The trail was for the most part, fairly wide and gravel filled.  Also it wasn't very steep, and the big trees shaded us from the hot sun, so it was very relaxing and enjoyable.  Being off-season, it also wasn't too crowded.

Pretty sure that's a bamboo shoot? I spent a good fifteen minutes looking for one >.>"

Toward the end the trail gets a little rockier, and suddenly you're at the waterfall!

It was pretty tall, and there's a roped off pool at the bottom - though there were stupid people ignoring the signs and hopping the fence anyway. Sigh.

I loved this creepy little cave nearby the fall. Water droplets were pouring down the plants, it was so cool.  very much a Princess Mononoke setting.

oh hai there

The hike back was mostly downhill, and there's *real* bathrooms at the Paradise Park giftshop at the bottom, which is nice.  A beautiful, non-strenous hike!