Koloa falls (revenge hike) – November 11, 2013

I finally finished Koloa Gulch in its entirety. Both waterfalls were accomplished today. And, both falls produced its full effect. Torrential rains hit most of the island this week creating flash flood advisories. We waited patiently and on this Veteran’s Day, it appeared that Koloa was a go.

Joining the crew today was OAG – Sensei, The Judge, E, Janice, and DJ, as well as Bob and Linsey. We met at Senei’s house and shuttled over to Kokololio Beach Park. The walk up the ridge is tiring, but I love the hills on the windward side, it just seems a bit easier.

We eventually hit the junction and went into the gulch. The water was at perfect level today, not like our hike in May where it was 4 feet deep. We went at a swift pace because everyone had spikes and were motivated. We must have crossed the stream 20+ times before we got to the big rocks and the island. This was the section where we turned around last time. However this time, it was all money.

We got to the vertical wall and the fork. Both forks lead to waterfalls. We chose the left fork first which led us to Kalo Falls. The hike to Kalo Falls from here was quite long, about 30+ minutes or so. It led to a twin waterfall. E and I bouldered the wall and got up the twin falls to Kalo Falls. In all its glory, huge thin strip waterfall with a nice flow. The waterfall was about 60-70 feet high. The falls sprayed to about 20 feet outwards, getting us wet. The rest of OAG joined us at the falls, while Bob and Linsey stayed back.

After some admiration, we headed back to the fork and went for Koloa Falls. About 20 minutes of hiking and we saw a small waterfall. E and I jumped in the pool and headed towards the rope. We pulled ourselves up and saw the glorious Koloa Falls spilling, water rushing down bouncing off the rocks. Just money! We took a nice group photo and headed back. We needed to rush a little before it got dark.

Stream crossing after stream crossing we went. We hit the final stream crossing near 5pm and got up to the ridge near 5:30pm. The sun went down and it got dark as we approached our cars.

This may have been one of the best hikes I’ve done this year, really rivals Aiea-Halawa, Puka-Lani, Kipapa-Schofield, Waiahole Uka-Manana, Anamolo, Waimalu Middle-Waimano, Waikane-Pauao, Ka’a’awa. Wow, I did a lot of fun hikes in 2013.