Kaipapa'u Falls

Kaipapa'u Falls - July 29, 2017 

E planned Kaipapa'u which is good because Sensei would show up. Burs also came. 

The Kaipapau's trailhead is located near Sensei's house. The hike is about 10 miles in distance. The last time I did the hike was in 2012 with the HTMC club. This hike is also the start of the Kaipapa'u Bunkers which is a very underrated hike in my opinion. 

Joining the hike today was E, The Judge, Burs, Sensei, Hina and I. We started at about 8:40am. The hike started on a concrete service road and entered the forest. Strawberry guava trees were fruiting and I told myself I have to pick some before I leave. After about 10 minutes the trees spread out and it looks like a fantasy movie. It is so green and lush. 

As usual we always talk story for the first hour catching up on each other's lives. At about mile 1.5 we hit this huge grove of mountain apple trees. The fruit season was about to end, but there were some mountain apples. This stalled our hike as we tried to pull as much as we could. Some fruits were so high that it was hard to grab. 

It was about 11am already and we hit the rock hopping section. This took a while, not sure why. The stream wasn't flowing too well. We had Hina, that may have been part of the slow down. The rocks were super slippery so I put on my spikes. Finally at 3.5 hours we hit Kaipapa'u Falls. I immediately regretted not bringing my tube. I forgot the pool was big. 

We admired the falls. I really wanted to go in, but I was so cold from the constant wind at the base of the falls. We stayed for almost an hour. For some reason, I didn't want to leave. I wish I could have stayed overnight. 

I think all of our bodies were sore from the rock hopping. My back was tight. It was about 1:30pm when we left. The hike back out took a while only because we were looking for more mountain apples. Since I'm all into eating fresh. Nothing is better than foraging fresh fruit from trees. I have a list of where fruits grow on the trails. I'm adding this to my list.

On the way back I harvested some strawberry guava. Later in the day, I made strawberry guava juice by mixing water and sugar and boiling the guava berries. I then blitzed it in a blender until everything was liquefied. I strained it 3 times to get all the fiber and dirt off.  It tasted better than Hawaiian Sun strawberry guava. 

I digress, the post hike meal was at the usual Papa Ole's Kitchen. The orders took a long time, I'd say at least 45 minutes. But its good because we were able to talk story and that is what makes the hike complete.