Waiakeakua to Ka’au Crater – June 30, 2012

With recent rains and Pauao to Waiahole canceled, we decided to connect two trails known for their cascading waterfalls. 7D Steve thought of a route that involved climbing up Waiakeakua’s waterfalls, cross the Ko’olau summit, then go down Ka’au Crater’s waterfalls. Merv and I actually thought of this route a few months ago, but it was 7D Steve who would make it happen.

I met Steve at the Ka’au Crater trailhead. From there I drove us to Merv’s house to pick him up. Then it was onto the Waiakeakua trailhead. We started around 8 am.

The hike to the first falls was quick; it took us about ½ an hour. All of us climbed the first falls, one at a time. It looks spectacular because you have to climb through the falls. We then hit the 50 foot waterfall. We made it up without incident. Though the climb is hair raising because you have to rely on the rope near the top. The danger level is very high, if you fall, you may not survive.

Merv felt some sort of motivation, as we climbed up more waterfalls deciding not to take the contour trails. We finally hit the ridge and headed towards the crest of the Ko’olaus. The hike now becomes an uphill struggle. The ridge is steep and goes straight up. The ridge really doesn’t level out. We took many breaks, but didn’t need it. At about 3 hours, we topped out at the top of Waiakeakua and took a long break.

We then took a right towards Olympus. At the top of Olympus were a few hikers. We passed them and continued on towards Ka’au Crater. The hike from Olympus to Palikea is surprisingly near 45 minutes. We reached Palikea near 1 pm. Going down the east rim of the crater took forever. There were at least 50 people coming up. We waited for the rope sections to clear. During that time I had a chance to meet Keoni. He is part of Kaleo’s crew. They have done some of the most difficult trails on the island. We talked about trails we’ve done and want to do in the future. It was a good hiking conversation. After what seemed like 1 hour, we hit the long waterfall of Ka’au Crater. Going down was steep. This was the first time any of us went down the Ka’au Crater waterfalls. No matter how many times you do this, either going up or down, the excitement does not fade.

We eventually topped out at the second waterfall and made our way past the ledge. I always thought that the ledge was dangerous. However, someone carved another ledge on top of the original ledge which makes going way safer.

We made our way down to the first falls talking to many hikers along the way. For some reason, going back was slow, maybe because I was leading. We exited Ka’au Crater after 7 ½  hours of hiking. I didn’t think this route should have taken this long, but with hiker traffic and going up and down the waterfalls, give this hike more time than you think. The crossover is about 1 hour. We took the east rim, however, it may be a little faster going down the west rim because there would be less traffic.

We got soaking wet today, which was our objective. That is how it should be when you hike up and down waterfalls.