Waipuilani Falls - August 21, 2015 

After waking up at 3:30am, I texted E & Proo to see if our backpacking trip was a go. We all agreed that the weather was going to be unstable for the next few days, thus we would have to bail on our backpacking trip and do another hike. Proo and I drove to E's house. After brainstorming while watching Chasing Mavericks, we decided on Waipuilani and other waterfalls in the Nuuanu Pali area.

E did a lot of the coordinating. Committed to the hike was Janice, The Judge, Kinky, Kel, Burs, her friend Lehua, us three, and Art. 

The meeting time was at 8:30am at the Pali Lookout. After saying hi to everyone, we walked down the road and found a trail to the left. Art and Kinky did this trail before and knew the way for the most part. It was great talking to the OAGs again and Kinky and Art ~ both whom I haven't seen in ages. 

We had fun talking and hiking. It took us about 1 hour to reach Waipuilani Falls. The flow wasn't great, but still a sweet spot to chill and relax. I forgot how great this type of hiking was. This was actually my first real hike since Kalalau in July. I felt hungry for some reason and ate a cliff bar and Fritos. We were taking choke pictures, more than usual. Waipuilani would look awesome with a heavy flow. There are double falls spilling from at least 200 feet high. 

A tunnel nearby the waterfall, Kel was the first to go inside and we all followed suit. Initially, the tunnel was wet. But further in, it was dry. The tunnel went in about 50 feet and split. The end of the tunnel was just after the split. Some nice pictures were being taken. Amazing what camera phones can do these days.  

As we exited the tunnel, I saw Kinky reading his newspaper. He is still old school. I rely on the Honolulu Advertiser App for all my information nowadays, but some people are still dinosaurs. I remember two years ago, I did a current events lesson with my special education students. They had to find a newspaper article. One mouthy girl said, "Mister, what is this, we don't do this anymore, only my parents do this". I felt pretty old after she said that.  

We lost the trail going back. But used our Backcountry Navigator App to get back on track. Even though we got lost, it only took us one hour to get back and to our cars at the Pali Lookout. 

We weren't done yet, next stop (not Zippy's), but Pali Falls. Off we went to the Pali Lookout and Old Pali Road looking for Pali Falls