The Road to Hana

Being from the desert, waterfalls are usually only a seasonal phenomenon during the spring runoff. In Hawaii, waterfalls run all year, fed by the constant accumulation of moisture from the rainforest in the upper mountains. I went on two hikes earlier in my trip, the best being one that led to Waimoku Falls in Kipahulu (this trip was on Monday). The falls are on the eastern most end of the island about 9 miles past Hana, which is a small town surrounded by dense rainforests. The Highway to Hana is a tourist attraction in its own right, as it winds for hours through green valleys, past waterfalls, and over one-lane bridges. To get to the falls you take an easy 2.5-mile hike up through a bamboo forest. The pictures doesn't do a good job of illustrating that this water fall is over 470 feet high.