Hanakoa Falls

Hanakoa Falls is the other of two well-named waterfalls featured on the Kalalau Trail along the famed Na Pali Coast.

This one is much taller than Hanakapi’ai Falls but it has lower flow (at least in my experience). And although I’ve seen it said that this waterfall can top 1000ft, I was only able to see the last 300 or 400ft of it. If the height figure is correct, then perhaps there are more hidden tiers unseen from the ground (I did recall seeing more tiers from helicopter rides that weren’t visible from the ground).

Being situated well into the Na Pali Coast, this impressive falls is nestled within one of the cathedral-like wrinkles in the mountains backing Hanakoa Valley at the half way point of the Kalalau Trail.

In order to get all the way to Hanakoa Falls, I had to obtain a hiking permit (or a camping permit) because it required me to hike beyond Hanakapi’ai Beach. I managed to pick it up in person from the Department of Land and Agriculture building in Lihu’e. Moreover, I was able to get a day hike permit a couple of days before the hike (essentially the last minute) because I wasn’t seeking a camping permit, which I understood required bookings several months (6 months?) in advance!

All said, it easily took me from day break to sunset to cover the 13 miles round trip. Indeed, it was a pace that was nowhere near the usual 2mph from more normal hikes. I also nearly dehydrated and suffered a heat stroke after running out of water so the lesson learned here was to bring a filter (you can read about my adventure here) or iodine tablets.

In terms of logistics, the turnoff for Hanakoa Falls was after the crossing of Hanakoa Stream about 4 miles beyond Hanakapi’ai Beach along the Kalalau Trail (or about 6 miles from the trailhead). There were picnic shelters nearby that kind of hinted to me that the easy-to-miss signed turnoff was near. It easily took me nearly 5 hours just to get to this point.

Once I managed to find the overgrown spur trail, there were bright ribbons tied to twigs to help identify the difficult-to-follow Hanakoa Falls Trail. At times the trail hugged eroded ledges overlooking Hanakoa Stream. Other times, the trail disappeared into the dense shadows of vegetative overgrowth providing plenty of headscratching and doubling back moments for me.

The falls finally became visible through the foliage about 1/2 mile from the turnoff heading inland from the Kalalau Trail. A posted sign warned against falling rocks, and the field of large boulders that have already tumbled down the hillside provided an additional warning against me venturing any closer.

Even though I managed to reach the falls at around midday, and I took an extended lunch break until around 1:30pm, the hike back seemed long and difficult. So do keep in mind that this hike is not for the faint-of-heart!