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Lower Makamakaole Falls

Waihee Ridge, Hawaii, USA

About Lower Makamakaole Falls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Lower Makamakaole Falls (or Lower Makamaka’ole Falls) is a rare waterfall in West Maui that we didn’t need a helicopter to see.

I tend to think of this as one of the more obscure waterfalls because in order to find this one, we really had to focus on finding it. Otherwise, it was real easy to skip on past it without even knowing it was below us as we were driving the winding and pretty adventurous roads of West Maui.

Lower_Makamakaole_Falls_018_02262007
Lower Makamaka’ole Falls

In fact, I recalled on our first visit here back in 2003, we made an attempt to see this waterfall after having driven clockwise around West Maui starting from Lahaina.

We had to negotiate some seriously narrow and unpaved single-lane roads (Kahekili Hwy or Hwy 340), which hugged cliffs with some severe exposure to drop offs (very scary).

Eventually, when the hardest part of the drive was over, the roads widened up again, and we chanced upon a waterfall that we thought was Lower Makamakaole Falls. Unfortunately, it turned out that we didn’t see the actual one but a smaller cascade just upstream from the one we were supposed to see.

So it wasn’t until we came back nearly four years later did we finally have a chance to try and see the correct waterfall. This time, we went the other way (from Kahului to avoid that single-lane road), and the result is the photograph you see at the top of this page.

This main tier is said to tumble some 60ft.

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In 2003, we had mistakenly thought this small waterfall was the Lower Makamaka’ole Falls. Keep walking further downhill to see the desired waterfall.

We had noticed there were some obscure and unmarked use trails that seemed to get close to this waterfall. Since we didn’t explore these paths, we can’t say anything more so we can’t vouch for whether they do indeed bring you closer to the falls.

I’ve read that the word makamaka’ole means “without friends,” and this could be in reference to days past when troublemakers were banished here.

I don’t have any more background on the circumstances behind why this spot was chosen for banishment and when this occurred.

Authorities

To my knowledge, Lower Makamakaole Falls does not belong to a formal authority. However, for information or inquiries about the general area as well as current conditions, you may want to try visiting the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) website.

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Tagged with: maui, west maui, kahului, lahaina, kaanapali, hawaii, waterfall, waihee



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