Old Pali Road and Likelike Falls

Pali Lookout is a classic tourist spot on a cliff on the Koolau Mountain Range overlooked Kaneohe Bay, Chinaman's Hat, and Hawaii Pacific's Windward Campus.  This cliff has a gruesome and scary superstitious history.  The story is in 1795 Hawaiian King Kamehameha and his warriors defeated the O'ahu armies by sending them over these steep, forested cliffs and claiming his victory and uniting the Hawaiian Islands.  They say the area especially along Old Pali Road is haunted by taunting ghosts and Hawaiian Gods.  With the beautiful views, windy, and scary history we decided to hike the near by Old Pali Road and find the Likelike Falls.

I have done this hike before with a friend/date but we got lost.  I started at the top of the lookout and reached the bottom of the highway, went under the highway overpass and then down to an access road off the Kooalau Golf Course. At that time I honestly did not know where I was going.  Just knew most hikes on Oahu connect to each other, but how and where?  When we felt like we were finally defeated, we went back to the lookout.

So we tried again with my BF, Laura, Aaron and Erica.  They have never done the hike before so I thought it would be fun.  Hopefully we can find Likelike Falls and go to a birthday dinner afterwards.  This is considered an easy trail about 2 miles long.  We started at the lookout.  It follows along Old Pali Road so most of the hike is pave however the road has been take over by wild plants, trees.  When we reach the Pali Highway overpass, we had to crawl underneath to get to the rest of the trail.  By the time we pass the overpass, we were pretty much following the access road.  We met up with random hikers who were also heading to Likelike Falls.  So we decided to hike close to them.  We ran into some Hawaii Electric guys at the bottom of the paved road.  The guy told us the trail head was to the left of the road.  It looked like the trail was going to be uphill and mostly dirt now.  Yay for markers.  We caught up with the guys again.  He told us that he did the trail 11x and got lost trying to find Likelike Falls.  Now he knows how to get there.  Ok hopefully we don't get lost.  We get to the top of the hill with not much effort until I felt like we were lost again.  The guy said to the left and right is the ridge trail which is really hard.  He said if you go down then your heading to the Likelike Falls.  So down we went, trusting a guy we dont know just for the sake of adventure and hopefully finding Likelike Falls.  Maybe in about 30-45 minutes we reached the falls.  It is really small but pretty to see.  We decided to turn back since we had to get going for dinner.  As we return to Pali Lookout we ran into the Hawaii Electric guys taking off with their helicopter.  It was like a show watching guys dangle to fix power lines.  Then we got close to the lookout and we could finally see the small Pali falls along the side of the Old Pali Road.  In total this hike was 3 hours long.  Total possible calories burn: 1600.

Aaron and everyone else with the winds

Hello Old Pali Road

Not bad its paved

Pali Highway

Pali Lookout

Crawling under the highway

Hawaii Electric at work.  Likelike Falls trailhead to the left

Likelike Falls

Pali Falls

Maunawili Falls

So I have this thing for waterfalls.  I think waterfalls are so pretty.  Watching the water fall from a mountainside side/cliff into a pool.  The sound of the water against the rocks.  I am not fond of how cold it is or the possibility of leptospirosis infection.  I just love to watching how beautiful it is.  Seeing natures wonder.  Relaxed by their soothing sounds.  For the obvious reasons, I love waterfalls.  I remember my sister telling me how went to Maunawili Falls and it had a nice waterfall and pool.  I always wanted to check it out, but for some odd reason we just never had a chance to go.

So my BF and sisters Nancy and Anny, their friend Ruby and Laura decided to come hiking with us to Maunawili Falls.   FINALLY!!!  This trail is approximately 3 mile long out and back hike.  Its considered easy-moderate about 4 hours long. From Honolulu to Pali Highway to Maunawili Valley (third traffic light after tunnels), turn right on Auloa Road, left fork onto Maunawili Road. Go approx 2 miles to end of public road, park on Kelewina Street. Walk on Maunawili Road (private section) approx 1/2 city block to trail head sign on right.

This is a fun muddy trail and well maintain.  We walked uphill along the stream, then finally crossed it, hiked up the mountain, then came down, crossed the stream again and walked up towards the waterfall.  When we got to the falls, it was overly crowded and the falls was a lot smaller than I expected despite the rains.  I think we enjoyed going off the trail to look for bamboo, fruits and plants more than the waterfall!!!  Total possible calories burn: 1600.

Getting back to hiking: Aiea Loop Trail

My bf did not wanna go gym with me. I was sad. Kinda lost motivation to go. I wanted us to get healthy together. Then comes the weird stalker and some random guy asking for my number at the gym. Kind of freak me out that someone is stalking me or preving out on me... Eww. Anywhoo I kept talking to my BF about how I wanna go hiking again. Last hike I did was Lanikai Pillbox with my sister in 2011. She was like my hiking buddy. When she got pregnant the hiking had to stop and I haven't had a chance to go with my hectic crazy night shift schedule.

So I really wanted to go hiking again, but with who? My BF has friends Laura, her brother Aaron and her friend Erica came to hike with us.  Laura nd Erica like to hike so it was nice to know people who would like to join us.  So we decided to do Aiea Loop Trail. I have done this trail many times before with my sister and friend Val.

This trail is approximately 4 mile long loop hike.  Its considered easy about 4 hours long (so think about 1 mile = 1 hour).  To get there you need to go up Aiea Heights Drive until you get to Keaiwa Heiau State Park.  The one thing I love about this hike is the smells at the beginning.  It is like a pine or eucalyptus smell and its very soothing and relaxing.  You pass some power lines and then you will see some great views of the  H3 Freeway and tunnel, Halawa Valley.  As your hiking you can hear the sounds of car along the H3.  Its like your walking along the mountain.  Then you will decent down to Aiea Stream and then come back.  When you see the Power Lines in front of you again  you will see a glimpse of MCBH Camp Smith on the top of the mountain across and Pearl Harbor Naval and Arizona Memorial.  Then you will come full circle in a loop and you completed the trail.  There is a waterfall along this trail.  Its unmark called Kalauao Falls.  I eventually wanna do it.  I just need to figure out where it is along this trail.

Here some pics of our adventure:

Ok I wish I took more pics.  Maybe next time.  Hard to hike and hold a camera.  Possible calories burn: 1600.  WOW!!!  BTW here some info about Hawaii and Hikes I have done here.