A Beautiful Free Waterfall Hike On Oahu - Manoa Falls Trail

Sure, you will enjoy this hike more if you pay for it - the guides will tell you lots of stories, you will learn about the plants, the history, the geology - and you won't have to worry about parking your car. But if you want to go for a great free hike on Oahu - Manoa Falls is it. Easy hike (5 year olds do it all the time and so do grandparents) with great scenery, set locations from lots of different movies, and a waterfall. Are you suppossed to swim in the waterfall? Well, no, you aren't. Does that stop anyone? No, not really. In fact, the ropes and signs are ignored by everyone - even the people who have died from rocks dropping from above and smashing their heads - so don't say you weren't warned.

I've been doing this hike for a long time - and even though it's more crowded than before - it's still a good hike. Here's me doing the hike back in 2007.

[embed]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u_nIXEwjPrU[/embed]

To get to it, you simply head out of Waikiki towards the University of Hawaii at Manoa and if you want to pay $5 for parking, drive all the way up to the lot or if you want to walk an extra half mile or so, park in the neighborhood below. The waterfall can be gushing but sometimes it's just a trickle. The hike is the best part. Getting in the water at the falls is illegal, but most people do it anyway...there is some danger of rocks falling from the cliffs above and killing you if you are in the pool. There is also the danger of Leptosporosis. You've been warned.

The hike will lead you through a hau tangle, into a verdant rainforest (parts of Jurassic Park were shot here - watch out for dinsaurs) into a Bamboo forest, down muddy trails, and along a stream. Do bring bugspray - you will end up at the beautiful Manoa Falls. Don't drink the water! For two reasons - first leptospirosis can get in tropical fresh water - you don't want it. Also, figure that everyone in that waterfall pool is peeing in it - so if you wash off mud downstream - you are pretty much washing in. A bunch of strangers urine. Urine Luck!

Pee jokes aside - take your time on this hike and be sure to bring water, good hiking shoes, snacks, and a towel to dry off with (either at the waterfall or at the bottom when you wash off the mud in the parking lot.