Iolekaa Valley Exploration – March 10, 2012

Like me, you probably haven’t heard of Iolekaa Falls, at least that is before this past Saturday. Apparently, there are two waterfalls in the back of Iolekaa Valley in the Waiahole Forest Reserve, just above Heeia. Using the Ulupaina trail as an initial guide, we bushwhacked through Iolekaa Valley to find one of the two waterfalls that terminate at the windward base of the Koolau Mountains.

Armed with an arsenal of shears, handsaws and loppers, we (Baron Yamamoto, Joshua Serrano [808 Goonies], Jenelyn Castillo and I) set out in the early AM on the meandering contour route of Ulupaina trail (as opposed the route that forks directly to the ridge) near Valley of the Temples Cemetery. The plan was to descend into Iolekaa Valley approximately before the elevation gain that leads back to the ridgeline. From that point, we just knew where we wanted to be… but didn’t know how to get there.

Once off of the ridge, we found a distinct trail that appeared to lead into the valley. Though it seemed as if the day would be “clear sailing,” this was by no means true. The obvious trail lead to someones backyard, which was thought to be in a gated community as indicated by intense google earth scrutinization. Since we didn’t want to trespass (and possibly due to tumultuous canines), we backtracked and decided to gain elevation towards the ridgeline.

Luckily, we found faint swath, which again appeared to lead us back into the valley from our new elevated viewpoint.

Fortunately, this one bypassed all of the residencies, again according to google earth. We followed the swath, which opened into a dense grove of rose-apple,

and then to scattered Paper-bark trees in a sea of Uluhe ferns.

I’m not usually a fan of Uluhe, but this place was gorgeous… almost twilight-esque, if you’re into that sort of thing. lol.

Just when we were getting some stride back in our step, the trail lead us to what appeared to be a dead end. The bamboo forest here was so dense, it felt like the sun had just set on us. Knowing that the stream was 1/4 mile in front of us, we decided to push on and clear a path through the thick invasive forest… After what seemed like hours, we could finally hear the stream…

which was flowing preeetty gewd. Well, at least since the last heavy rains were a couple of days prior.

Hiking upstream, we encountered a fork in the stream. Since it appeared the left fork was flowing a bit more, we decided to follow it to it’s source.

Within 20 minutes, we arrived the base of the Koolaus and saw two waterfall chutes. One was completely dry, while the other was flowing well. Both chutes were recently hit by a massive discharge of water, indicated by the obvious compressed vegetation spanning the valley wall to wall.

Definitely an accomplishment and journey worth celebrating. As we were relaxing and appreciating the landscape, we noticed that there was no water flowing above the right chute. Curiously, Jenelyn and I traversed the near vertical wall to investigate. As we thought, the water was gushing out from a small, scoured out pool just above the falls. Amazing stuff… reminiscent of our Waihee Falls hike… 🙂

As it was getting late (*cough* Jenelyn had a hot dinner-date), we followed our way back out of the valley and quickly jumped on the wide ridge trail of Ulupaina.

This trail is pretty steep, and is why we decided to hike in on the contour trail.

It made for a nice looping adventure, and Jenelyn was able to make it to her date… hehe.

Iolekaa Valley is really not recommended, as there is a extremely high potential of getting lost. Most of the hike in was not dangerous, but we did spend a grinding 9 hours of hiking, clearing and trail finding… So prep your gear and conditioning accordingly. If you are not used to following faint, overgrown trail lines, this one is definitely not for you. If it is, good luck and happy hunting!!!

More questions??? Just ask!!!

To view this location on a Google Map also known as my “Adventure Map“, Click Here. For more adventures of the Lost Trailblazers, either look at my other blogposts and “Adventures with the Lost Trailblazers” photo gallery. Thanks for visiting and come back again soon!