Commando Hike to Nailiili Haele Falls, East Maui – May 21, 2012

As with any outdoor adventure here in the islands, please properly prepare yourself, hiking with others who are capable and who you can trust. Be sure to check the weather forecast for heavy rain or inclement alerts. Hiking in narrow gulches when considerable rain is forecasted is highly discouraged. Although potentially dangerous, our activities this day were perfectly within our comfort zone… however, please know when you are not within yours and when to turn back. If attempting, stay safe out there and have fun!

Thinking that our trip to Maui could not get any better, great weather allowed us (Pete, Chase, Nate, August, Laredo, Nectar and myself) to take a drive to East Maui to hike commando style. Based on some intel and preliminary reconnaissance, we connected a series of different well known hikes to execute one “mega commando hike,” which terminates at the series of waterfalls along Nailiili Haele Stream.

I’m not sure about the name’s origin, but hear the hike it has to do with the suite of obstacles one has to overcome throughout the hike… For starters, we ascended a narrow, slippery, waterfall chute…

Waded through deep pools…

Entered a huge cave or lava tube, filled with flowing water…

Which was very, very dark…

Good thing we were ready with several headlamps, otherwise we may have had to turn back. Oh yeah, we also had to swim through that deep pool there and ascend the waterfall immediately after that… and wade through several more pools thereafter. Wish I could take more photos of what was going on, but my DSLR is not waterproof, and I wasn’t one of the people with a headlamp.

Borrowing one of the guys’ headlamps, I got a decent photo of the crew in the cave…

But no one wanted to hand out in here longer than we had to, especially since not all of us had lights.

We exited through a deteriorating grate at the end of the cave. I can imagine others having cut themselves upon exiting, as the narrow bars are sharp and rusted. Note, the “Danger-Keep Out” sign on the outside of the exit of the cave… or at least, what I thought was the exit.

A few minutes upstream from the exit, we encountered a large two-tiered waterfall… The weather had been fairly dry lately, but this place must roar during/after heavy rains. Definitely wouldn’t want to be near the stream channel when that happens.

Some of the more adventurous crew contoured up and around to the top of the falls…

Of course, so they could jump. Prior to jumping, Pete check out the depth to where they’d land and if there were any submerged boulders or branches under the murky water’s surface. After given the okay, Laredo was a “go!” It’s a photo sequence, there are not multiple people jumping on each other… several people have commented about similar photos on my blog.

After taking a long break on the rocky shoreline, we headed down stream to link up with the series of waterfalls along the Nailiili Haele Trail.

We soon arrived at a larger waterfall, which terminates into another large pool.

The same three crazies went for another go at one of several potential jumpspots.

Several other people started arriving at the waterfall and started jumping as well… Here’s a series of a jumper, leaping from one of the higher, more dangerous spots.

After hanging out for a bit at the pool, we decided to head downstream. Which to our surprise, required A LOT of swimming.

Glad we were all decent swimmers, cause this part sucked!!! I mean, not that it wasn’t fun… but I had boots and long pants on. WHO does that??! But yeah, swimming like that for a couple hundred yards was pretty rough. haha.

However, from here on out, the trail was pretty well-defined with no more swimming. I was actually surprised to how many people were coming up the trail… sure how far they’ll all go, since most of them didn’t appear to be ready to swim to the upper falls with their cameras in hand, haha. Glad you brought your dry bag along August!

Good times with an excellent crew! Thanks for visiting and come back again soon!

Please note, the Commando Hike is a very dangerous hike and should not be attempted for your safety and the safety of others. Several of the more dangerous portions of the hike were not included, as I could not photograph them safely. Trail directions to series of falls at Nailiili Haele portion of this hike may be found online elsewhere. To see more photos from this adventure, Click Here!!!

More questions??? My lips are sealed.