Sugi Pine Grove and Falls – Kokee 2012 (Pt 2/4)

With an epic adventure on our (Baron Yamamoto, Katie Ersbak, Jenelyn Castillo, Joshua Serrano [808 Goonies], Clayton Childs, Suzette Padden and I) 1st day in Kokee, day 2 was going to have to pretty amazing to impress us. With an early morning off-roading session and hike to the “Sugi Pine” grove and waterfall, followed by a hike on the Pihea/Alakai Swamp Trail… day 2 was pretty close.

The Sugi Grove campsite is located < 1 mile down Mohihi-Camp 10 Road, on the right, just after crossing Kawaikoi Stream. Luckily our local connection (Steve) had been here before, otherwise we would have taken much longer to find the place.
In addition a few picnic areas, a shelter and some trash receptacles, the campsite also has a composting toilet nearby… which is always a luxury while camping in the wilderness, haha.

But anyhow… the trail to the waterfall is right next to the shelter, on the bank of Kawaikoi Stream.

Which opens up to a streambed full of huge boulders, sitting in tannin-stained water.

Since much of the water drains from the Alakai Swamp / bog-land, the water resides in decaying vegetation for some time before being moved into the stream channel (e.g. like this)

After rock hopping across the stream, we noticed that much of the water was being diverted into flume and into a gated tunnel.

Water from the side opposite of the main stream channel was also entering the tunnel via an over-sized black pipe.

We hopped back into the stream channel, where there even larger boulders than what we had encountered earlier.

Which immediately made me think of the boulderers at the Volcanic Rock Gym back on Oahu.

I’m sure they’d love this stuff. This particular boulder was probably > 20 feet high… Baron standing next to it is probably ~5’6″ or so…

But the main reason why we came here was to go for an early morning swim in ridiculously cold water (<60 degrees in the early AM),
…and to jump off 35 foot ledges into black water.

Normally, the rest of the crew and I are “all for” these type of activities… but I think everyone would have rather jumped in and get wet after they hiked the trail we were about to do (Pihea and Alakai Swamp Trail). Baron and Steve were the only ones who were warm-blooded and crazy enough to jump multiple times into the “iced, mega-venti, unsweetened black tea.” Good job guys, haha.

WARNING: Make sure to check the depth of any freshwater stream/pool before jumping into it, especially ones where you are not able to see the bottom. Even if you have jumped at a location before, it is always good to verify whether large woody debris and boulders shifted downstream since heavy rains/ flash flooding events are common in Hawaiian Streams.

Aloha and mahalo nui for visiting and come back again soon!

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