Blue Hole, Wailua Gorge (Kauai)

The “Blue Hole” is one of those mystical valley adventures that many of us aspire to hike, but only few dedicated goonies end up making it there. Not the easiest place to get to, it requires a good amount of off-roading through muddy terrain, navigating a mess of faint trails, and miles of rock-hopping. As the main objective for our trip, all parties were required to research and be informed about the hike, so that everyone would be on the same page concerning trail-finding and navigation. In approximately 8 hours of hiking and 1.5 hours of off-roading, we were able to hike to the back of Wailua Gorge, at the base of Mount Waialeale / Kawaikini and back.

We got to the end of Kuamoo Road by 8am, and is where our off-roading adventure began. The dirt road wasn’t too bad for most of the way in, but there were a few areas towards the end that 2WD cars or ones with lower clearance wouldn’t be able to bypass. Getting stuck in the mud or breaking our vehicle in an area with no cell reception is probably not the best idea for people without true four wheel drive… Thus, Aaron parked his demasculinizing AWD Nissan “Rogue” down the road, prior to the obstacle course.

In ~45 minutes we made it to the trailhead and end of the dirt road, near a cemented diversion / flume.

There were a ridiculous amount of misleading trail ribbons, and in hind-sight, it would have made much more sense to just not follow them and to follow where the most water was coming. There was decent path / mild trail alongside the stream for at least half-way into the valley, along the right (north) bank. It did pull away from the stream at times, but was always was within an earshot of the churning water.

We didn’t always catch these points where the trail jumped back in and alongside of the stream bed, and ended up rock-hopping much more than we should have…

Which was not unpleasant by any means, as we would have missed seeing several opportunistic views of Waialeale/Kawaikini (highest points on Kauai) and some of the native, aquatic insects around the stream (e.g. A red “Pinapinao,” Megalagrion blackburni).

But as most hikers are aware of, rock-hopping can be time consuming, physically demanding and sometimes dangerous. Wearing felt-bottomed footwear, like tabis or stream boots, on slick rock can reduce slippage and injuries. For instance, rock-hopping in “cleated-felt tabis” on the left, versus the popular “vibram / rubber-soled, northface hedgehogs” on the right.

Hiking for about an hour and a half or so, we reached a junction of 3 streams…

With an enticing, deep swimming hole for relaxing. Here, Aaron stands above the pool, on the trail next to the merging waterfalls (middle and right stream fork). I’ve heard this is often the final destination for hikers who are short on time.

This is the left stream fork, which does not end as a waterfall at the swimming hole.

After a 15 minute break to take photos and replenish some calories, we contoured around and above the waterfalls on an obvious path between the left and middle forks. This is the view from where Aaron was standing earlier.

Above the falls was another small pool and waterfall, but was much more shaded. The waterfall from the right stream fork, from the previous photo, can be seen in the background.

It would have been great to stop and do some “real” slow-shutter shots of all the chutes and waterfalls, but I tried my best to not to hold up the crew with photography.

Most of these are 0.5s to 1.0s, standing slow-shutters… Was definitely lucky that some of them came out! haha.

Another ~45 mins in, we arrived at another waterfall scramble. Little did we know there was a path that contoured above it on the left, haha. Many of us used it on the way down though.

A ~200 foot waterfall in the distance gave the tiring crew a boost of motivation while we started to climb up a steep hill. There hadn’t been much steep elevations changes throughout the hike, with only minor scrambling up until this point. Though it didn’t appear difficult to get to, we decided skip hiking to the base of the large falls because of time constraints.

Although after descending back down from the hill,

We were greeted with a series of picturesque waterfalls… The approximate same photo is posted twice to show how challenging shooting photos during a cloudless sky was, when compared with more even lighting after the sun dropped behind the mountains. Though appreciative of the epic weather (not a cloud in sight the entire time!), my photos would have came out much better during typical Kauai, overcast weather, when Waialeale is socked in. ;P

Despite being able to see the upper walls of our destination for quite some time, the journey to the base still felt incredibly long… but the geographic spectacles of the narrow, crater-like “blue-hole” (as shown in the first photo) and “weeping wall” were well worth it.

Just when we were appreciating how hard we worked to see such a spectacle, a tourist company helicopter flew ~200 ft overhead (followed by at least a 1/2 dozen more every 10 minutes)… which obviously made things less surreal. -_- But we pressed on to the back wall to get a closer experience with the some of the oldest rock in the main Hawaiian Islands.

The water appeared to be gushing out of cracks and forming a dozen or more ribboning waterfalls, near the base of the wall. I’m guessing the large volumes of water permeating down through Waialeale cannot pass the denser, lower layer of rock (dike rock?) and forces itself out here. Most of the crew who weren’t wielding a DSLR hugged the weeping wall, as if they were reunited with a long lost family member. Amazing stuff…

Nearing 230 pm and a long ways from our vehicles, we had to wrap up our intimate encounter with the weeping wall and blue hole, to make the long hike out of the valley.

And despite being quicker on the way out, boy did it feel like the longest hike ever! haha. So grateful to have visited such a gorgeous place. Mahalo to everyone (Baron, Katie, Jenny, Christian, Rhonda, Dana, Paul, Aaron, Lynne, Daniel) for their contributions and making this the best valley hike I have ever done in Hawaii… and I’m pretty sure everyone else felt the same.

The “Blue Hole” hike will not be for everyone, as it can be long and mentally draining because of all the rock-hopping. For those who are experienced hikers, I’m sure they will be able to accomplish the above with proper research / preparation. Studying topo maps and any available info in advance will surely save time than when trying to figure out a battery-eating, mobile mapping application while on the trail (or lack there of). There is almost no cell reception near by the end of Kuamoo Road, so all pertinent electronic maps must downloaded in advance. Though people who have been here before can probably make it in/out fairly quickly, make sure to bring enough supplies and gear for an entire day. Start early… if not at the trailhead (above right) by 9am, be prepared to come out at night with headlamps. If parking at the end of Kuamoo Road, and not off-roading at least part of the way in, it will not be realistic for most naive hikers to make it to the “weeping wall” and back out before dark. Good luck and stay safe if attempted!

Make sure to check out the other write-ups from this trip, including an adventure to Kalepa Ridge in Kokee, and Hanakapiai Falls on the Na Pali Coast!

Aloha and mahalo nui for visiting… Come back again soon!

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