Mo’ole Valley

We did this hike today and we definitely have mixed feelings about it. First, you start by driving down the Nu’uanu lookout to the very end, where the Pali highway joins it, there is a small parking lot to park in. This is also the trail head parking for Lulumahu falls. Next, u get out of ur car and u cross the Pali highway, this is usually easier than it sounds. After crossing the highway u will see an unlocked gate that you go through, this is the same gate hunters use, FYI. Here is the tricky part, we spent about 2 hours getting lost at this point because there are many trails marked with flags on the trees, but they go to different areas, I’m guessing most of them are used by hunters. So, after the gate, u initially make a right and follow this past some fallen trees and down to a ditch. At the ditch you take a left. You should see pink trail markers all through this part. You follow this over a concrete water run-​off and continue walking along the clear trail along the ditch. After about 20 minutes of hiking you should encounter a tunnel, about 4 – 5 feet in height that you walk through. Yes, it is dark so it is a good idea to bring a flashlight or headlamp of some sort. This is also a good indicator on if the falls will be present. These waterfalls aren’t always viewable, they are usually only flowing after heavy rain or flash flooding. If there is water in the tunnel then more than likely the falls will be going. After the tunnel, you continue to follow the pink ribbons for about 2 minutes and you will encounter the first waterfall. To the right of this fall is a black rope you can climb up to see the next falls. From here, the trail is pretty well marked to the 8 waterfalls. After the 7^th waterfall you can take a right, going up a steep cliff to continue onto Lanihuli ridge. We went part way up this but we decided to turn around because we had already been hiking about 4 hours (since we got lost in the beginning). The way up to the ridge was kind of sketchy, we encountered many falling rocks and at times wished we had a rope to help us climb up. All in all, the falls were decent, we should have went after we had even more rain because some were barely flowing. We both found the trail to be tedious and slippery/​muddy. After a hike I normally feel energized but after this hike I just felt drained. We have done other waterfall hikes like Ka’au crater, which I would definitely recommend over this hike. Bring mosquito repellent!