Waimanu valley is one of the most incredible hikes that not only can be found in Hawaii but one of the best hikes on the planet. I am of the opinion that Black sand beaches, a beautiful 8 mile hike in a rain forest, diverse flora, 1000ft waterfalls, mountainous terrain, and a place to build your own lean to with a supply of fish and coconuts is hard to come by. 

Ancient Hawaiians used this valley to grow Taro, a plant that they were able to create a starchy ingredient called poi.

We started off early by checking into the art gallery so we were able to park our car overnight which was 20 dollars a day.

Our plan is to hike in for a day, hangout in the valley for a day, and than hike out the third day which was a perfect amount of time to get everything done that we wanted to do.

We walked up on to the lookout and looked down the road that led into the Waipio valley. It was rather steep and I was surprised to see that 4x4 cars could make it up this road in wet conditions.

Once we got to the bottom we followed the dirt road to the right as I knew that it would lead to the ocean. once we got to the ocean we headed left and continued to walk on the black sand beach over to the river that we needed to cross.

The river crossing was not that bad, we headed up the river bank a bit to a place where the river expanded so the crossing would be shallower and made it across without any issues.

We continued to hike across the valley to the woods where the beginning of the Muliwai Trail started and where we would eventually connect to the Waimanu Valley.

The hike up to the top of the plateau took around an hour of steep dried mud hiking, at times in the sun, while pushing away the foliage and stepping over rock piles.  The trail is very easy to follow and we did not need a map to find our way around as the route was obvious but taking you time in the shade will save a bit of sweat.

Once we got to the top we left the fantastic views of waipio Valley and entered this lush Midwest looking forest with abundant pine tree groves and other large trees.

The forest changed from a pine grove to trees that took up a lot of space.  It had a Midwestern maple forest like feel when hiking through here but than it would turn into more of a rain forest at other times.

Make sure you bring your water filters but this will allow you to not have to carry as much water when hiking up as there will be places to refill water.

I believe that we passed around 12 switchbacks but I might not be accurate in that estimate.  It should be close enough to count and once you pass 12 switchbacks, than you should either be close to the respective valley you are heading to.

There is a shelter near the Waimanu valley drop in point on the trail so it is continuously raining and you want to get out of the wet weather than thee is a dry place that can be found.

You will also notice some Helicopter landing pads along the way with a sign that will have distance markers notating how far you have gone and how much more you have left to go.

After about 2-3 hours of hiking we noticed a roar from the breakwaters below in Waimanu valley and the massive valley below us.

There was around 1200ft of elevation loss to get down into the valley and .9 miles of steep muddy trail to walk over in order to get to the valley floor. 

The last segment of this trail is very muddy and slippery, especially with the standing trees shedding their bark on the trail.  This made for some extra slippery conditions in the rain so I highly recommend trekking poles if you are going to tackle this trail. 

Once we got down to the bottom of the trail we had one more obstacle to cross in order to get to the campsite, the famous river crossing into Waimanu Valley.

When the river is swelling from water run off from the valley this river could be nearly impossible to cross, even with the rope that is place to help make the crossing.

When we crossed, the water was fairly low and made for a no incident crossing the tanic water. We made it to the beach and our campsite!!! woohooo campsite 2!!

We got the tent set up and the hammock in place for the absolutely amazing views that we had for the time that we stayed there.

There were views of 1000ft waterfalls that could be heard in the distance. There were also more waterfalls that appeared to be even higher up in in the range but a lot further back into the valley. 

The clouds condensed over the tops of the green mountains and the amazing waterfalls cascaded with the rain water the incrementally precipitated warm water back down from the sky. 

The waves from the breakwater could be heard in the background along with the rough entanglements of the palm trees above.

The Waimanu is a fascinating place and I was expecting dinosaurs come out of the valley each time I looked back into the waterfall covered valley. 

We cooked up some dinner than got some rest early so we could get an early start onto the trail that would take us to the main waterfall in the area.

The increments of rain trickled throughout the night but once the sun broke over the ocean horizon a beautiful orange glow casted a fire like hue over the valley. 

We ate some breakfast and soon headed out across the black sand beach and into the forest to make our way over to the 1000ft waterfall. 

We passed by our source of water which is a waterfall flowing clear water from above.  We still decided to filter this water but it is pretty clear. 

We continued on into the forest and passed by some rather swampy areas including a section where large mangroves covered the ground and armies of fire ants had to be walked over by straddling branches.

These ants were fast!! and they kept coming, even after swiping the log that they were marching on.  Heather was wearing shorts so it would have made for an unfavorable situation if fire ants started marching up into the shorts. ouch!

We continued into the forest and eventually we could see this large white stream of water coming from the cliff top, we made it to the massive waterfall!.

This was actually a tiered waterfall and the first tier was only 300 ft.  We went for a swim in the water and the tour guide helicopters came around and saw us swimming in this remote pool, that was a bit awkward.

We spent some more time here and eventually headed back to the beach to hang out in the water. 

The black sand beach had tints of green and yellow in the sand but the beautiful sandy beach was amazing.  It was even better that it was pretty much our beach as we shared it with the few other people in the area that were camping.

 

The water was as warm as the rain the fell from the sky as we swim in the waves and in the clear waters of the bay.

We spent some time here and spent some more time grabbing some coconuts and fish from the river next to our campsite.

unfortunately we were only able to get some coconuts which tasted fantastic out there. We ended up just relaxing and enjoying the amazing views of the the Waimanu Valley.

It started to rain all the way until we left the following morning so we got some sleep early and got an early start to beat the heat when hiking up the initial 1200ft of ascent to the plateau of the Muliwai trail.

We hiked up and crossed the switchbacks in good time, eventually making it to the Waipio valley in 4 hours from when we started.

We were dreading the final hike out up the concrete hill so we ended up getting really lucky and i was able to secure a ride for us, and a solo hiker that was camping by himself on the Waimanu valley campground, which I could never get his name even when asking him!

Hey what the heck, its Hawaii and the Waimanu trail is quite possibly the best hike and best campground that I have ever been to!!! It is worth a trip to Hawaii to just hike the Waimanu trail by itself.