Hawaii Waterfall Trail: Waimano Pool

The Boston marathon has its Heartbreak Hill which challenges runners near the end of that footrace. Similarly, the Waimano Pool hike in the hills above Pearl City here on Oahu, Hawaii has its famous hill, christened "Cardiac Hill" because of the strain it puts on the the tickers of hikers ascending its slope. Among the pictures I've included is one of hikers huffing and puffing up Cardic Hill).

Annually, the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club conducts an outing to Waimano Pool. If you live on Oahu, Hawaii or are visiting here, keep a lookout for the HTMC hike schedule.

If you hike with the club, the hike coordinator will lead you in. If you go on your own sometime, plan on a mile and a half to the pool and the same coming back. And of course the coming back includes Cardiac Hill, which is a breeze going down (unless it is or has been raining in which case hikers need be prepared for a slip-sliding good time), but a grinder coming back.

Access to Waimano Pool is via the Manana Ridge trail. After 20 minutes or so along that trail, there is a junction where a critical left turn has to be made. Miss that, and you're on your way to the Koolau summit on Manana. One of the pics I have included (also courtesy of Koji Takahashi) shows this junction but the sign you see there might have been removed so be forewarned.

If the correct right turn is made off of Manana, then the descent of Cardiac Hill commences down to the stream. Once the descent is completed, the trail forks off. Head left to contour upstream and the trail will eventually lead to the stream and falls where there is a nice swimming hole.

Though I haven't visited there recently, the pool and waterfall should be pretty decent for taking a dip if there has been some rain on Oahu in recent weeks. During dry times, the pool can get quite nasty, with murky, stagnant, mosquitoey water. Check the recent weather reports to ascertain what conditions have been like.

The Manana trailhead is at the end of Komo Mai Drive at the top of a residential area called Pacific Palisades (yes, Hawaii has one of those, too) in Pearl City. Just park along the street and the trailhead is at fhe end of the road. Can't miss it. The drive from downtown Honolulu and Waikiki is about 30 minutes.