Waipi'o Valley Overlook

Time for another breathtaking valley.   Waipi'o Valley was our next destination plus it's listed that there is the highest waterfall on the island visible only in the valley.  The Waipi'o Valley is located on the northeast side of the island and we took Hawaii Belt Road, then went east at Waimea until we got to the small town of Honoka'a, went north on Route 240 until it ends. Wow, what an amazing view!  Waipi'o Valley is a mile wide at the coast and six miles deep.  The other side of the cliff below is the Pololu Valley.

 Scenic view of cliffs dropping 2,000 feet into lush vegetation and black sand beach.  This beach was the dry land in the last scene of the movie Waterworld.

Tour companies offer horseback riding or ATV rides along the rim and down into Waipi'o Valley.  Only cars with 4WD are allowed on the road that decends 1,000 feet to the valley floor.  Another option:  Walk.

Some reviews about Waipi'o Valley:  To venture into the valley 4WD is required and nerves of steel.........  

 Anyone who feels the urge to hike down this bad boy is flippin Nuts!  

We went to our car's trunk to get our backpack but it wasn't there.  Luckily I had a couple sodas and a candy bar in a cooler, so we were set.

So after reading the signs we started the descent.  

There were only a few cars at the lookout when we left.  As we rounded the first curve, a young guy ran upward past us.  Scott asked, "How bad is it". (thinking that this guy was just on his way up) and the guy replied, "I'm going to get the car."  Oh.
We continued, and in a few minutes, he drove by us in his jeep and picked up his girlfriend just ahead of us.  At this point we are still thinking, this isn't that bad.  But, as we continued, and Scott's toes kept hitting the front of his hiking shoes, we realized why not everyone could do this.  It is a 27 degree grade, at many places its gravel, and pretty much just wide enough for one car. When you see a car coming up or hear one coming from behind, you have to stand off to the side...which isn't always easy when one side of the road is mountain and the other side is cliff straight down.

The road ahead

The road behind.

About 45 minutes after starting our journey we were at the bottom crossroads.  Left leads to the waterfall, along a stream, and past some interesting houses.

Here is the valley diagram

road runs along this river

Right leads to the beach.
We decided to go left first and almost immediately we came upon a woman.  She has a house in the valley and was out for an afternoon walk.  We asked her if this road lead to the waterfall.  She said, "Yes, you can see it just around the bend, but to get to it you will have to cross over a little river runoff, and then over a little deeper stream, and then swim over the river."  Hmmm I pondered.. probably not going to get too close to that water fall today.   She continued, "Any other waterfalls are deeper into the valley."  She didn't explain how to get to the any of the other waterfalls, but she did mention we may see some of the wild horses if we go towards the beach.

In a couple minutes we could see a waterfall in the distance.  At this time a van with some tourist stopped and got out.  The tour guide said that this is Hillawe Falls, 1,250 foot drop.  The camera did not pick it up very well.

 We were able to jump over the first stream runoff without any problem, but when we got to the next water spot we realized it would require us to removed our shoes and socks (this was actually deeper than it looked and the water was running quite rapidly...about 8 inches deep and about 4 feet wide.  Knowing that the next obstacle required us to swim across the river we turned around here.

(I did see the advertisement for horseback riding into the valley, and they showed the horses in water up to their bodies and alerted riders, that your legs will get wet on the ride.)

So we headed for the beach.  Along the way we did see a couple mongooses darting across the road.  Then as we got closer to the beach, jackpot, we viewed the first horse in the marsh.  I called to him and without much hesitation, he came out.  Then a few yards further up the road, mama horse was also off to the side and with a little coaxing she came over to say hello.  Another 20 yards and a colt was on the road, we enjoyed the whole family.
 In a couple descriptions of this area it warns people to not touch the horses because they will bite, but anyone who knows me knows I love horses and I couldn't just walk by these wonderful creatures.  I was cautious at first but once I saw that they weren't afraid of us I wasn't afraid of them.

The colt

In the old days (early 1900s) horses were used to carry taro and poi up out of the valley.  There was a large population of Hawaiians living in this area at that time.  Eventually life became modernized and farmers started using motor vehicles.  The horses were released to run wild in the valley and they been here now for generations.  Its rumored that some years ago a quarterhorse was released into the valley creating new bloodlines.  As cool as the idea of wild horses are, the farmers that still grow their crops in the valley are not happy when horses destroy their produce.  There is talk that the Hawaiian government would like to protect these horses from any harm but no law has been constructed yet.

A little further down the road we came to the beach.  The black sand, the waves, the surfers, all were amazing.

Watched some experienced surfers.

The scenic overlook is at the top of this cliff

 We sat on a stone, watched the surfers and other people walking on the beach.  We drank our sodas, split our candy bar and saved a small piece and gave it to the only horse we saw on the way back to the crossroads.  Once we got to the bottom of the hill, we knew that Scott's toes could not make the walk up that steep grade, and we also knew we did not want to huff and puff what would probably take us well over an hour to drag ourselves up that incline.  So we decided to hitch a ride  and asked the first SUV that came from the beach and turned to head up the hill.  It was a couple from Virginia and their adult son was driving.  They were happy to give us a ride which turned into a less than 10 minute drive up (since vehicles on the way up have right of way).
The whole parking lot was now full.  The overlook was really crowded with people.  Even if you don't have a 4WD vehicle, and you don't think you could walk down the steep grade, just coming to take in this view is worth the trip here!

Thanks for the ride up!

We stopped for something to eat, and then made our way home.

When I got home I investigated the Waipi'o valley.  I found very little specifics on what is actually located deeper into the valley.  I read that when you go deeper into the valley, after swimming across the stream, you can walk on a bridal path for a ways, but then its mostly just a path created by the last people who walked it or by the horses.  One article said it could take 9 hours to walk in, but it didn't say what you would find once you got that deep into the valley.  Except for the road we walked on, everything in the valley is actually private property, no manicured trails for people to hike, no maps, but rather raw nature at it's best.  I would imagine this is probably a challenge for even the most experienced hiker.

Waipi'o Valley a must see, even from the overlook it's worth the drive!