Waimano Falls

Recently I bought an outdoor guide to Oahu, the island I am living on. I have been wanting to get more hikes in and this will hopefully prove useful. It already has. Last Saturday morning I looked through the book with my boyfriend, Doug, and we choose to head out for Waimano Falls. The trail head was close by, and there was the lure of swimming in the pools below the waterfalls. Here are some pictures of what we found:

Overlooking the bottom pool, the one with a rope swing
Doug on the ropeswing. I was too scared to try it. Figured I would end up like the people who forgot to let go at the perfect time and came back to smash into the rock wall. Or forget how to swim once I hit the water.

Me in the pool of the larger waterfall. This pool was much shallower, not much swimming to be done here. And the water was a bit chillier than the ocean I have become accustomed too, though not as cold as the stream waters found in Colorado or Washington.
Looking down from the top of the waterfall
Looking back upstream from the top of the waterfall
Looking out from the top
Cool looking flower I found. At least I think it is a flower. Time to brush up on my plant identification in Hawaii.
The hike was short, only a little more than 3 miles round-trip, but it was a difficult 3 miles. A large section of the trail was nothing more than a steep, very root exposed hill. Going up that section was much easier than going down. But it was totally worth it. Hard to believe that there is that much nature that close to the city. The trail head started in a residential area, but within half a mile it felt like the city was far, far away.