My Buried List... Visually

#34 Sit/swim in a tropical waterfall

34. Sit in a tropical waterfall (I have to say tropical, because I have done this in the mountains, but I want to do it in a warm one).


Last night, I decided I needed to start researching this one, since I am going to Hawaii in October, and Hawaii is the first real tropical place that I will have been to, so if I want to sit in a tropical waterfall, this could be a great opportunity that I do not want to miss.

I realize that this may be a little more complicated than it seems since a lot of the waterfalls in Hawaii involve hiking to them. Now, I actually like to hike, so this is not a problem. However, I am bringing two small children. This does make it more complicated. Marc says we should bring the hiking backpack with us. It is a huge, bulky piece of equipment though, and I just don't know if it is worth $25 to check a hiking backpack.. but maybe. Are there waterfalls in Hawaii that don't require much hiking?  Or stroller friendly trails?  Hmm.... will need to find out.

So, I started searching. I found that there are a lot of good waterfalls in Maui, although not all of them are swimable. There is one, Blue Angel Falls, which seems, AMAZING. However, upon reading about Blue Angel Falls, I discovered that it is along the road to Hana. You may have heard about the road to Hana. It is the famous road in Maui that is a somewhat dangerous, curvy, yet incredibly beautiful two-lane highway that goes to the North Eastern side of the island.

This looks like a relatively simple journey, right?  Fun road trip?  Well, luckily, I can learn from the experiences of others. My cousin went to Maui and made this trip and told me I would be insane to take it with children. My parents also made this journey. They had an amazing time, saw lots of rain forests and waterfalls and black sand beaches. The journey to Hana, with stops, took them about 5 hours. (I know, doesn't look that long, does it?). My cousin informed me it could be done in 3 with relatively few stops. HOWEVER, my parents also discovered the issue with this very undeveloped side of the island.

Fire.

There was a brush fire while they were on the road to Hana and they got trapped there overnight. They had to stay in a high school gymnasium on the last night of the trip. They almost missed their flight home.  There is a ton of information online warning you to bring a lot of supplies on the trip, as the road can lead you into unexpected situations.

Frankly, this is not something I am willing to brave with children.

So much for a waterfall on Maui. Good thing we are visiting the big island our last two days. With more research, I found that there is a relatively accesible waterfall called Rainbow Falls. Apparently there is this really big cool waterfall and smaller ones around it too. I think I found our destination.  Will let you know how it goes. If anyone has ever been to this before and can give me some firsthand info, I'd love to hear it.