Every person loves to explore new places, meet new people, discover hidden places, and so on. If you are an island person then you must be imagining yourself in a beautiful place surrounded by water bodies, a clear blue sky, a crystal clear waterfall, a deep dark forest, and many more attractions. While wandering about the island, the first name that comes to our mind is “HAWAII ISLAND”. Hawaii is home to many incredible and mesmerizing prime attractions.
Hawaii located in the Pacific Ocean is the only state of the United States that composes entirely of islands. It has altogether 137 islands out of which 8 islands are featured as ‘main islands’ – Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Lana’i, Kaho’olawe, Maui, and Hawaii. Apart from well-known places, Hawaii has some hidden gems which are less or not known to the population. One such place is “KAPENA FALLS”, before knowing about this place let’s have a brief description of its origin and history.
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Kapena Falls, O’ahu, Hawaii –
Kapena falls resides in Honolulu city on the island of O’ahu, Hawaii. O’ahu is the third largest island in Hawaii. The top tourist attraction of O’ahu is beaches, waterfalls and other spots like Ala Moana, Ka’ena Point, Honolulu, and Pearl Harbour. The largest city of O’ahu island – Honolulu is separated into two parts. The ‘City’ part has hubs for international business, finance, hospitality, defense while the ‘Country of Honolulu’ part is famous for its beautiful scenario, waterfalls, cuisines, culture, and traditions.
Kapena Falls is a tiny waterfall around 20 – 30 ft. This fall is easily confused with Alapena Falls located few miles away. The waterfall is an eye-catching spot while sightseeing around Honolulu. Tourists can visit this place during any season. On this journey, you can experience hiking, swimming, and other thrilling activities. Prime attractions at Kapena are a waterfall, a rock cliff, and a forest trail. The cliff is about 35 ft. and pretty shallow. You can jump off from the cliff into a chilled pool, although this might be scary that’s what makes this journey thrilling and adventurous. Surprisingly you can bring your dog along with you on this adventure.
Kapena Falls History –
Speaking about the history of this marvelous place, it has a unique story. Kapena Falls was once known as King’s Fall as it was considered a royal bathing area in old Hawaiian times. The ancient civilians craved their lifestyle on huge rocks.
After the king’s era, the early missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day saints offered up a prayer of dedication this fall on December 13, 1850. The group of 10 missionaries stayed there more than a month, built a sic and placed a stone, sung a hymn, and expressed their feelings in regards to the mission.
The roots of this place are deep down connected to concepts of holy, monarch, and defense.
Kapena Falls Direction –
One may not directly reach this wonderful destination. A proper route should be followed also refer to a map or consult any local person to reach out to this place. The actual waterfall is situated exactly below the Pali highway.
How to get to Kapena Falls?
The journey begins at the back of Nuuanu Memorial Park and Mortuary, park your vehicles here as the further journey will be covered by walk, then head down 150m down the hill until you get to ‘Scenic lookout 500 ft.’, the path leads to a trailhead near the rock wall, a further trail branches you into the woods for 5 to 10 minutes walk and finally you reach straight to the top of the jumping cliff.
The path can be easily explained as –
- Start from downtown Honolulu
- Head towards Pali highway
- Reach Nuuanu Avenue
- Take a turn from Nuuanu Memorial Park and Mortuary
- Move towards the small traffic circle
- Go towards a small park your vehicle
- Walk 150m towards ‘Scenic lookout 500ft’
- Near rock wall enter into the trail
- Walk for 5 to 10 minutes
- Finally, you reach your paradise
The above-mentioned path is only for reference, an actual route should be consulted from an experienced person.
Kapena Falls Hiking –
The hiking part of this journey starts as soon as you park your vehicle. The hiking part is equally adventurous and informative. How can hiking be informative? Well, this is a special spark about this journey. While walking through this trail, ancient Hawaii rock cravings can be seen, the pictures of humans and animals craved represent the culture, tradition, occupation, lifestyle of ancestors.
The entire trail length is 0.5 miles that can be covered almost in one hour. This trail path for hiking towards the top of the jumping cliff have woods, branches, boulders, bigger leaves and thousand of banyan trees. Hiking of this place is categorized as a simple and easy one. The safety of every person should be considered and precautions should be taken to avoid any accidents.
Kapena Falls Death –
Utmost safety should be followed while hiking such adventurous places, so has to avoid any kind of accidents. A few years back 17 years old hiker was found dead at Kapena Falls.
The story reported that the teen was from the Moanalua High School, who came with a group of 7 – 10 other school students. The bunch arrived at falls before 10 a.m. and later the victim went in search of a restroom, almost an hour passed but there was no sign of him. The other students tried to reach him but all was in vain. The parents of the victim and police were called to the accidental spot and around 3 p.m. they found the body at the bottom of the pond. The reports didn’t exactly indicate the reason for death.
A moral to take from this incident –
Take responsibility for your safety, avoid stupidity and carelessness. Don’t perform any activity under peer pressure. Know your abilities and stay within them, in case of any error or doubt stay with a partner as that person can provide help or call for help whenever required.
Points to remember –
- While parking your vehicle do not leave your valuables, avoid not bringing them on hiking and if carrying pack them with your carry–on bags.
- Do not enter the pool water with open wounds and don’t drink this water.
- Every person should carry their individual small first aid kit along with them.
- After vacations, if you feel sick then consult a doctor and take the required precautions.
- If cliff has rope swings do not try them as it may lead to any injury.
- While jumping from cliffs or walking through trails be cautious to avoid accidents.
- Carry a bug spray along with you as mosquitoes here are a bit aggressive.
- Swimming and entering the pool should be done after proper judgment as pollution and bacteria are common here.
Conclusion –
After reading this article, all you pretty readers must be excited to visit this amazing hidden place. Get yourself to relaxing and thrilling activities by visiting this hidden treasure of Hawaii.
“Get your bags done and
Fly high to Kapena falls!!”
