We’ve quickly discovered that Maui has many micro-climates and diverse ecosystems, and this hike was our first foray into a true jungle environment. The Kipahulu area of Haleakala National Park is on the southeast coast of the island, where lava flows from the volcano have been eroded by water into patterns of deep gorges separated by steep ridges. Rainfall is abundant here, and the forests are dense. After returning to the Kipahulu visitor center from the Seven Sacred Pools, we headed directly up the adjacent Pipiwai Trail, our destination the 400′-tall Waimoku Falls. The signs indicated it was 4 miles to the falls and back, and we had brought sandwiches from a little cafe in Paia, a beach town near the west end of the Hana road, so we planned to eat lunch at the falls. It took much longer than the planned hour to reach them – the heat and humidity were certainly factors, but every bend in the trail yielded new scenes to be photographed and taken in. The trail rose moderately over the first half-mile, following Pipiwai Stream on a generally northerly course – we could hear the water rushing nearby but caught only glimpses of it from high on the cliffs to its west. We came to a sign indicating a water view could be had off to our right, so we scrambled down the damp, steep, but steppable rocks to find the lower and shorter Makahiku Falls tumbling into a deep pool – it seemed so remote, here less than a mile from the visitor center with few other people around, although we did encounter a group of about six coming down the spur trail as we climbed out. A few hundred yards up the main trail stood an enormous banyan tree that was quite another sight – its branches had to spread somewhere around 100′ across. The real treat, short of the high falls themselves, was the bamboo forest we entered shortly thereafter – we emerged from dense jungle onto a footbridge, seeing across the stream to the east a vast hillside covered in bamboo that was swaying in the breeze. After a hairpin turn and crossing to the west side of the stream via another bridge, we entered the bamboo forest ourselves – it was amazing, so deep and dark. We wandered off the trail a little – on purpose – to fully grasp the experience. As the breeze caught the tops of the trees high above, the stalks would knock together, making an audible click like hundreds of castanets sounding in chorus. Here, the trail was very muddy in spots, and the park service has installed boardwalks to cut down on erosion that also helped keep our boots clean. After exiting the forest about a half mile further up, we again found ourselves walking along the stream. Suddenly, we looked up and there it was – Waimoku Falls, spilling in a central cascade, flanked by numerous rivulets on all sides over a breadth of about 50 yards, down the walls of an amphitheater 400′ tall. We crossed the creek on some rocks, made our way through some tangled tree branches and roots across the trail, and found ourselves at the foot of the falls. There were about ten people here ahead of us (although there were maybe fifty here by the time we left a half hour later), and, like them, we ignored the signs to stay back and boulder-hopped to some rocks that we thought would make a fine lunch spot. It was fantastic – the clouds overhead sometimes gave way to brilliant sunshine, and the whole canyon would brighten as the light danced in the mists from the fall. Truly a magical moment, and, of course, the photographs don’t do the scene much justice. As the canyon began to fill with people, we bade the falls adieu and returned to the car – what seemed like forever getting there passed very quickly as we retraced our steps down the trail. We think the GPS may have gotten quite confused in the deep forest – what should have only been four miles measured nearly six, so we’ll have to plot the track once we get home and see if perhaps the trail has been rerouted with added distance and the signs have yet to get updated or not. The irregular trail surfaces make this hike tough for some, but its sights and sounds are a must-do if one is ever in this area – a real gem among many treasures.