One of the largest and deepest fresh water pools on Oahu is located along Kawainui Stream, in the northern part of the island. Lying deep within the foothills of the Koolau Mountains, the trail is not hiked often except by pig hunters, and the pool is seldom visited. Access to the trailhead is over private land as well as through a military training area, and the private owner and the Army only grant access to approved hiking organizations. Plan on doing this trip with either the Sierra Club or the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, which schedule it on a regular basis.

The trail portion of the hike is about 6 miles round trip, and is not strenuous. However, conventional vehicles will need to park 1.5 miles before the trailhead, which adds 3 miles to the trip - and the return half is all uphill. Four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with high clearance, can go all the way to the trailhead. There are no serious elevation gains, although there is a small uphill switchback at the beginning. The trail has no places that should worry those concerned with heights, although there are some narrow spots. There are about a dozen stream crossings where care should be taken on slippery and unstable rocks. Flash floods and high water are a possible danger, as those who read on will discover.

The Sierra Club last scheduled this hike on July 22nd, and since I hadn't done it in a while, I decided to go along. That Sunday dawned grey and threatening. Tropical storm Cosme had just passed, after drenching the Big Island, and I didn't relish hiking in the rain. However, as the morning advanced the sky brightened and the weather looked good. The meeting place for the hike was the parking lot behind the North Shore Market Place in Haleiwa, and once the group gathered, we car-pooled to the trailhead. It is an 8-mile drive on a road which soon turns to gravel, and then hard dirt for the last mile or so. At this point, a wide turnout on the left marks the parking space for conventional vehicles, and the downhill mile-and-a-half walk along the road begins.


The walk down the road was uneventful, but when we reached the bottom of the gulch we had our first surprise. At a normally dry concrete ford, we found water pouring across the road, making a small waterfall on the other side.

 
Crossing carefully, we proceeded to the trailhead and climbed quickly up the switchback  Since he had previously decided that all of us would have hiking sticks as a safety measure at the stream crossings, hike leader Randy Ching stopped us at the first growth of strawberry guava trees to use his folding saw to cut a stout stick for each hiker. With all due respect to botanists and environmentalists, who consider it an invasive pest, I could not help thinking of the strawberry guava as the hiker's friend. I thought of all the times that a sturdy sapling had helped me up a steep slope, stopped me from a nasty fall, and provided delicious, thirst-quenching fruit along the trail.


As we made our way along the narrow trail, we could hear the stream below us, and sometimes catch a glimpse of it. It appeared swollen, but not over its banks, so we continued. Along the way, Randy stopped at an old water tunnel to discuss some aspects of the old irrigation system, which we were following.


Our second surprise came as we crossed two small feeder streams, which normally flowed leisurely, but which today ran so fast and full that caution was required.


We crossed a slope filled with uluhe en route to our first encounter with the main stream, a dam which we would have to cross.


Normally well above the water level, the top of the dam provides a dry, paved stream crossing. Not this time. The entire bowl behind the dam was full, and the stream poured over its top.
Compare the photos below. The first shows crossing the stream in a previous hike; the second shows our crossing.


Once across the dam, we continued through the forest, heading for our first encounter with crossing the stream itself. Often, we walked closely beside it, noting that it was fast and swollen, but still within its banks. Along the way, we found shampoo ginger in bloom.


When we reached our first actual stream crossing point, it was apparent that we would have trouble. There was little resemblance between the normal easy crossing and today's rushing muddy-brown water.



Although veteran super-hiker Patrick Rorie made a successful exploratory crossing,
 

It was obvious that the group would have difficulty. Randy and co-leader Mel Yoshioka wisely determined to turn back. There were many more crossings to come, with no way to know what was in store. Rain was threatening farther upstream, making for higher and faster water, and it is always prudent to follow the worst-case scenario. Disappointed, but agreeing with the decision, we stopped for lunch beside the stream.


Then, turning around, we crossed the dam once more,


consoling ourselves with harvesting delicious mountain apples on the way back.

That night I learned that the Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club had also cancelled its hike in Koloa Gulch due to high water.

The photos below (and the one which heads the column), were taken on a previous trip to Kawainui Pool.

The best way to hike the trails on Oahu is with the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club and the Sierra Club. Both have permission to hike many routes not open to the general public. Neither one requires membership to join most hikes, although non-members pay a small fee, and they restrict certain hikes to members only. For info on membership and hiking schedules, see the following web sites. HTMC & Sierra Club.

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