Kapena Falls and Alapena Pool

This was a very short hike right off the Pali Hwy hear Honolulu and easy to take along the kids. I had my usually hiking crew, Mikko-Dakota, my 2 1/2 year old and my husband, Brian. Amber, my unofficial island exploring partner and our dogs Luna and Maddie. We took an alternate trail down from the highway which lead us directly to Alapena Pool / mini falls. Careful with the kids walking on the side of the highway to the trailhead. The cars are traveling fast!
The Alapena pool area was nice and provided for nice photos. As we made our way up stream towards Kapena Falls, we were enjoyed the lush foliage between the graffiti tagged rocks. We were more worried about tripping over all the spray paint cans and trash then we were about running into any wild pigs.

Since I knew it was a short hike, I opted to bring along my tripod. My tripod is not light and my Lowepro backpack does not have a designated space for a tripod. Note to self, probably shouldn't place tripod perpendicular to my back while hiking so as to avoid getting tangled in Banyan Roots and also from crushing my spine as I scramble across stream beds. Well, definitely worth having a tripod on our waterfall hikes even to get a couple nice shots at the falls.

Once a sacred bathing spot for Hawaiian royalty, it is now littered with broken glass, graffiti, and trash. I probably will not add this waterfall and trail to my must do again unless it becomes part of my Cleanup Oahu project. I will need to get back for trash photos and organize a cleanup.

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