Читать книгу Hawaii Trails. Walks Strolls and Treks on the Big Island онлайн

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About halfway, the route is apparently hacked through a hau thicket. Conflicting, confusing tags may have you wondering which way to go. I found that the route that ran closer to the edges of the hau thicket connected better with the rest of the route.

A waterfall in Waimanu Valley

You finally stumble upon a third, “wet” watercourse—possibly marked by a metal rod painted red and white. Turn upstream along this third “wet” watercourse without crossing it (if that is how the tags still direct you). With the help of the tags, you’ll soon pick your way through drenching spray to the base of the fall, where the pool is said to be swimmable. The din of falling water is deafening, and the fog of spray may conceal the true size of this waterfall. There’s plenty of broken rock around the pool. Beware of falling rocks at this or any other waterfall!

Waterfalls at work

In Hawaii, the terrain tends to consist of alternating layers of resistant lava and less-resistant material such as consolidated ash or clinker. A stream wears down through the softer layer and cascades over the harder layer. The force of the falling water wears away the rock at the base of the falls, forming a lovely pool. Undercut by that process, the rock above the pool succumbs to gravity and falls away, shattering at the base of the falls. This process wears the stream’s channel farther and farther back into the slope. Over eons, the stream cuts its gorge back toward its headwaters. Because harder and softer layers alternate, streams often form a chain of waterfalls on their long descent to the sea.