Tags
13 Crossings, Hiking, HIlife, Maui, nature, paradise, Trails, waterfalls
This morning we hiked Makamakaole Stream which is also often referred to as 13 crossings. The obvious reason for this name is the number of times the trail crosses the stream before you eventually end at a series of waterfalls.
This hike isn’t particularly hard as much as it is tricky. It starts with trying to find the path head which is almost impossible to find unless you already have an idea of where it is. We got to what we thought was the trail head around 10:30a.m and headed down only to find an extremely over grown forest so assuming this couldn’t be the hike we continued down the road. As we continued to walk we came across a second trail head and decided to head on down.
It was a pretty over cast day so the ground was extremely wet and slick which made it very easy to lose your footing, but since this is pretty typical for Maui hiking we continued to wonder down the trail until we eventually came to this.
It was a beautiful lush area with this swimming hole which also happened to have a tree ladder accompanied by a rope swing. It looked like natures playground and had we not been so preoccupied with trying to find the 13 crossings hike we might have stayed and played but instead we continued on. We found a stream but it only brought us to a few other swimming holes and a lot of dead ends so we decided to head back up to the road to look for another trail head.
As we headed back up and over the stream there was a medium sized jump from one rock to another to clear the water and as Colt jumped over effortless I stopped. It seemed my legs were too short or maybe the rock was too wet or maybe I was just a chicken but I couldn’t jump. I quickly looked for another way and found one just a short distance down the stream. As I walked to the area I scolded myself for being such a wimp! I told myself that wasn’t usually like me and as I walked and wondered why I was all the sudden such a chicken …BOOM…. down I went into the stream. As my foot slipped on the mossy slated rock all I could see was Colts back still hiking up ahead and as I watched him walking away all I could hear was the sound of my own scream, it was broke, I knew it was broke. As the scream met Colt’s ears he quickly turned around in shock to see me in the stream screaming that it was broke. He rushed over thinking it had to be my foot until I told him it was in fact my tailbone. As he picked me up from the stream and put me on my feet I immediately fell to all fours crying out in pain. My breathing swallowed and I felt like I was going to pass out. As I sat there on all fours whimpering all I could hear was Colt laughing, did he actually think this might be a joke?! As I calmed down and caught my breath I finally managed to tell him I was actually hurt and in a lot of pain and that’s when he went right into husband mode. As he got me up slowly I realized that I could actually stand but the pain was at about 7 and getting worse.
Once I was steady on my feet I realized that besides the constant pounding in my tailbone the pain was manageable so we continued on and by the time we got to the road I was in pain and pissed. I came to hike 13 crossings and that’s what I was going to do hurt or not. So I insisted we walk back up to the car to look up the trail head on our phone because we were going in!
Colt got the GPS going and we quickly found out that the original path head that we started down with the over grown path was indeed the hike (if only we would have kept going my tailbone would have been spared) but none the less we headed down.
Other than a lot of over grown plants and bushes the trail was beautiful and the stream was clear and rushing with water. The pathway was pretty easy to hike but the actual crossing of the stream was some what of a challenge (mostly because the rocks were really slippery and I was in pain) but Colt didn’t seem to have any issues (it must have been his big bad water shoes).
The hike itself offered a wide range of beauty including meadow like fields, bamboo forests, exotic trees and lots of open clearings.
Don’t let this smile fool you I was hurting but too stubborn to admit it.
The only evidence left from the dreaded fall (besides the constant pounding of course…)
After you pass the last crossing there is a split in the road, one looks like a continued path and the other a rock bed you actually continue up the rock bed and that’s when you finally reach this beautiful waterfall and swimming hole.
From here you can also climb up to a second landing where you will find a double waterfall. I guess there is also a third fall but you have to scale a rock and I wasn’t really up for the challenge today!
This hike in total is about 3 miles long, 1.5 down and 1.5 back and it took us about 2 hours because I was moving slower than usual and we stopped for awhile at the waterfalls and swimming hole. Overall this is an awesome hike with diverse views and a killer swim at the end that I would highly recommend.
I too look forward to hiking it again on another day….when my ego is better and my butts not so sore!
All smiles, so proud!
Chasing the Maui Son ✨ 