Jackass Ginger Pool

Oh my, please pardon the language in the post title, I know this is a family site.  But that's what everyone calls the spot we went to this past weekend.  I could make up a new name I guess, but that would just be really confusing.

To get there, we hiked the Judd Trail and then took a side trail down to the pool.  We had a group of teens and tweens with us and they enjoyed swimming in the pool, jumping in off the rocks and swinging on a rope swing and landing in the pool.  I'm not really an advocate of jumping into water when you can't see the bottom and I'm completely against diving into water when you can't see the bottom, but no one was injured while we were there.  Hooray!

There's a natural little rock slide on one side of the waterfall (water cascade is probably a more accurate description) and our boy enjoyed sliding down that into the pool a couple times.  Our girl waded in the water above the falls/cascade until someone pointed a crawdad out to her and then she wasn't so sure she wanted her feet in the water.  I think I'll wear my swimsuit and get in next time, crawdad and all!


Do it yourself on Oahu:

• If you hike the Judd Memorial Trail in a clockwise direction, the cutoff to Jackass Ginger Pool will be on your left after you've started on the downhill portion of the loop.  You can see the stream from the loop trail at the cutoff.  If your main destination is the pool, then hike the loop counterclockwise or head directly down the stream to get to the pool.
• Beware that leptospirosis can be found in Hawaii's streams.  We stay out of the water if we have open cuts and I remind my kids to keep their mouths closed when they swim in the water.

Likeke Falls

This weekend we met up with a group of friends and hiked to Likeke Falls. This is a favorite hike for us because it's not too far from where we live, it's a relatively short hike and it's a kid-friendly trail. No steep cliffs for them to fall off of, no scrambling over rocks, just a nice trail through the jungle with a beautiful waterfall as a destination or a place to stop and snack.

I'm not a botanist by any means, and my knowledge of plants doesn't go much beyond, "Oh, that's pretty!" but I do enjoy the flora along the trail. There are funky vine/root things like this to see:

As well as lots of lush foliage like this:
And at the right time of the year there is also edible plant growth like mountain apples and these guavas. Yum!

This trail does get muddy in a few spots and at the waterfall you have to cross over a little stream. When we first took our boy on this hike (one of his first) he had issues with getting dirty and we had to use that parenting combo of bribes and threats to keep him moving on the trail, especially after he got a bit wet and muddy. He's come a long way in the last year and this time we barely saw him during the hike because he was up at the front of the group trailblazing with his friends - and getting dirty! At the end of the hike we had him take off his muddy boots and pants before we let him get in his car seat. For once I thought to bring a plastic bag to put the muddy slippers and shoes in for the ride home and it came in really handy.

Here my husband and our girl are crossing the little stream below the waterfall. If you're careful you can keep your feet dry as you go across. If you're a 4 year old boy who's no longer afraid of wet, muddy shoes, you just tramp straight through.

The trail continues on past the waterfall and not too far after the falls there's a neat mango grove that we've gone to a few times. I think the trail goes all the way to the Likelike Highway but we've never gone that far. This was a great outdoor adventure with lots of those, "Lucky you live Hawaii" moments.

If you want to go:

• You should be able to find directions and trail details with a quick google search. We've always parked at Koolau Golf Course and hiked from there, though a lot of people start the hike from the Pali Lookout down the Old Pali Road. The hike is probably a little shorter and easier from the golf course but I can't say for sure because I haven't gone the other way.

• For those who enjoy geocaching there are a couple caches on this trail.

• Take drinking water (and snacks for kids) in with you and remember to take your trash out.

• Happy hiking!