My son-in-law and I decided to take this hike while the rest of our family relaxed. We both love to photograph things so we had that in common. My caution to all is to be prepared for anything on this hike. Adam is in his 40's and hikes a LOT so this was nothing for him but I am in my 70's and it was a bit of a challenge. This is a rain forest area so everything is WET. Lots of mud and uneven ground and rocks, be prepared. That said the area is stunningly beautiful and varied. The elevation gain is listed at 800' but that does not account for all the up and down. Many, many steps made of uneven lava rock and boardwalks. One minute you are in coffee trees the next it is solid bamboo! Many views of waterfalls, pools and cataracts! Lots of wild flowers along the way. I suggest good shoes for hiking. I saw a lot of people in sandals and some were wishing they had better shoes on. Loved the hike.

The Pipiwai Trail is definitely worth the hike. The bamboo forest is amazing and you can get some awesome pictures. Bring your bug spray!

We took the advice of friends and our guidebook and spent the night at an airbnb in Hana. After watching the sunrise from a beach we headed straight out to this trail around 7 am. The road out here was a lot sketchier than we expected, we were glad we only rented an old Nissan! We were one of the first cars in the lot and one of the first groups on the trail. As a result we had the trail and the falls to ourselves the whole way and we really enjoyed it. The grade is pretty gentle compared to our usual stomping grounds in the Canadian Rockies and the tropical plants, banyan trees, pools, waterfalls and especially the bamboo forest really wowed us. It took us about 2 hours all told and while we did it in sandals we did wish for good running shoes. As people have mentioned, they have closed the base of the falls but we didn't really have any other expectations built up and honestly if someone has died there, I'm ok to enjoy from a distance! The trail started to get busy as we hit the last quarter so we were glad we had gone early. I am thinking if this was a stop on a there and back trip to Hana that maybe our experience might have been different but as our first activity in the morning we really really enjoyed this beautiful trail.