After the first tunnel (and both of its windows) we immediately went down the overflow (?) to the right instead of following the ditch. Someone had tired a nice rope to help you up and down. After that, we followed the river until the dam and and the split. We crossed and found the trail to the second tunnel quite easily. Use the metal stairs to hop down and off you go. The second tunnel had water which was almost 3 feet deep, so be ready for this. The waterfall after the second tunnel was incredible and well worth the effort. Actually, unless you really like hiking in the mud and tunnels, I wouldn’t do it unless you were able to make the waterfall. We started hiking the third tunnel and made it to the third window before turning around.

It was 2.25 hours to the start of the first tunnel, and a total of 4 hours to the end of the second tunnel and the waterfall. It took us just over 3 hours on the return trip. With lunch, we left at 8:30 and returned at 4.

We stumbled upon your very informative site only yesterday – i.e. AFTER we returned from Kauai where we also did the infamous “secret tunnel hike”. We had very similar experiences to many of yours and your readers’ posts – crawled through heaps of mud and brush, made it through the first (or first two by some people’s counts) tunnels, then had to turn back for lack of time since the trip there took waaaay longer than the stupid Ultimate Kauai Guidebook suggests. Just like some of your other posters, my wife and I are very experienced hikers and we were quite angry about the misinformation in the UKG book which convinced us to devote (read “waste”) a day of our vacation to this hike. Yeah, the walk through the tunnel is fun, but the muddy, ridiculously difficult trudge to it is hardly worth it and the valley beyond is not very exciting and certainly not the “Shangri La” the UKG book describes it as. In his fervent desire to put things in his book to make it seem the most unique, the author carelessly exaggerates the beauty and uniqueness of many of his “secret” spots. Based on careful reading of the hiking directions in the UKG and comments on this site and elsewhere, I don’t think the author actually ever hiked past the first tunnel himself. My advice to any of you that happened on this site BEFORE going to Kauai is – don’t waste a day of your stay on this hike, it’s not worth the time and effort considering you likely have only a few days of vacation to divy-up among the many other attractions on the Island.

What is really sad, people follow the UKG descriptions like lemmings. Because it says that at the first stream crossing there is a convenient bamboo grove to make a walking stick from, it seems everyone tries to make one there – eventhough that particular bamboo is very flimsy and splits easily – as evidenced by the many fractured bamboo walking staffs discarded along the trail. Similarly, everyone believes the book’s hiking timeline of 1.5 – 2 hours max to the first tunnel, which is total BS. On the day we did this hike, we met up with 2 couples on the way back who also tried to do it based on the UKG and never even made it to the first tunnel due to lack of time. So in a singe day the UKG caused 6 people to have a wasted, disappointed vacation day. So much for the Shangri La!

Thanks for all the photos. Now we know what we “missed” past the second tunnel!

I’m actually not sure which section you’re talking about with the “1ft wide path, touching the wall” above an 80ft fall. Are you perhaps thinking of the Kalalau trail?

This hike is extremely difficult for the terrain, forest, lack of trail sometimes, mud, water, boulders, darkness and cold (yes) in the tunnel, etc. but it doesn’t have dangerous drop-offs that I recall. There is a spot right before you enter the tunnel where you cross a plank bridge over a dark chasm (see photo of wooden bridge). That’s actually the ditch coming out of the tunnel, it’s probably 15-20 feet deep and you don’t want to fall, but it’s easy to cross the plank bridge (do check it for rot first). And if you cross the river (which you say you didn’t do), there is one trail that also walks along the edge of the deep ditch as you head towards the other tunnel, but again it’s 15 feet at most.

There are definitely 1-2 ft washout gaps in the trail, except with all the hikers, they are now 3-4 ft gaps where you slide down in the mud 3-4 feet, but you land on the ferns and vegetation if you fall (see the photo where I say the trail is slanted). I don’t think you’d fall down the slope here though, it’s not that steep a traverse.

Just to add a few more details: people count the tunnels differently, but it sounds like you went a slightly different route than I describe. After exiting the first long tunnel, including any curves when you reach those little windows, you find yourself in the ditch with wood planks to your right (photo “staring at the old ditch”). Some guides and blogs say to climb over the planks and head down to the river. I think this is rather steep and slippery, not sure if there’s a good path there. In this description, I went through another very short tunnel (50-80 feet) that I call the bonus tunnel and before going into your 3rd tunnel, I followed some trail blazers down a rocky gully (a streambed) to the main river. Since you went through the 3rd tunnel, you were closer to the 30ft wide waterfall over the dam, but I went upstream to find it as well.

Do keep an eye on the weather. It has started raining recently on Kaua’i after a long dry summer. Check a few days before to make sure it’s not pouring in the interior, and get a forecast for the day you go:

Past 24hr rainfall: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/hydro/KRAINFALL_24.gif
Next 24hr forecast: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/data/HFO/AGFHFO

And yes, 4WD with clearance is always recommended on the dirt roads. For the water crossings, the first one should be your gauge: it has a curb on the upstream edge with some gaps. If the water is flowing much over the curb or you can’t see the curb, don’t go. You don’t want the water higher than your axles–it’s not just the air intake, it’s the force of the water against your wheels and then your sideboard that can push the car. If that first one is passable, then the others should be too, but do pay attention. There is one more water crossing, further along the dirt road. It’s a tiny trickle of a stream but it has made 15-20 ft puddle about a foot deep at a low point in the road. Here you shouldn’t have to worry about current unless you see any (then you know it’s flowing too much and too deep), but you should test the depth (maybe grab a branch in the forest or use a hiking pole) if the puddle looks larger than 15 ft.

And great point about the river crossings on the access road. I’ve been meaning to write a whole post on how to get to the trailhead on the dirt road and that would be a major point. Do not cross rivers, either by foot or by car if there will be lots of rain and you have to cross back over them. You might get stuck.

Actually, I’m wondering how you handled the two crossings on the trail as well.