Alelele Falls (Maui, Hawaii, USA)

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Alelele Falls

The Hana Highway (actually Pi'ilani Highway at this point) has saved Alelele Falls for last. Just when we thought waterfall fatigue had set in after a full day of seeing waterfalls in East Maui, this one surprised and amazed me. Even if I was sick of waterfalls at this point, I was glad I made the stop.

Here, I witnessed a 50ft waterfall two days after a rain storm (hence the decent flow). I believe it doesn't last for very long (give it a few more days before it trickles or goes dry, I reckon) so timing is everything with this falls (as well as most of the other falls on this side of Maui; though Alelele Falls I don't think is touched by irrigation ditches).

Ever since the Big Island Earthquake in October 2006, this part of the road was inaccessible for all the subsequent times we've returned to Maui. Thus, we were never able to see this waterfall ever since 2003. And we haven't been back so far since they apparently re-opened the Pi'ilani Highway for going completely around the eastern slopes of Haleakala.

Directions: In order to access this waterfall, I had to look for the pullout and Alelele Bridge about 0.3 miles past the 39-mile post. The white-colored bridge had "ALELELE" painted in large black capital letters on its side (at least when I saw it back in 2003). After parking the car at the Alelele Bridge pullout, I followed the trail north from the east side of Alelele Stream for 10-15 minutes to the falls. There was at least one stream crossing, possibly more, depending on which criss-crossed footpath I followed (I don't remember); the stream crossings required some nifty rock hopping, and I'm sure I would've gotten wet if the water flow was high.

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Another look at Alelele Falls Another look at the falls

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