The track goes through private land, but presently the owners have graciously let the public have fun at the falls. Of course, this can change at any moment depending on the discretion of the owner (especially if faced with a frivolous slip-and-fall lawsuit).

I even saw some literature talking about a zipline tour packaging this falls with a more remote 120ft Kamapua'a Falls (we didn't do that though).

From the dirt pullouts (for parking; see directions below), we followed the narrow, slippery packed-mud path surrounded by tall sugarcane plants. Within 5-10 minutes, the path reached a fork. A short, steep slippery scramble to the right led to the top of Kipu Falls. Most people continued on to the stream bed above the falls and either descended the ladder or dove into the plunge pools. There were quite a few mosquitoes around the stream so we were quite generous with applying the DEET.

Going straight at the fork eventually led to a signpost indicating visitors to keep out (I'm thinking the cash crops are there and they don't want people trampling them). To the right of it, there was supposedly a scramble down to the opposite side of the plunge pool across from the falls. But I looked at that descent and I still couldn't figure out how I could've gotten down there with camera gear without taking a leap of faith somewhere (and probably getting hurt in the process or not being able to get back up).