Manoa Falls

Manoa Falls! 

Last time we tried the Manoa Falls Trail, it was closed because it was raining. I'm so glad we tried again! 

Being us, we spent far more time getting distracted along the trail then at the destination.

There isn't a spot to park at the trail head, so you have to park somewhere in the residential area nearby. We only had to walk about a block through the neighborhood, but still we found things to be distracted by.

We found this beautiful Brown Anole guarding his rock wall.

And this perfect specimen of  male gold dust day gecko.

When we started the trail we were greeted by this MASSIVE  vine covered snag.

The camera didn't do this shot justice! Those plants at the bottom of the valley are HUGE! 

The broad leafed plant in the middle (the one that looks almost like a pumpkin/cucumber leaf shape) I would guess it's leaves were almost 3 feet across!

Such a pretty trail. It reminded me a little of the coastal redwood hikes in California.

Here is some of the creek.

Richard with a big ol leaf

 
a great little collection of tiny mushrooms:

Oops did I say little? I mean a HUGE collection of tiny mushrooms:

Natural archway:

Hey look at that! We actually made it to the destination this hike!

Manoa Falls, All 150 feet of its glory:

The trail follows the creek up to the falls so we decided to hike in the creek back down part of the way.

Richard caught this little Red Swamp Crawfish in a pool.

Then we found the king of the crawfish:

Here is a nice shot looking down the creek

I really liked these delicate ferns:

I love the biodiversity in this valley there are at least 3 different types of fern in this shot, then you start trying to count all the plants and ....

Soo pretty!!!

 Oh! Well hello there Mr Leopard Slug:
(these guys can get up to 8 inches!)

And another fun fungi ;)

Ok so you know fiddle heads... baby fern leaves? You can eat them and they normally are about this size, (though I often find them a lot smaller):



Not in Manoa Valley though, they are HUGE!!! Science Fiction sized!
Here is a fiddle head and my hand!

Here is another one... it's about as tall as me. Can you find Richard in the background.

I want to come back with my fairy costume someday because you could take some seriously believable shots with the plants here.

 Here is Richard with one of the fronds:

I really loved this tree too:

Look at this amazing flower!!!

I have never seen anything like it, and have no idea what it is, but I'm in love!
I especially like how the blossom looks nothing like the bud.. totally different colors!

That was the end... this is a shot overlooking the neighborhood. Can you imagine having this view in the middle of a suburb!