CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Drawn to the cool water and beauty of Manoa Falls, visitors swam and posed for photos yesterday despite signs warning of leptospirosis and landslides.
Hiking tours
get state’s OK to
return to Manoa FallsTrail improvements and
group limits prompt the move
The state has reopened Oahu's popular Manoa Falls hiking trail to commercial hiking tours after three years of banning them.
The Department of Land & Natural Resources hopes that by limiting the tours to a maximum of five 12-person groups a day that it can balance the interests of tourists and local hikers while protecting the environment, said Curt Cottrell, manager of the state Na Ala Hele Trails system.
Commercial groups were banned in early 2001 after state officials decided that large, un-permitted groups were eroding the trail and decreasing the enjoyment of local hikers.
Since then there have been improvements to the 0.8-mile trail that ends at a 100-foot waterfall.
Gravel and steps in erosion-prone stretches have increased its durability to high traffic, and portable restrooms will be installed soon near the trail head. Illegal commercial hiking groups face fines of up to $500, Cottrell said.
Commercial groups cannot hike on weekends or holidays and must pay the state $5 per hiker to use the trail. The Web site www.hawaiitrails.org describes all state trails and lists which offer commercial guides.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Pictured above are University of Hawaii students Lucas Heger, left, Matt Murphy and Miles McCall, and newlyweds Alexander and Yelena Sheynbaum.
Since online booking opened last week, none of the eight commercial tour groups with state permits on Oahu have set up tours on Manoa Falls trail, Cottrell said.
Several tour operators said yesterday that they might add a Manoa Falls trip to their offerings, while others said they are not interested.
"I think we're gonna kind of wait and see" what the demand is for the trail, said Kyle Ono, of Aloha 'Aina Eco-Tours. "We might offer something in the future."
An employee of Discovering Hidden Hawaii Tours said the company is unlikely to take tours to Manoa Falls, because it usually has groups of 25 or more.
Yutaka Chino, owner of Outdoor Quest Hawaii, called the reopening of commercial tours "good news" but was not sure his company would take tours there because of its limited staff.
"Manoa Falls is probably one of the most attractive places and probably one which would suffer the least damage" from high use, said John Hall, a member of the Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club. He called the state limits on group sizes "quite reasonable."
The first year the state charged commercial hiking operators to use trails, it collected $13,000, Cottrell said. Last year, the take had grown to $65,000, which shows increased tourist interest in hiking, Cottrell said.
The Manoa Falls Trail was closed for three months in 2002 after a landslide dropped 370 cubic yards of rocks and dirt near the base of the falls. Signs warn hikers to stay away from the landslide area, including the pool at the base of the waterfall.
