We hiked along a dry stream bed through Makaua Valley in Kaaawa.

At the end, a trickling waterfall chute.

Then the rains came and the trickle turned into this.

And on our hike back, that stream bed was far from dry.

There are many waterfalls on Oahu that only flow during heavy rain. Makaua Falls is one of them. When we heard a storm was approaching the East side of Oahu, Kaleo (Island Trails) suggested we hike to the falls. I had never heard of Makaua Falls but when I looked it up I saw some photos of it on Josh’s 808 Goonies blog. I could see that when flowing, this waterfall is huge and I was stoked to check it out.

Please note though that bad things can happen when hiking through valleys like this. Especially in the rain. So, here’s my disclaimer…

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is for entertainment purposes only. It is extremely dangerous to go searching for waterfalls in the rain. You can easily die in this valley. The valley is narrow and you can be swept away in a flash flood. Also, rocks are constantly falling from up above. Even a rock as small as a golf ball can injure or kill you if it’s falling from 200 feet above. Do not attempt what you see in these pictures.

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No rain, no rainbows.

No rain, no waterfalls.

We got some torrential rain last week in Hawaii. When it rains this hard, hundreds of waterfalls appear across our mountain ranges. One well known way to see this incredible sight is to drive the H3 highway. On the windward (East) side of the tunnel, you can see this view.

It was absolutely pouring and we happened to be driving up the H3 last weekend. For the waterfalls to be flowing this hard, it has to be dumping. And, since these waterfalls are simply drainage chutes, when the rain is gone, they dry up pretty fast. But, if you get lucky and catch it at the right moment, you can be treated to some majestic views.

And of course, if you are the driver, please be safe and responsible. There are other places to catch this view. You don’t have to be on the highway.

The video we’ve been working on has just been released.

We shot at five locations and spent many late nights editing.

At the beginning of February, it began playing on all Hawaiian Airlines flights to and from the mainland.

You can also watch it online.

The project started with a conversation between me and my friend Brad Watanabe. He runs a video production company here in Hawaii called Berad Studio and was interested in producing a video about rock climbing for Hawaiian Skies, the in-flight video magazine for Hawaiian Airlines. The goal of the video would be to introduce bouldering to a non-climber audience and to showcase the beauty of Hawaii through this niche sport.

Brad pitched the project and got the green light. Now, all we had to do was figure out how to get this thing done. It would be the first real video project I’ve ever worked on and Brad’s first video about rock climbing. My role was to help produce the video (meaning getting all the climbers together and coordinating shoot dates) and serve as the creative director (which meant I helped developed the look of the piece, the flow of content, and feel of the video). The budget for this video was super tight so I didn’t get paid for any of this. But, I figured it would be a fun project to work on.

We learned a lot during the production of this piece and there are a ton of things that we wish we could have done differently. But overall, we’re happy with the video.

If you’re interested how the video was made, I’ve posted photos from the different shoots with notes on how the project came together.

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I love taking photos here.

The colors are bold and bright.

I’m back at the Mu Ryang Sa Buddist Temple.

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by someone from the temple who was building their blog. She asked if she could use the photos from my Mu Ryang Sa Buddhist Temple post and of course I said “yes.” Then she told me about some parts of the temple that I totally missed and wondered if I’d be interested in taking photos of those as well.

So, I went to go check it out and here are some of the awesome sights I overlooked on my first trip to the temple…

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