Safety of Manoa Falls trail still in doubt
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
A number of measures still must be taken to assure safety at Manoa Falls, meaning it will likely be summer before hikers can venture up the popular trail again, said Gil Coloma-Agaran, chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The trail has been closed since Feb. 1, when heavy rains loosened tons of rocks, plants and mud above the falls, sending debris crashing down 600 feet near the pool at the base of the falls. Warning signs and barriers still block access to the trail.
Some hikers yesterday ignored barricades to the Manoa Falls trail, which has been closed since Feb. 1.
Curt Cottrell, state trails manager, had said that access could resume this month, but a March 8 memo from Coloma-Agaran to several DLNR managers said the department must perform a risk assessment before restoring limited public access to the trail to provide "reasonable public safety."
According to the memo, the trail will be reopened only after:
• A temporary viewing area is built near the falls to keep hikers away from potential rockslides.
• Trees that block views of the falls or that "contribute to future hazard on the left side of the falls" are removed.
• Ground and air surveys of avalanche areas are completed.
Some hikers fear that the trail could be closed permanently, saying they think the state is worried about more lawsuits like the ones that followed the Mother's Day 1999 rockslide at Sacred Falls State Park that killed eight people.
The Sacred Falls trail remains closed.
"We are going to be relying on people to know the limits," Coloma-Agaran said Thursday. "Our wilderness areas are just that, wilderness. There will always be the risks that come with a natural areas."
