Finally I had a day off from work on a weekend. We wanted to do something adventurous so I did some research on the internet and found the “secret tunnels of Kauai”, also known as “Kaapoko Tunnels”. What I found out about them was they were old irrigation tunnels that were used to divert 28 million gallons of water a day which was used to water the sugar cane in the valleys below. The main tunnel is 1 mile long with 2 more tunnels that are ¼ mile, and 1/8 of a mile (these are considered tunnel 1). Supposedly there is a 2nd tunnel but we ran out of time to find it. We left the trail head at 10:30am and began down the muddy trail. We were prepared and brought the proper footwear for the hike (I had a pair of Merrell water shoes and the rest of the fam had tabis). We made it to the first tunnel after some extreme route finding, bamboo bushwacking and several stream crossings.
The first tunnel was tall enough that I could stand and wide enough to walk side by side. It did have shin deep water the whole way and the last ¼ of the tunnel had old rail track in the bottom. When you start you can see a faint pin hole at the other end which grows larger every step.
Approaching the other end of the tunnel there was a split, we headed up the 2nd tunnel and ran into the truss system. The trusses were placed at what looks like a collapse years ago. This tunnel winds around and eventually leads you to the irrigation canal. From here you get to the 3rd tunnel. This tunnel is a little more difficult, It has a low ceiling that you have to bend over the entire way and to make things worse, you are walking through shin deep mud. When you get to the end of the tunnel, you have to crawl through a small opening to get out. Once out, we were awarded by a river and waterfall all to ourselves.
This adventure was 4 miles one way and took 7 ½ hours from beginning to end. I am planning to go back some day to get to the last tunnel, one of these days.