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Location: Santa Rita Region: Central Difficulty: Easy – Medium in sunny weather & staying on trail, Difficult when raining, or after heavy rains & climbing down falls via rope Length: 3 Hours Height: 300 feet up & down Sight: Waterfalls, Fresh Water Cool stuff: Rock climbing, secret water slide
Directions: From the North: Drive all the way to the Southern end of Marine Corps Drive. At the Big Navy Base, turn left. You will pass Pizza Hut on your left. At the light and at the Mobil Gas Station (on your left), turn left. Follow the road until you see a poster-sign that says “Santa Rita” on it, and turn left there. Take this road for a good 20 minutes. After the twists and turns and uphill driving you will get to a level straight away with grass on the sides of the road (no longer homes). There will be red dirt for parking and a large trail opening where the Tarzan Falls trail begins.
Hike Summary: This walk offers beautiful views of the river, many waterfalls, and Guam’s tropical foliage and offers some lovely places to swim. It is a very muddy hike usually, extra-specially so after a good rain. Make sure to wear tennis shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting very dirty. The are a few fairly steep hills to walk down and back up again, so keep that in mind if you have any joint issues. This hike shows you one incredible waterfall and other medium-to-small falls farther down the river (one of which can be used as a water slide!). You can take a trail all the way down and along the river (for about an hour to an hour and a half) until you reach a final waterfall, that is quite complicated (and not worth it!) to climb down.
To Begin: Walk along the red dirt trail. After a rainy day the path will be extremely muddy and flooded with water.
The left side has less flooding, while some spots on the right side can be so flooded that you have to walk through waist-deep water!
Walk down the many hills (choose any path, they all go to the same place) until you reach a river that runs over large, flat stone. The right-side trails seem to be the least steep. A couple of the center trails (the middle of three directions) have large tire marks that can be fun for sliding down, if conditions are wet enough.
When you reach the river, this is what you see when you look to the right:
Easy Option: Go straight over the river to find the easy trail. Find the markers among the trees and follow them down.
Hard Option: Climb down the waterfall to your right, following the river down (where the above hikers are) for the difficult climb down.
First you will climb down to a ledge where you can rest before the rope climb down.
Have fun carefully standing close to the wall to feel the water fall heavy around you.
You will find a rope to the far right (looking down) to climb down the steep falls.
Do not jump down at the bottom of the rope, the water is not deep enough!
Climb down to your right where the rock creates a long, curved shelf.
After you walk (via the trail) or climb down, enjoy the large pool at the base of this magnificent waterfall. If there’s been rain and the waterfall is heavy, pop your head up into the little air pocket where the water falls away from the rock.
Keep walking downstream either on the trail on the left (facing downstream) or through the water.
Finally, you will reach a second, medium-sized waterfall. Here you can find a secret water slide! At this second water fall (shown in the photo below), walk across very carefully to the far right of the river (facing downstream). Be careful not to step in a deep hole near where the water starts falling down the rocks. Sit down in the spot that seems like a perfect cubby-seat and scoot your way forward until the water takes you away! It should be obvious if there is enough water flow for this to work!
To keep walking downstream from here without walking through the water, you can walk to the left side, but be careful of extremely the slippery rocks right off this waterfall.
Keep walking downstream and find another little waterfall. Climb down very carefully. This one can be tricky because after some rain the left side is very slippery and the waterfall is overflowing with water.
In the dry season, tall people (shown below) can climb the dry section of this waterfall.
You will then be at the top of another very tall waterfall. We suggest you end your hike here and sit down to enjoy a snack as you gaze out over the trees and river. This waterfall is dangerous to climb down and, although it’s possible to do, you don’t see much else once you’re down there.
When you are ready to return, walk all the way back until the first main waterfall is just in view again. Get onto the river path on the right side of the river (facing upstream) and walk up the hill, following the markers as you go.
Cross back over the river, over the stone, and start your trek back up those hills. Choose any path since they all go to the same place. It seems the left-side trails (facing uphill) are usually less steep than the others. Enjoy!
