Oahu Trails. Kathy Morey
to its approximate middle, a spot on the Schofield Plateau a little east of the H2 freeway and Miilani town. At 12 o’clock, the hour hand points to Kahuku Point at the north tip of Oahu. Around 3 o’clock, it points to Mokapu Peninsula, site of Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station. At 6 o’clock, it points to Pearl Harbor. At 9 o’clock, it points to Waianae, a major town on the leeward side of Oahu.
The trips start between 12 and 1 o’clock, near Hauula on the windward shore (Trips 1 and 2) and move clockwise around the island, ending a little before 12 o’clock near Waimea Bay (Trips 43 through 45). Here’s the Oahu clock showing Trip 28, Maunawili Falls:
All the clocks are oriented so that their vertical axes (“up”) are aligned with true north (also “up”), so I haven’t shown north arrows with them.
How to read the trip descriptions
The trip descriptions are in the following format, and here is what the information in each description means:
Distance
3½ miles
Elevation gain
713′
Hiking time
2 hours
Topos
Koko Head, Honolulu
Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous, hiking boots recommended
Highlights: A varied rainforest trail in Maunawili Valley leads to a lovely waterfall with a fine pool.
Title
Pretty self-explanatory
Trail type
There are four types of trips described:
Loop trips: You follow trails that form a closed loop. You don’t retrace your steps, or retrace them only for a relatively short distance.
Semiloop trips: The trip consists of a loop part and an out-and-back part.
Out-and-back trips: This is by far the most common type of trip in this book. You follow the trail to a destination and then retrace your steps to your starting point.
Shuttle trips: You start at one trailhead and finish at another, “destination” trailhead. The trailheads are far enough apart, or walking between them is sufficiently impractical, that you need to have a car or a ride waiting for you at the destination trailhead.
Terrain type
Icons give you a general idea of the kind of terrain you’ll be walking. Some hikes offer mixed terrain; for them, I’ve tried to indicate the terrain type where you’ll spend the most walking time:
Inland; hilly or mountainous
Near or at the ocean, such as along a beach or on cliffs above the sea
Location
The Oahu clock shows the hike’s approximate location relative to the rest of Oahu.
Distance
The distance is the total distance you have to walk.
Elevation gain
This figure is the approximate net elevation change between the hike’s highest and lowest points.
Hiking time
This is based on my normal hiking speed, which is a blazing 2 miles per hour.
Topos
The topo or topos listed here are the ones that cover the area you’ll be hiking in on this particular trip. As all the listed topos are 7½′ topos, I haven’t bothered to repeat “7½” for each listing. Topos are strictly optional for the very easy and easy trips but are strongly recommended for the other trips.
Strands of native, low-growing succulent akulikuli (Sesuvium portulacastrum) drape themselves across dark basaltic rocks on an Oahu beach.
Trail map
Only listed if the map cannot be found near the “Description.” Some trips, like the botanical gardens, don’t have maps because you can get the current map when you visit. See the end of this chapter for the trail-map conventions.
Difficulty and suggested shoes
A trip’s difficulty is based first on total distance and second on cumulative elevation gain and rate of gain. Let’s say that the elevation gain is negligible to moderate (it’s never steeper than about 500 feet/mile for any significant distance). In that case:
A very easy trip is 1 mile or less with negligible elevation gain/loss.
An easy trip is 1–2 miles with little elevation gain/loss.
A moderate trip is 2–5 miles and has some noticeable elevation gain/loss.
A strenuous trip is more than 5 miles and has significant elevation gain/loss.
If the trip has a section of, say, a half mile or more where it’s steeper than 500 feet per mile, or if the trail is especially rough or hard to follow, I’ve given it the next higher difficulty rating.
Some trips just aren’t safe if you’re not wearing boots that have soles that grip and which will give you some ankle support. However, only you live in your body, so you will have to be the final judge of what you can safely wear. The standard wording follows:
Tennis shoes recommended
Hiking boots strongly recommended
Hiking boots mandatory—the route is very rough.
Highlights
This gives you an idea of what I think the best features of the trip are. Usually, it’s the scenery—that’s one of the principal things you came to Hawaii for!
Driving instructions
This gives you instructions for driving to the trailhead, usually in terms of driving from Waikiki, where most of Oahu’s visitors stay. If you can’t take TheBus, these may help you. Most directions are given in terms of what I’ve called the “basic escape route from Waikiki,” which starts where McCully Street has just crossed the Ala Wai Canal and intersected Kapiolani Boulevard. (Appendix D offers one visitor’s suggestions—mine—for navigating in and out of Waikiki.) See also the chapter “Highways, Transportation and Trail Maps” for more information on getting around on Oahu.
TheBus routes
As explained in the earlier chapter “Hiking