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Introduction

“The Surprising Isle”—that’s what I’d call Oahu. Or perhaps “The Contradictory Isle.” Sprawled across the southeast corner of Oahu is Honolulu, a spaghetti-like tangle of traffic-jammed streets reminiscent of any mainland metropolitan downtown area. Honolulu is about commerce, not about pleasure! Its Waikiki district is a maze of crowd-choked streets deep in the canyons formed by one sky-scraping hotel after another. (Yes, there is still a beach in there—see Trip 32.) Almost half the population of the state of Hawaii weighs down this one corner of Oahu.

Yet even in the midst of that urban turmoil, you’ll find quiet walks along canals and through gardens. Inland toward the mountains behind the city, within a few blocks of all its busy-ness, there are miles of fine hiking trails that offer pure delight.

And there is much more to Oahu than Honolulu. Driving along the northeast (windward) side of Oahu and its North Shore, you enjoy breathtaking views of knife-edge cliffs inland, their vertical drop thinly disguised by thick green vegetation here, exposed as stark gray stone there. Seaward, one magnificent beach or bay follows another for mile after mile, the sweep of the coast only occasionally interrupted by a tiny community. Some of the world’s most famous surfing spots are here: the Banzai Pipeline, Waimea, Sunset Beach…. During the warm season, gray veils of rain sweep across the land from time to time; this is the rainy side. During the winter, storms pound the North Shore, raising killer waves and even closing the highway. Except for the towns of Kailua and Kaneohe, this side of Oahu seems almost empty. Hiking trails beckon you to explore the inland rainforest. Miles-long stretches of lightly used beaches with sand as fine as powder invite you to sun, stroll, and swim.

On the west and south (leeward) sides, once you escape Honolulu and reach the coast near Nanakuli, the panorama of beach and cliff is just as striking and nearly as empty. The drier climate here leaves the coast clad not in rainforest but in scrub, soft and gray-green at a distance, scratchy and impenetrable close-up. Few public trails penetrate this region, but at the westernmost end of it at Kaena Point, you’ll find a rewarding wilderness-hiking experience unlike any other on Oahu.

Along a trail high above Honolulu, branches frame Diamond Head and Waikiki’s highrises.

Resist the temptation to confine your visit to Waikiki. There really are other places to stay on Oahu. No matter where you stay, get out of your hotel and savor Oahu firsthand. That’s where the best of Oahu is! The island has splendid dayhiking, though no backpacking to speak of. There are urban walks through gardens with spectacularly strange plants; trails where you’ll find the rare fragrant white hibiscus native only to Hawaii; trails that lead to cool swimming holes on tropical streams; trails where the sheer exuberance of tropical growth and the richly varied music of birds inspire awe; and trails that offer spectacular views—even overbuilt Honolulu is spectacular from such a vantage point. How do I know? I walked every trail that’s used as a trip in this book at least once, many more often.

The shape of things

Viewed on a map, Oahu is shaped like a lumpy trapezoid whose “left” (west) side is far shorter than its “right” (east) side. It’s made up of two extinct volcanoes whose original shapes must have been much more oval than circular. Now, all that’s left is one long wall of each volcano and the plateau that formed between them. The remnant of the older volcano, looking like a short chain of mountains, is called the Waianae Range and it defines the shorter west side of the island. The volcano’s crater probably lay where the Lualualei and Waianae valleys are now. The remnant of the younger volcano, looking like a long chain of mountains, is called the Koolau Range and it defines the longer northeast side of the island. Its crater lays near present-day Kaneohe and Kailua. When they were both younger, material from the Koolau volcano built up against the Waianae volcano to form the inland plain between them, the Schofield Plateau.

Oahu was never politically dominant in old Hawaii. Hawaii and Maui were far more important then. Today’s Oahu owes its preeminence to a unique feature on its south (“bottom”) edge: the three deep lochs of Pearl Harbor, one of the Pacific’s finest harbors. The lochs are actually river valleys, gouged out when the sea level was much lower during the last Ice Age. They subsequently drowned when the world warmed, the great ice sheets melted, and sea level rose. Native Hawaiian canoes needed no such harbor, but European ships did. As Europeans and their trade came to dominate Hawaii’s everyday life, Hawaii’s political and economic life shifted to Oahu and Pearl Harbor.

Take time for Oahu

It’s bigger and far more interesting than you may think at first. You can’t drive all the way around Oahu on coastal roads because the westernmost point, Kaena Point, is closed to vehicles. Few roads cross the mountain ranges, and those that cross the Waianae Range are closed to the general public. Road conditions and traffic around Honolulu (and even Kaneohe and Kailua during rush hour) will slow you down, too. Plan to spend several days exploring Oahu, either by rental car or by Oahu’s excellent public bus system, “TheBus” (check out www.the bus.org).

Pali over Kaneohe Bay

Be a good visitor

Hawaii is not Paradise. Paradise is infinite and self-renewing. Hawaii, and particularly Oahu, is a real place of finite space and resources, where real people live real lives with jobs, families, budgets, and bills. Hawaii needs loving care from its visitors as well as from its natives—especially on overdeveloped, overused Oahu. As the number of tourists increases, I think it becomes important that we visitors actively contribute to the aloha spirit instead of just passively expecting to receive it. Bring your best manners and your patience with you to Oahu. Be patient with the many traffic obstacles. Be the first to smile and wave. Be the first to pull your car over so that someone else can pass. Be scrupulous in observing the rules of the trail in order to help preserve what’s left of Oahu’s few open spaces. NO TRESPASSING, KEEP OUT, or KAPU (“forbidden”) signs mean, “You stay out.” Please respect those signs.

A few words for the third edition

I’ve deleted two trips whose trails are now closed, Sacred Falls and Maakua Gulch (see Appendix B). But you’ll find two new trips, Maunawili Falls and Maunawili Ditch Trail. Some trip numbers had to change to account for the old trips being deleted and the new ones inserted. I’ve also updated a number of existing trips. Wilderness Press designed a wonderful new “look” for Maui Trails and Kauai Trails, and I’m delighted that they’ve applied it to this new edition of Oahu Trails. I think you’ll find the book easier on the eye and easier to use as a result.

GPS: I’m not including GPS data in this edition because, to be honest, I don’t have it for most of the hikes. I don’t think they’re needed for the established trails and gardens these hikes are on, anyway. Yes, I have a GPS unit, but I find it more of a hindrance than a help except for drawing otherwise-unmapped trails. If you are a big fan of hiking with a GPS unit, I apologize—and why don’t you send me the GPS data you collect? I prefer UTM coordinates, miles, and feet. Thanks!