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Highways, Transportation

and Trail Maps

Driving

On the other islands, visitors find that a rental car is almost a necessity. On Oahu, it can be more of a curse than a blessing. Honolulu offers driving conditions from hell. From San Diego to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Vancouver, B.C., no Pacific coast city I’ve been in has worse driving conditions for visitors than Honolulu (which includes Waikiki). Here are some of the reasons driving in the greater Honolulu area is such a nightmare:

 The street system is laid out like the aftermath of a spaghetti fight in a school cafeteria. Honolulu sprawls over a wide area, including some very steep hills. Streets wander first this way, then that; change names for no apparent reason; crisscross one another randomly; dump you onto freeways; lead you into dead ends; or abruptly become one-way (probably the wrong way for you) with little or no warning. Count on it: You’ll get lost almost every time you try to drive somewhere, in spite of the help of my directions and the best street maps.

 On weekdays, the direction of traffic on major streets is altered by police to accommodate commuter traffic. The street system, which makes no sense to start with, gets even more confusing when this happens. Hapless visitors may find themselves anywhere—or nowhere.

 You can’t return the way you came. It is usually impossible for you to simply retrace the route you took to the trailhead in order to return to your hotel. You will have to figure out two different routes, one out, one back. One-way streets are particularly responsible for this problem.

 You can’t get back on the freeway where you got off it. Freeway on- and off-ramps are almost never logically paired. The freeways do not link parts of the city; rather, they slice the city apart. The freeways’ purpose is to link major military installations (Hawaii, particularly Oahu, is full of military sites). This is why an island-state more than 2000 watery miles from the nearest other state nevertheless has federally funded interstate highways.

 Commuter traffic is extremely heavy. It’s as bad as downtown L.A. at times.

All these problems are magnified when you try to drive in downtown Honolulu, where parking is yet another nightmare. See Appendix D for some suggestions about driving routes out of and into Waikiki.

Avoid the drive from hell. The best suggestion for driving in Honolulu: Don’t. You can reduce your need to drive in Honolulu by staying somewhere else, perhaps somewhere nearer the areas you most want to hike. If you do find yourself booked into the high-rise canyons of Waikiki (it’s where most tourists wind up), here are some options to minimize driving hassles:

 Take TheBus. Oahu has a fine public transportation system called, simply, TheBus. Many trailheads can be reached by TheBus. You can even go nearly around the island on TheBus—to the extent that the routes permit. (TheBus does not circle the westernmost part of Oahu.) You can get the latest route and schedule information on TheBus by visiting www.thebus.org, or by writing to the following address and enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope in which the information will be sent to you:

TheBus

811 Middle Street

Honolulu, Hawaii 96819

Note that TheBus allows you to carry a pack no larger than you can hold on your lap—practically, no larger than a big daypack. As there are no backpacking opportunities to speak of for visitors to Oahu, you shouldn’t find this limitation to be a problem. Also, TheBus stops running late at night—don’t let yourself get stranded. If a trailhead isn’t directly served by TheBus but isn’t too far from a bus stop, consider taking TheBus and adding to the trip’s mileage your foot miles from/to the bus stop.

 Take a taxi. This isn’t cheap, but you’ll probably save a lot of aggravation as compared to driving and some time as compared to taking TheBus. Be sure to bring a cell phone that works on Oahu or plan to hike from a trailhead with a nearby pay phone from which you can call the taxi company for your return ride.

 Drive it one day at a time. A few prime hiking areas, like the Tantalus-Roundtop area and the extreme west end of Oahu, are not served by TheBus. For these, you may wish to rent a car for a day, or arrange for a pickup and a ride as part of taking the hike with an organized group.

 If you must drive, bring a good road map. It’s a good idea to get a road map of Oahu and a street map of Honolulu well in advance of your visit so that you can study them. MapQuest (www.mapquest.com) directions and maps may also be helpful. The maps you get with your rental car are pretty good, although fishing through the advertising to find them is a pain. National automobile clubs may offer free maps to their members. The excellent Full Color Topographic Map of Oahu from the University of Hawaii Press includes street maps of Waikiki, Honolulu, Kailua, and Kaneohe. This map is usually available at travel stores on the mainland and just about everywhere on Oahu.

What to leave in the car

Nothing. Never leave valuables in your car, even in a locked trunk. “Valuables” include not only jewelry, money, checks, and credit cards, but things you can’t readily replace: glasses, prescription medication, identification, keys, snapshots of loved ones, etc.

Hiking

Road maps are useless for hiking trails. For trail maps, I recommend the maps in this book and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 7½′ series of topographic (“topo”) maps for Oahu. Topos show elevation details as well as roads and trails. However, topos are not updated as often as you’d like.

You will also find hiking information on Na Ala Hele’s website, www.hawaiitrails.org. Trail information there isn’t detailed, and the site doesn’t cover all trails in this book, but the driving directions are good. This site also lists licensed trail guides, if any, by trail.

If you’ve written ahead for recreation information about one of the other major islands, you’ve probably received a copy of that island’s DLNR recreation map. These maps give you an island-wide overview map and brief text descriptions of hiking and hunting opportunities. When up to date, they’re valuable for showing where the public recreation opportunities are. Oahu, unlike the other major islands, lacks a DLNR recreation map. However, you can print out some Oahu trail maps from the Na Ala Hele website (www.hawaiitrails.org).

Oahu is covered by 15 USGS 7½′ topos, as shown in the illustration below. (You won’t need them all.) It’s best to get the topos you want in advance so you can study them. If your mainland backpacking store does not carry the Hawaii topos, you can get them directly from the USGS. Their website has an excellent interactive topo-purchasing feature, so log onto store.usgs.gov. The site also includes listings of retailers that sell USGS topos, with additional links to those retailers’ websites, if any. People who have the TOPO! program and plan to do a lot of hiking on Hawaii may wish to get the Hawaii series for TOPO! and to print out their own trail maps (be sure you waterproof the maps).

USGS 7.5′ Topographic Maps of Oahu

If shopping on the Internet doesn’t appeal to you, you can reach the USGS at (800) 275-8747 (800-ASK-USGS) or write or call the national center:

USGS National Center

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

Reston, Virgina 20192

(703) 648-4000

Or there may be a store near you that specializes in maps, though most retailers carry only maps for their local area. Look in your local Yellow Pages under “Maps.” Call ahead to find out if they carry topos of Hawaii.