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Trip 2
Hanalei-Okolehao Route
Distance: 5 miles (round-trip)
Elevation gain: 1252 feet
Hiking time: 2 1/2 hours
Topos: Hanalei
Difficulty: Moderate, hiking boots recommended.
Highlights: After having been closed for many years by a jurisdictional problem, this fine trail near Hanalei town opened again in 2000 as the Okolehao Trail. This out-and-back trip with great views has a new trailhead and is moderate to strenuous depending on how far you go. Boots are recommended, but this is a hike to avoid if it is rainy.
Driving instructions: Beyond Princeville, where Highway 56 becomes Highway 560, the road curves down a long switchback to cross a one-lane wooden bridge over the Hanalei River. Immediately on the other side of this bridge, turn left onto Ohiki Road; the junction may be unsigned. Follow Ohiki Road for about a mile to a signed parking lot on the left; just across the road on the right is a footbridge over China Ditch. Park here if there is room; if not, then, as signs warn you, the trail quota is full, and you may neither park nor hike here until someone else leaves. (On two out of three visits, I was the only person there.) Signs line Ohiki Road; the land on either side is in Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, and we the public must keep out.
Permit required: None.
Description: Cross the footbridge and climb a stone-and-earth path that curves to intersect a dirt road. Turn right (northwest) on the dirt road; staying on the path soon takes you to a dead end at an overlook above Hanalei Valley. On the road, you shortly approach a gate.
About ten feet before the gate, another dirt road takes off very steeply on your left (west-southwest). This is your trail.
Climb the road between banks plush with uluhe, palapalai, and sword ferns, and with grasses. It’s also lined with koa, swamp mahogany, and paperbarks. The road winds now steeply, now gradually, up to an open spot next to a huge concrete powerline tower at a little over 2/3 mile. There are excellent views over Hanalei from here; this is a good destination for a moderate hike.
To continue, notice that on your left as you overlook Hanalei Bay, there’s a row of Norfolk pines. Your trail, now a footpath, resumes among these pines, bearing generally south-southeast up the ridgeline. Volunteers keep this trail open; it would otherwise vanish quickly in the dense growth.
At first the going is gradual except for brief, very steep, up-anddown sections, and is mostly shaded by a forest of pines, guavas, paperbarks, and koa. Views are spectacular at the few open spots. The farther you go, the more frequent are the steep ups and downs, and the more open and exposed the trail becomes. Some “steeps” even require handholds and toeholds in the mud. You’ll envy the ease with which the occasional big dragonfly gets around up here.
The trail curls around a peak called Kaukaopua, and emerges on its broad summit amid ti, laue and sword ferns, lantana, and blue ageratum. The slopes drop away abruptly on all sides, and the views are breathtaking: west to Wainiha Pali; northwest across Hanalei and its exquisite bay; east to the peaks and the sea around Anahola; and south, deep into the beautiful mountains from which the Hanalei River springs and which the Powerline Trail (Trips 4 and 12) traverses.
At last you must retrace your steps to your car.