As the wheels of my car pound the wooden planks of the one-way bridge into Hanalei Valley, all signs of modernity seem to fall away. No crowds, no traffic lights, no foreign noise. Just a carpet of shock-green kalo (taro) and the Hanalei River, wide and placid, gently gliding toward the sea. Traveling down the […]
My gray T-shirt is saturated in sweat, I’m out of water and breath and I’m nearly ready to give in to that tiny voice in my head screaming, “Enough already!” I catch a faint glimpse of a windmill blade in the distance. It’s just enough motivation to keep going, though my ego is a bit
It was 6:30 a.m. when we started our hike to Hanakapiai Falls, a roughly 300-foot tall waterfall nestled in the back of Hanakapiai Valley on Kauai’s north shore. We were the only ones out hiking. In fact, save for the vocal birds above, we had the entire beach and valley to ourselves. While this hike
The Aiea Loop trail is a popular hike along Halawa Valley in south central Oahu. You’ll see everyone on this hike, from small children and bounding dogs to trail runner and elderly hikers with walking sticks. We also saw a group of mothers, carrying their young children in hiking carriers. The 4.8-mile loop, although long, is
Mark Twain dubbed it The Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Measuring 10 miles wide and 2,000 feet deep, Kauai’s Waimea Canyon may be a miniature version of her Arizona sister, but with waterfalls and hues of green, she’s arguably prettier. Only one hiking trail takes you down to the bottom, where a gently flowing river
Walking so far up into the clouds along steep switchbacks and knife-edge ridges that the view below is hard to distinguish between sea and sky. This is the Waihee Ridge Trail on Mauna Kahalawai, also called the West Maui Mountains. The 2.5-mile hike is known as one of the most scenic treks on the island, and
The 10-acre forest reserve known as Polipoli sits at 6,400 feet on the slopes of Haleakala in Upcountry Maui. Its trails wind through redwood trees and misty mountaintops, producing a dreamlike experience—and a distinct feeling of not being on Maui anymore. You start with a winding road from Kula to Polipoli… …that climbs above the morning
If you love seeing rare native plants and birds, then you won’t want to miss Kipukapualulu Trail, a 1.2-mile loop through one of Hawaii Island’s last vestiges of native forestland. Located just outside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in eastern Hawaii Island, the free-to-access trail is also known as “Bird Park” to area residents because
Chances are good that you’ve never been to Waimanu Valley. The largest of a string of remote valleys along a dozen miles of rugged, windswept Hamakua coastline between more accessible and well-known Big Island valleys Waipio and Pololu, Waimanu is not an easy place to visit. There is only one way in—by foot on the
Squinting into central Maui morning sunshine, I survey blue skies directly above a Hike Maui van and worry about the waves of cumulus camouflage rushing toward our alpine hiking destination: the summit of Haleakala volcano. My heart sinks a bit at the sight. I begin wishing that the warm, sunglasses-and-T-shirt weather in the sea level
We weren’t even three minutes into the craggy dirt roadway to Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve when one of our companions busted a tire on his bicycle. A not-exactly welcome, if unexpected chance to absorb my surroundings. It was the first time in years I had been on the coastal trail traversing remote Kaena Point,
On your next visit to Pololu Valley Lookout, at the end of the Big Island’s northernmost highway, do the following. Take a seat on the lookout’s rock wall. Close your eyes. Inhale the salt-kissed air of the meeting of rugged North Kohala and Hamakua coastline. Exhale slowly. Then open your eyes and take in the
