I think it’s safe to say that I’m down to the wire with these final posts for the year! I made a point the latter half of 2022 to take all pressure off of writing here on the blog. I made a conscious choice to write when I wanted to write, rather than when I felt I had to write. It’s been freeing, and it’s given me a lot more time, energy, and headspace to invest in my business, Missy Moore Photography. I have a few more posts about our trip to Hawaii up my sleeve though, and today I wanted to share a bit about our trip up Kolekole Trail in Oahu. It wasn’t a hard hike, but it’s one of those that will forever be etched in my memories.
Exploring Kolekole Trail in Oahu
We didn’t have a lot of plans for our trip to Hawaii. Like all trips via Space A, you can’t really actually plan anything because it’s never guaranteed that you’ll actually fly. I knew that, if we did fly though, I wanted to get in a couple hikes in Hawaii because the mountains, the ocean…all of it. That’s our soul fuel right there and, especially after crossing the international date line a few times, we wanted something memorable but low-key to start.
Kolekole Trail, from what I can tell, can be traversed a few ways. We accessed the trailhead from Schofield Barracks and parked along a random side street where we found a bunch of others parked, as well. Now, if there’s one theme of our entire trip to Hawaii though, it would simple be – windy. It was so. dang. windy. our entire time there, and the trip up Kolekole Trail was absolutely no exception to this (as the photos show).
Kolekole Trail Hike
The hike, itself, has a few challenging spots with some scrambles over tree roots and limbs, but our kiddos have been hiking for years, so none of us found it particularly challenging. Except Mieke. Mieke had zero desire to hike at all whilst in Hawaii, so there was much bribery involved in all of our hikes for this year.
The trail, itself, has a pretty decent grade, and when you reach the Lualualei Overlook, the views are honestly next level. There’s a few options to take with the hike beyond the bench, including a strenuous path up through two notches for epic overhead views, as well as a finger ridge that connects to Puu Hapapa. We actually cut our hike off just past the bench though because the wind was, quite literally, blowing the children over.
Tips for Hiking Kolekole Trail
Trail Length: The entire trail is about 2.6 miles; we had to cut it about 1.2 miles in due to the wind, but the views were well worth the trip
Level of Difficulty: Easy/Moderate – if you have some hiking experience and a decent comfort level on different terrains, this isn’t too challenging
Cost: Free to enter, but the trailhead is partially on Army land, so you’ll need a military ID to access from this point
Tips: Be prepared for epic weather shifts when hiking Kolekole Trail in Oahu; with the wind, keep things strapped down tight, and don’t be afraid to call it with younger hikers. Also, bring bug spray because the mosquitoes are vicious!
