Best Walking Trails & Routes in Kailua

This is an alternate route in the Lanikai Pillbox area known as Keolu Hills. This branch traverses the hills between Bellows and Enchanted Lake. It is less travelled and therefore, can be overgrown in certain sections. If it were to be cleared, it would be a great running trail.

Waihe’e Falls shares the same initial path as Hamama Falls. Stay on the well marked and wide 4WD road or main trail to reach Hamama Falls at the end. It’s a nice easy access to a tall falls off the cliff. Not a lot of water but decent. Waihe’e Falls is off the beaten path and once it leaves the main road it is not for casual hikers. The trail is wet, muddy and in some spots steep. It is easy to miss a step and go a tumbling so do not try this if you are not prepared. This fall is a 3 stage fall will a good octopus like fall at the bottom, a cool dipping pool at the mid level and a spring coming out from the mountain side (man made thru blasting to get to the aquifer). These last sections are steep and slippery. The one thing that isn’t so good here is the fact that you will be eaten alive by the mosquitoes if not prepared!

Hike past Friendship Gardens to access the ridge of Oneawa Hills. This is a roller coaster hike that if not cleared can be overgrown with tall California grass. It has great views of kawainui marsh, Kaneohe and windward. It will get your heart pumping with the many up and down hills.

This is a very pretty trail with four distinct sections. The first is a side contour that steeply descends and then wraps below the ridge line above. There are a few minor rock scrambles and cavelike formations but what’s distinctive above this portion of the trail are the plants here that makes it feel like someone’s garden. Mulberry, aloe, ferns and bromeliads hug the trail; along with the Mickey Mouse plant. The next section curves upwards to regain the ridge line but passes through ironwood, strawberry guava and coastal redwoods. There is a huge mango tree along with several large eucalyptus as well. In this section the path is wide and passes the fence and junction to Kamehameha Schools. Soon the path narrows and you begin to feel the burn of the steep and long up hill and downhill slopes. This third section is shaded with towering Cook pines. The path narrows to visible dikes with steep drops on either side. The wind picks up and there are peek-a-boo view points. The final and fourth section is where the endemic native plants grow in abundance. Large Koa and Ohia of several varieties grow along the ridge with Uluhe as the undergrowth. This is the best section as we reached the high point with views of Konahuanui and Nuuanu Valley. We could also see straight into Lulumahu Falls with Waipuhia waterfall pouring down the side of Lulumahu ridge.