Pu'u Hinahina Trail

.Waimea Canyon State Park is one of the geological highlights of Kauai, and that's saying something on an island full of great sights. Many call the Canyon the "Grand Canyon of Hawaii" and it is a title well deserved. I would compare some of its better overlooks to that of Zion National Park, no joke.

While I wish we had time for a more full hike in the canyon we decided to at least do a little something during our visit. From the Pu'u Hinahina Parking Area there is trailhead signage for the Canyon Trail. I honestly thought we were starting onto the Canyon Trail but other trail sites suggest that's not what we did. Rather we were on a Pu'u Hinahina connector trail that heads to the lookout and the actual Canyon Trail. Either way, we made the nice hike down to a cliff overlook and enjoyed the sights. The trail started flat and then eventually began a steep and very rooted descent. It then began to climb again and this confused me. I thought we were still heading north and it felt like we were climbing back up to the Canyon Road where we started. In actuality, we had descended down to the Halemanu Stream bed and the ascent was coming back up the other side to the overlook. The jungle forest was so thick it was truly hard to keep bearings. We encountered a steady stream of hikers along the trail. The overlook had a guard rail as it very dramatically was on a cliff with a deadly dropoff. The trail was entirely in the trees until we reached the overlook.

Trip Info:
Pu'u Hinahina Trail Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, Hawaii
Trailhead Elevation: 3,600 ft.
Distance: 1.61 mi. 
Elevation Gain: 503 ft.
Start Time: 12:52pm
End Time: 1:33pm


Trip Report:

Views from the Overlook

Chicken!

Track:
I have a track and waypoints from the activity all contained in the embedded Google Map. Check it out and use at your own risk.