Makapu'u Point Trail

My family and I found our way here at the tail end of a 10-day Hawaiian trip that included a 7-day Inter-Island Hawaiian Cruise. On our last day we disembarked our ship at 8am and had until 9pm when our flights left. We decided upon a tour of the east side of Oahu which included lunch in Kaneohe and then a drive down the coast past the beautiful Waimanalo Beach culminating at Makapu'u Point.

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.

1974 Lava Flow (Hawaii Volcanoes)

There was no trail here, but there was plenty to explore. As we drove the Chain of Craters Road through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park we saw the parking and the signs for Luamanu Crater. What we found even more interesting than the crater was the 1974 Lava Flow. It was easily walkable and gave plenty of room for adult and kid alike to explore this unique landscape. If time had allowed we would have been able to go much further. We wondered if this flow came from the Keanakako'l Crater which the maps suggest. It would be reasonable to conclude all of these flows and craters connect back to the Kilauea Volcano.

Sliding Sands Trail (Haleakala)

The Sliding Sands, or Keonehe’ehe’e Trail is the easiest and best ways to hike into the Haleakalā crater. We used it as a way to get just a tip of the iceberg taste of hiking here. I stumbled upon it as an idea on another site which recommended the Sliding Trails trail as a combo with the Halemau'u Trail. From one trailhead to the other was 11.4 miles and would cover gorgeous terrain. We were planning this in the middle of a family visit to Maui and in particular the Haleakala Sunrise. We had our reservation in places for the Sunrise and our whole family group of 15 would be up there in 3 rental jeeps. We just had to figure out who was hiking and who wasn't and how to handle the vehicles. If we did this great combo hike we'd have to shuttle vehicles between trailheads or figure something else.

Diamond Head Crater

We got to Diamond Head parking at 753. It was interesting driving through the one-lane tunnel to get into the Crater area. The entry gate didn't make a big deal we were 7 minutes early. The hike up Diamond Head was fantastic. The early part was paved nicely and then eventually it changes into a nice switching backing trail. It was mostly slabby rocks and firm trail the whole way, very sustainable for the large crowds. Railings were on the sides of the trail for much of it. Near the top there was a long staircase and then a walking tunnel we went through. At the top of the tunnel there was a trail option. Another steep staircase which would lead into the bunkers or a more gradual ascending trail to the summit area.