Aloha from Hawaii: Hiking the Kuliouou Ridge trail

Panoramic view from the top of Kuliouou Hike

Trail name: Kuliouou Ridge trail

DIFFICULTY: Intermediate to Moderate

LENGTH: Around 5 miles roundtrip

FEE: None

Elevation gained: 1776 feet.

LOCATION: The hike starts at the end of Kala‘au Place in Hawaii Kai

Kuliouou is a best ridge hike trail in the island of Oahu atop the Majestic Ko’olau mountains. The challenging and ever-changing terrain attracts nearly 2000 hikers each year, who are rewarded with near 360-degree views of Kailua and Waimanalo from the top.

The trail starts at a cul-de-sac at the end of Kala’au Place. There is no parking provided and you must park on the neighborhood street. Be mindful of the residents’ mailboxes and drive-ways.

Walk past the ‘Kuliouou 350 reservoir board of water supply’ sign to start the trail. As you proceed further you see a Kuliouou Public Hunting Area sign. At the sign take right and leave the paved road to enter the trail. As you proceed further you come to a fork. At this point the Kuliouou Ridge Trail and Kuliouou Valley trail separate. There is a clear sign at the fork to direct you.

Walk past this sign

The hunting sign

The beginning of both trails

The trail is rocky at the beginning

Lots of exposed roots

The bifurcation sign

Kuli‘ou‘ou Valley Trail is a very short and shady two-mile walk along a well-groomed and graded path through this leeward valley.

Stay right and you will be on the Kuliouou ridge trail. The trail is clearly defined, with lots of switchback and is well maintained by State of Hawaii Nā Ala Hele program and the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i. There are lots of shortcuts but it is better to stick to the defined trail because this trail traverses a public hunting area and there might be hunters off the trail.

The switchbacks start immediately as you begin the hike and continue for the first two-third of hike. After hiking for about 30 minutes you will come across first awesome view of Hawaii Kai and the Koolau mountains.

At the start, the hike is rocky, not so green and the low forest on both sides is nothing like Hawaii. Vegetation seen here are Christmas berry, haole koa, and other invasive plants which have taken over this part of the Koolau Mountains. But, each elevation adds a different layer to the hike.

As you proceed further and reach higher elevation, the flora changes. You will see the ground is covered with thick carpet of ironwood pine needles and there are ironwood pine trees all around. The landscape is like desert, with pine needles instead of sand.

After hiking for about an hour and half, we came to first open space and two covered picnic tables. The flora here now changes to tall cook pines. These pines were planted here in the 1930s as part of a reforestation project. This is the first proper sitting area you will encounter after you start the hike.

The vegetation is low shrubbery

The beginning part of hike

The first open view of Hawaii Kai

As you proceed further, vegetation changed to only pines all around

The thick carpet of pine needles

Pine tree

The open space after the pine forest

Aloha from Hawaii

The picnic tables, first proper sitting area along the trail

The covered picnic tables

The elevation and landscape changes drastically here. There are no switchbacks now, the incline is steep and covered with exposed roots looking like ‘root stairs’. These part is particularly very treacherous, muddy and dark with no clear cut marked path. This was our least favorite section of the trail, it was easier to climb on the left side of the ‘root stairs’ using the tree trunks for support.

But once you are past it, you come across another resting place. There is one bench and an open space looking at the Kuliouou valley. The final push to the summit involves climbing about 278 in-earth dirt stairs, against a very beautiful lush green rain forest backdrop that rewards you with some very amazing views of south and east coasts. The stairs are wet and slippery when it rains, they were put here by Sierra Club to prevent erosion.

The cook pines

Welcoming Arches

Natural Arches

The cook pine needles

The bark of cook pine tree

The root stairs

The ‘root stairs’. These part of hike is particularly very treacherous, muddy and dark with no clear cut marked path.

A lookout and bench before the stairs begin

Let's take a break

We also saw Bright orange lichen (Teloschistes flavicans) and white lichen (Usnea australis) growing in patches on trees along with ahinahina (Artemesia australis) one of the few endemic plants left in this region of the Koolau Mountains.

Bright orange lichen (Teloschistes flavicans)growing on trees

At the top of the mountain is an end-of-trail sign. Be careful not to go any further because there is a dangerous cliff and high winds. You can also make out the sudden fall in temperature at the top. Experienced hikers continue ahead to Pu’u O Kona from the top of Kuliouou Ridge. The distance between the two peak is 30-40 minutes, but the trail is not maintained and you need to have proper hiking gear to go further.

If it’s not too cloudy, we can see Waimānalo and the Mokulua Islands off the coast of Kailua. On the right, you can see Rabbit Island and Koko Crater. On far right you also see Diamond head at a distance. Sometimes if it is clear and bright you could see Moloka‘i, Lānaʻi and Maui, too.

We rested here for some time, ate sandwiches we have brought along and soaked in the beautiful vistas at the top. The view is so beautiful that you can never get enough of taking panoramas and photos. After resting there for about 30 minutes we started the descend.

There are fixed brushes provided at the beginning and at the end of hike in forested areas, prevent the spread of weeds by checking your hiking boots and brushing the sole to prevent the dispersal of weed seeds to protect Hawaii’s fragile ecosystem. Hikers are requested to brush the sole of muddy boots before and at the end of hike.

It took us nearly half hour to reach the picnic tables and another one hour and 20 minutes to navigate the switchbacks and reach the parking area.

The summit is often covered in clouds and it rains frequently. It is better to do this hike on a clear day.

It took us nearly 5.30 hours round trip.

PACKING LIST:

LOTS of water, water and water

Wear hiking shoes, it’s a difficult hike wearing simple tennis shoes.

Sunblock/bug spray

Poncho or wind cheater

Food