For Sam’s 13th birthday, he wanted to do the hike to the top of Koko Head crater, near the east/windward side of Oahu. We parents were happy to oblige with this request. One family member (who shall remain unnamed) was less than pleased about this plan.
This trailhead is accessible by bus, the 22 from Waikiki. Our month of public transport use is off to a great start. We get up as early as we can and hop on the bus just a few blocks away. We have snacks and water packed, and bus money ready. It’s just $16 for all 4 of us to use The Bus all day.
We get off the #22 at the entrance to Honauma Bay and hike with many other bus riders down to the trailhead. You can’t miss it really, just look for the railroad tracks going straight up the mountain. There is my crew walking toward the trailhead.
If only the trail stayed as flat as this, sigh. See that mountain in the upper-left part of the photo? That is where we are headed, to climb to the very top on the steep, steep side. It is over 1,000 steps, up old railroad tracks.
Our group pretty quickly divided into two pairs, the fast pair and the slower pair (with one very reluctant member). I don’t have any photos of Helder and Sam climbing because they went up so quickly. The slower pair stopped many many many times leaving lots of opportunity for photos.
This one was taken about 1/3 of the way up. Whew. The good news is that if you decide to stop here and go back down, you’ve already seen a great view. The slow duo pressed on, though.
Do not let my smile fool you. I was putting on a brave face for my reluctant young climber here. It was HARD. I was sweaty. and out of breath. and humbled. shaky, clumsy legs. I thought I was in decent physical shape, but it did not feel like it on this hike.
The photos got a little more sparse as climbing went on (for over an hour). Travel book writers and other such people say it takes about 30 minutes to climb. Not for us. I am pretty sure it took our slow duo 90 minutes to climb. The fast team went in 30-45 minutes (I think). I was not super interested in hearing tales of how easy and fun the climb was for them.
The fast climbers were very good sports, and came down about 1/4 of the trail to encourage us along. That gave me a break from my role as cheerleader for the reluctant tween hiker.
FINALLY after what felt like 1 million hours, I reached the top with Sam. It was windy and the view was beautiful. I found it hard to fully enjoy from being so tired and hot, though.
There is the triumphant birthday boy, enjoying the view of Hawaii Kai below. We were all getting pretty hungry so we headed down the mountain shortly after this was taken.
Down was MUCH MUCH easier of course. Hard on the knees and hard for my clumsy tired legs and beat up feet to connect with the ground gracefully. Speaking of feet, don’t wear sandals on this hike, even sturdy hiking ones unless they have closed toes. My feet got a bunch of cuts from the old railroad metal things on the sides of the trail.
Final thoughts on this trail: It is definitely not for everybody and don’t be ashamed if it feels very hard when you try. If you decide to go, wear very comfy, light clothes (for lifting legs up high), closed toed shoes and carry at least 1 bottle of water per person. The sun is very intense the whole way up and down. When I was near the bottom, a helicopter flew to the top to literally rescue somebody. A local man nearby told us there are emergency rescues there EVERY DAY. There are beautiful views in many places on the island and this isn’t the only opportunity to take them. Last, I must thank a young woman on the trail who was so kind and encouraging to Betsy. I didn’t get her name or a photo, just learned she was visiting from Virginia. Thank you, thank you, sweet person!