Hiking The Hau’ula Loop Trail On Oahu, Hawaii

The Hau’ula Loop Trail is a 4.4-mile loop trail located on the northeastern coast of Oahu. The trail takes hikers through a dense forest of Ironwood and Cook Pines, offering a chance to observe Hawaii’s unique flora and fauna along the way. One of the highlights of the Hau’ula Loop Trail is the panoramic view of the coastline and the Hau’ula Beach Park from the summit. The trail is also dotted with various lookout points, where hikers can take a break and enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

HAU’ULA LOOP TRAIL

In this blog post, I’ll share all of the details about the Hau’ula Loop Trail including directions, what to expect, and my experience.

HOW TO GET TO THE HAU’ULA LOOP TRAIL

The Hau’ula Loop Trailhead is easily accessible by car. To get there from Honolulu, take the LikeLike freeway east and continue onto the Kahekili Highway until you reach Hau’ula. Look out for the Hau’ula Loop Trailhead signs on your left-hand side, just after the 7-Eleven convenience store. There is a small parking lot near the trailhead, but it can fill up quickly on busy days. If the parking lot is full, there is additional parking available along the nearby streets. Once you park, look for the trailhead sign and start following the trail. The hike begins with a gentle incline that gradually becomes steeper as you climb higher up the hill.

HAU’ULA LOOP TRAILHEAD MAP

On the map below, I have pinned the location of the Hau’ula Trailhead so you are sorted with directions to the hike. It is signed well at the entrance and the route can be downloaded from many local hiking apps.

MY EXPERIENCE ON THE HAU’ULA LOOP TRAIL

The Hau’ula Loop Trail is a local favorite on the northeastern coast of Oahu. The regular loop is just over 4 kilometers with a moderate incline. However, the addition of the Waipilopilo Loop is suggested and makes the route much more exciting and challenging with more incline, more distance, and better views.

The trail begins in the neighborhood of Hau’ula with a well-signed trailhead. There are a number of trails that shoot off from the Hau’ula Loop Trail so I suggest having the map route downloaded onto your phone if it’s your first time.

The first few minutes of the route are on a paved road before the trail shoots off onto a series of switchbacks through the forest.

While it seems shady and protected, this route is incredibly humid with almost no breeze until you top out on the summit or the ridges. We hiked up early in the morning on an overcast day and were sweating heavily amidst the humidity after just a few minutes.

The trail reaches a split where you can go complete the entire Waipilopilo Loop in either direction. I chose to stay on the left side of the loop first in order to be able to complete the Hau’ula Loop section on the way back where it rejoins.

This blog post is about the Hau’ula Loop but the reality is that the Waipilopilo Loop was my favorite part of this route. It’s where the ridges, lookouts, and interesting sections of the trail were found.

After about thirty minutes, we reached our first lookout over the northeastern coast. Unfortunately, despite our sunrise wake-up call, the skies were overcast and not providing us with much light. Nevertheless, the views down the ridge and across to the adjacent ridges were starting to get better and better as we continued our climb up toward the summit. Below, you can see the two ridges we took up and down on the Waipilopilo Loop above the Hau’ula Loop Trail.

There were about five or six small plateau viewpoints along the journey to the summit. Each gave a slightly better view back down to the coast.

After about 1.5 hours, we reached the summit. It was a leisurely pace with lots of photos and time enjoyed at viewpoints but the 450m of incline also added to that time. At the summit, we took in the panoramic view of the Kaipapu Forest Reserve, Pu’uka’inapua’a, Hau’ula Forest reserve, and the wind turbines in the distance. The ridges behind us caught a little bit of light and looked incredible.

The route down the north ridge of the Waipilopilo Loop, heading back to the Hau’ula Loop was quite beautiful. The trail began with some minor rope sections due to a bit of muddy terrain. This was the most ‘technical’ part of the trail but the few ropes installed made these sections quite safe.

I found this northern ridge to be the lush side of the route with tropical plants spilling over onto the trail around each corner.

The trail then merges back from the tropical ridge back into the forest. The soft dirt trail accommodates the knees with shock absorption, making the descent a soft one. We came across a number of beautiful, old trees on this hike but some were more remarkable than others.

Finally, the tree reconnects with the Hau’ula Loop Trail and winds through the towering Cook Pines. This section of trail is a great way to end with soft pine needles underfoot, trees shooting up to the sky, and vibrant green undergrowth completing the scene.

We joined back up with the initial section of the Hau’ula Loop and made it back to the trailhead in just under four hours despite our slow pace throughout the route. It could be easily done in under three hours but I’d allow 3-4 hours for this route if you include Waipilopilo Loop. If you just do the Hau’ula Loop Trail, I’d allow 1.5 to 2 hours at a leisurely pace.