Wiliwilinui Ridge Trail in Oahu

The condo our parents rented in Oahu was awesome.  We will post information about the VRBO experience and about the condo we used in the Waikiki Lanais in a separate post.  The owner, Sana, was awesome and really made our stay great.

Our parents asked about hikes and Sana suggested the Wiliwilinui Ridge Trail.

We are a hiking lot with 5 seasoned hikers and backpackers so off we went.  The youngest brother in our group of 3 is Big Willie or the Wilverine as he likes to call himself.  We had to do a trail of the same name.

Here is a map of the trail from Google.  You will take Laukahi Street from H1 / 72 going east from Waikiki or Honolulu.  It is easy to find and very near Diamond Head.  You will drive for what seems like days and finally reach a guard station.  The trail head is located in an upscale gated neighborhood.  We felt very comfortable leaving our car.

The guard was super nice and gave up a parking sign for our car, after scanning my mom’s ID.

There is a parking lot at the trail head and plenty of parking.

The trail starts off pretty calm and for about the first 2 miles, it is scenic and calm.

There were some amazingly large trees on the trail.

The last half mile is roughly 700 feet of straight up incline.
Wilverine is only 5 and he hiked the whole thing, while persistently chattering about the geneology & hierarchy of Bionnicles. (That was fun…)

We were bouldering and rock climbing with ropes for much of the 700 feet.

There is a cool swing at the 1/2 way point.

It was fun and every one of us survived, but it was tough.

The entire hike was about 5 miles and it took up easily 4 hours.
We took a few breaks, but this hike takes a while.

Was it worth it?  For sure.
This was our top hike in Oahu.
We hiked Diamond Head, Koko Head, Makapu’u Lighthouse, and the Manana Trail to the Waimano Falls/Pools.
If you are in Oahu, make time for the Wiliwilinui hike.