Oahu Trails. Kathy Morey

your plans and timing allow for your return by evening. Routes and schedules may change without notice, so it’s a good idea to check with TheBus in advance (808-848-5555; www.thebus.org) and/or with your driver.

      Permit/permission required

      You need permission to hike one trail on Oahu—so far. This section will tell you what you need permission for, if anything, and whom to apply to. See the chapter “Getting Permits or Permission” for whom to contact and where.

      Description

      This is the detailed description of the trip as I perceived it. I’ve tried to give you an idea of the more obvious plants and other features you’ll find, where the rough spots are, when you’ll be ascending and descending, where viewpoints are, and what you’ll see from those viewpoints.

      On a few trips, the trail is faint to nonexistent, and the agency in charge has attempted to mark the route by tying tags of colored plastic ribbon to plants along the route. On Oahu, you may also find metal tags with arrows painted on them or bright paint “tags” splashed on boulders. You navigate by moving from tag to tag. Don’t count on tags to get you in and out of an area. Always keep track of where you’ve been by map and compass, by GPS, or by landmarks, as the tags may just peter out. There’s a lot of deadfall in a rainforest, for example, and the tags are lost when the plants they’re tied to fall.

      Supplemental information

      At the end of most of the trips there’s some extra information about the historical significance of places you’ll see along the route. Or maybe there’s a story—a myth, for example—related to the trip that I hope will add to your enjoyment of the trip. Perhaps there’ll be a bit more information about the plants in or the geology of the area. I put most of the supplemental information at the end so that it doesn’t interfere too much with the description of the trip itself. I think safety dictates that you give your attention first to the trip and only secondarily to the supplemental information. That is not a problem with easy and very easy hikes, so in those hikes, the supplemental information is often part of the main description.

      Icon Key

      General Information

      Hawaiian Traditions and Legends

      Local History

      Geologic or Hydrologic Feature

      Botanical Feature

      Animals

      Hiking Table

      The following hiking table summarizes all the trips in this book. It will help you quickly decide which trips interest you and which are within your party’s abilities. An asterisk (*) under “Miles” means the distance is so short as to be negligible.

      The Trips

      Trees arch over the Hauula Loop.

      Trip 1

      Hauula Loop

      Distance

      2½ miles

      Elevation gain

      700′

      Hiking time

      1¼ hours

      Topos

      Hauula

      Difficulty: Moderate, hiking boots recommended

      Highlights: Views over the North Shore and the valleys behind it, interesting plants, colorful volcanic soil, and marvelous songs of the white-rumped shama (also called the shama thrush) make this trip a delight.