This is the best hike on Oahu. It's an easy hike, so almost anyone can do it. It's lush and shaded, and you get the perfect reward at the top: a gorgeous 150-foot waterfall. I was there at the peak of tourist season and there were almost no people there. Just a couple with a pastor getting married at the top. A couple with their kids and I sat and watched the newlyweds make their vows to each other with the quiet roar of the water behind them and birds calling all around.
You drive past the University of Hawaii and a rich residential area to the trailhead. Once you park your car, you walk out into a primordial glade, which takes your breath away with the serenity and beauty. As I was made my way up the trail, I kept thinking to myself, "This is the Hawaii I wanted to see." Staying in a Waikiki high-rise and fighting the crowds at the beach made me think the place felt a little too much like LA at times. But this hike made me feel like I was on a newly discovered island, if only for an hour. This is one of the only places on Oahu where I felt alone.
As I made my way down the trail, I took deep breaths of the flower-scented air and tried to burn this memory into my consciousness. I took one look back at the glade at the bottom and said my goodbye to the Hawaii of centuries past.
*sigh* Back to the madding crowds.
From Waikiki: Take McCully Street out of Waikiki toward the mountains. Turn right onto Kapiolani Blvd. Turn left onto University and drive through the University of Hawaii campus. Turn right onto Manoa Road. This will dead-end at the trailhead.