Hiking the Kaunala Loop Trail on Oʻahu’s North Shore
Distance: 5.4 miles / 8.7 km
The Kaunala Trail on Oʻahu’s North Shore is a favorite among locals for being a quiet, relaxing, and beautiful trail, much like the ʻAiea Loop Trail in central Oʻahu. However, Kaunala sees far fewer visitors in comparison.
Furthermore, on most weekdays during the late afternoon/ evening hours, one can expect to see a number of North Shore residents out for an evening workout on Kaunala, being that it’s one of the best local hikes to go for a nice trail run.
That said, if you’re interested in learning more about other great trail runs across Oʻahu, I encourage you to read more in my separate article.
Read My Separate Post: Best Oʻahu Trail Runs
Kaunala Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Kaunala Trail is located at the very end of Pūpūkea Road on the North Shore.
There is no designated parking lot for the Kaunala Trail, but since it is typically a very untrafficked hike, finding a place to park nearby on Pūpūkea Road should never be an issue.
Google Maps Directions: Kaunala Trailhead
Hiking the Kaunala Trail
From the parking area, the Kaunala Trail begins further up Pūpūkea Road, where the trailhead will be marked once you pass the gate up ahead.
Kaunala Trailhead
After the gate, walk up Pūpūkea Road for about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) until you come to the split for the Kaunala Trail on the left-hand side.
Kaunala Loop Trail
This area in the photo below is where the Kaunala Trail splits, and you either have the option of hiking further up the road to do the upper loop first or heading left at the trailhead sign to hike the lower loop first.
If this is you first time on Kaunala, I recommend going left here on the lower 'half' of Kaunala because there is one turn that can be very easy to miss if you’re hiking in the other direction.
Lower Kaunala Loop
The lower half of the Kaunala Loop is truly the only part of the trail that is a trail.
By this, I mean that the upper half is more roads than trails that circle back to this split in the beginning.
As you can see, the elevation changes on the Kaunala Trail are very mild, which is why I believe it is one of the better trails to run on Oʻahu.
Go right at this turn, and the trail will become more defined shortly after.
This is one of the best viewpoints on the Kaunala Trail.
Note that the trail heading up from the valley is not the Kaunala Trail, but it actually continues behind where this was taken.
As you can see here, the uppermost portion of the lower loop is almost always a little overgrown.
However, I don’t think that hiking in pants is necessary because this section of the trail is typically very short.
Just prior to the upper 'half' of the hike, the Kaunala Trail will make this hard left turn.
Upper Kaunala Loop
This turn is one I previously mentioned that could be easy to miss if you’re hiking in the other direction.
However, if you’re hiking in the direction shown here, go right to continue around the Kaunala Loop Trail.
Once on the upper loop, the rest of the Kaunala Trail follows two different roads that loop back to the beginning.
This open area in the photo below is the highest point on the Kaunala Loop Trail at about 1,400 ft. (427 m).
This gate may or may not be open.
In either case, go right at the next junction, which is the same Pūpūkea Road from the beginning of the hike.
Koʻolau Summit Trail (KST)
As a side note for the KST, no part of the Kaunala Trail is a part of the Koʻolau Summit, with the exception of Pūpūkea Road.
That being said, the true summit trail begins further up Pūpūkea Road from this junction, but I strongly advise against hiking any portion of the KST unless you know exactly what you are getting into.
The KST is the hardest hike in Hawaiʻi.
Read My Separate Post: Koʻolau Summit Trail (KST)
This is point of Pūpūkea Road that completes the loop with the Kaunala Trail from earlier.
Native Plants on the Kaunala Trail
The Kaunala Trail is a relatively low-elevation trail, meaning that it’s predominantly covered in non-native/ invasive plants, like Eucalyptus and Strawberry Guava. However, there is surprisingly a high amount of native diversity on this hike, even though the Hawaiian natives may not be in numbers.
Some of these include ʻŌhiʻa lehua, Kōpiko, ʻAhakea, ʻIliahi, Uluhe, and Maile, to name a few.
If you would like to know more about these and tons of other native Hawaiian plants from across the islands, I encourage you to check out my separate post linked below.
Read My Separate Post: Native Hawaiian Plant Guide
