Hiking the Waimano Ridge Trail on Oʻahu
Distance: 14.6 miles / 23.5 km
The Waimano Ridge Trail is like the sister trail of the neighboring Mānana Ridge to the north. However, Waimano is a 3 miles (4.8 km) longer, and if you plan on hiking all the way to the Koʻolau Summit, get an early start. This is especially true in the winter when the sunsets are earlier.
On this day, I reached the summit in 3 hours and 15 minutes with no breaks, and I started at 7 a.m. because I was heading north on the KST.
Waimano Ridge Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Waimano Trail is at the very top of Waimano Home Road in Pearl City.
Parking is all on the side of the road, and make sure to never leave anything valuable in your car. Even something as simple as a bag on a seat should be avoided could result in broken windows.
That being said, I’ve never had an issue at this trailhead, and it’s by far safer than others on the island.
Google Maps Directions: Waimano Ridge Trailhead
Hiking the Waimano Ridge Trail
Don’t forget to pack a headlamp for the long ridge hike.
I personally find the first 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of the hike to the second stream crossing to be a bit annoying until the trail gains the contour trail (ridge) from there after. In the beginning, there’s lots of turns, elevation gains followed by losses, and I’m personally never a fan of the feral pig / mosquito / strawberry guava-like habitat that is the first few miles of the trail.
However, don’t let that discourage you because as long as you keep moving, you shouldn’t have a problem with the bugs, and the upper ridge and the summit view are well worth the first few miles!
Upper Waimano Trail
Immediately after leaving the trailhead, the Waimano Trail splits. Both trails will eventually meet up again, so you could take either, but I like taking the upper trail as a more direct route.
After this sign in the photo above, the trail will start passing by the Waimano Tunnels. At no point should you have to hike through any of the tunnels to stay on the trail.
This is also where the trail starts descending nearly the entire way until the second stream crossing, which will have to all be regained on the contour trail there after.
The overpass is relatively “new” compared to the trail heading straight past this sign. I always go straight because I find it faster and more direct, but you will have to scramble down a small rope section immediately after this sign.
If you see and don’t want to do it, just turn back to the overpass.
After the trail’s first stream crossing in the area in the photo above, the Waimano Trail will climb back up and over the adjacent ridge with the shelter in the photos below.
The trail continuing forward is straight across the grassy opening on top of the ridge.
At this point, go straight even though it looks like the trail turns on a switchback.
Past the shelter, the trail will descend back down to the second and final stream crossing.
After the second stream crossing and on is where I recommend hiking with pants. Past this point, the trail will remain on the ridge for the rest of the hike to the summit, and it will become more and more overgrown as the miles go on.
The pants below are my recommendations that hold up the best with the overgrowth here in Hawaiʻi, but with any hiking pants that need to be durable, make sure that they are at or near 100% nylon. This is really the most important factor!
The Contour (Ridge) Trail
After the Waimano Stream, the trail will climb about five switchbacks up to the contour trail. From this point and on, the beginning and annoying 3.5 miles (5.6 km) in my opinion are behind you. Even though the trail gets a bit more overgrown from here to the summit, I find these remaining miles much more tolerable than the beginning.
It’s much nicer that the trail doesn’t ride the ridge and have unnecessary ups and down, hence the contour.
This hard switchback at 6.5 miles (10.5 km) is a good sign that you’re getting “relatively” close to the summit. Only 0.8 miles (1.3 km) to go.
At this point and on you’ll have a vague view of the summit. You’re aiming for the gap!
Below is where Waimano Ridge meets the KST, and the true Waimano summit is shortly after to the right.
Waimano Summit is a weird one because you’re not actually on a peak. Rather, the summit is the true low point on the KST between Eleao to the north and Waimalu to the south.
Don’t proceed on the KST unless that is something that you were planning for, and you know exactly what you’re getting into. Heading in either direction on these remote miles of the summit trail is significantly harder than Waimano Ridge to get to this point.
Native Plants on the Waimano Ridge Trail
Perhaps the lack of native plants in the first 3.5 miles (5.6 km) is another reason why I don’t like the beginning of the hike, but the one native plant that comes to mind before the switchbacks is Hau.
However, from the switchbacks to the summit you can find too many native plants to name in this one post. There’s ʻŌhiʻa, Koa, Kōpiko, ʻAhakea lau nui, Akaʻawa, Alani, Hame, ʻIliahi, ʻĀlaʻa, and Hōʻawa to really only scratch the surface on what you can find.
If you would like to learn more about identifying all these native Hawaiian plants that I just listed and tons more, check out my separate post.
Read My Separate Post: Native Hawaiian Plant Guide
