Kit

I have been to all of the islands but I have not surveyed the hiking trails of each. Anyone want to suggest their favorite island for hiking?

ALF

I vote for Maui - specifically Haleakala Crater. What a spectacular place! You could backpack there for several days, or a longish dayhike.

The Big Island has more varied terrain and more possibilities for hikes.

xxx

Definitely Kauai.

kit

Thanks everybody I am a fairly serious hiker so I am looking for more than one major trail. Anybody else ever make a hiking vacation?

Keith

Definitely Oahu

another

Molokai, definitely Molakai.



Sorry, I just had to.

Jay

In Hawaii it doesn't get much more serious than the trail to the top of Mauna Loa - high altitude, cold, lack of water, etc., but a spectacular place. The Big Island has other possibilities for multi-day hikes, in Volcanoes National Park and to Waimanu Valley, and as ALF says has the most varied terrain overall.

Maui has Haleakala, and Kauai has the Kalalau trail and Waimea Canyon.

Kit

Thanks Jay this more of what I was looking for a number of hiking ideas in one answer, one island. Never thought about hiking up Mauna Kea, did not know you could?

molly

Another good Big Island hike is to Kealakekua Bay, where Captain Cook was killed. It offers perhaps the best snorkling on the island.

I'm not sure about hiking Mauna Kea in it's entirety {My husband and I went on an excellent tour with Arnott's Lodge {hostel}, but I can tell you that I wasn't prepared for even a short hike in the thin air. Now I know how it feels to be 90! Remember to acclimate. Mauna Kea is awesome!

scigirl

Personally, I think the hiking on Kauai can't be beat. TONS of trails, tons of different levels (skill), good trail maps available on island, lots of different terain, AND the Na Pali coast. For a several day trip consider the hike along Na Pali coast of Kauai (permits needed, apply well in advance).

For fairly detailed information on hiking on each of the islands check these books:
The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed
Hawaii The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook
(Both by Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman - both authors appear to be avid hikers - they also have written a book for Maui with a similar title)
Also - The Hikers Guide to Oahu Revised Edition by Stuart M. Ball.

Also an online search through Goggle will turn up hiking clubs for most of the islands. Oahu has a fairly active hiking community with a good website - although the specific details escape me right now.

jt

Do a web search; you can find literally hundreds of hours of reading of HI hiking logs on various islands. A small sample (scigirl, you've been ignoring my url recc's and then regurgitating same info after):

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~turner/hikes.html
http://www.rcarchive.com/hhg/
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/3660/
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~turner/hikes2/misc.htm
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~turner/htmc/hi-hike.htm

kt

Kit,

A good source of trail information is www.hawaiitrails.org

Kit

Thanks everyone this is really great.

I have searched online but was wondering what regular hikers thought from personal experience. I am sure I have not found all the websites listed in this thread. Plane to go online and see if there are comments or chat rooms linked around hiking

THANKS FOLKS!!!! HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU WHERE EVER YOU ARE!