Best Hikes on Oahu: The Moku Nui Island Trail

Basic Information

• Name: The Moku Nui Island Trail
• Where: Kailua, Oahu
• Distance: 1 mile
• Max Elevation: 81 feet
• Elevation Gain: 106 feet
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: Moderate
• More Information: The Hikers Guide to O’ahu

Google Earth Map of the Route

DIRECTIONS

The easiest way to get to Kailua Beach Park from Honolulu is to take the Pali Highway (Highway 61) east over the Ko’olau Range.  Once over the mountains, continue on the Pali Highway all the way to the city of Kailua.  Once in Kailua continue to stay straight on the highway which is now called Kailua Raod until it ends at a T-intersection.  At the T-intersection take a right on to Kaleheo Avenue.  Drive straight through a traffic circle and then over a bridge.  Immediately after the bridge, Kailua Beach Park is visible on the left.

PARKING

Parking at Kailua Beach can be challenging on the weekends and nearly impossible during holidays.  If visiting during these times get to the beach early.  However, weekdays are very different where I have never had a problem finding a place to park during anytime of the day.

HAWAIIAN MEANING

According to the book, “Place Names of Hawaii” the word “Mokulua” translates to “the two islands”.  “Moku Nui” translates to being the “North” Mokulua Island.

NARRATIVE

For those that make the paddle over to Moku Nui, which is the one Mokulua Island that can be landed on, I highly recommend taking the hike around the island.  Since the island is a seabird nesting sanctuary please respect and obey all the posted signs that limit hikers to the coastline of the island:

All around the island the nesting holes for the island’s birds are easily visible and should not be stepped on:

The hike begins from the small beach where paddlers land their kayaks or paddleboards at:

The views of the Ko’olau Range across the waters from Moku Nui are pretty amazing:

Here is a panorama picture of the view from the beach:

Here is a panorama picture looking back towards the island from the beach:

From the beach hikers can either go north or south around the island.  I decided to go south to get a better view of the southern most Moku Iki Island:

Moku Iki does not have a beach to land on and is completely off limits to visitors.  Here is a closer look at the southern most Mokulua Island as I hiked by it:

On the south side of the island the coastline becomes very rocky with areas of jagged lava rock:

Because of this I highly recommend that anyone thinking of hiking around the island to bring shoes with them to help walk across the sharp rocks:

To continue along the south side of the island an easy rock climb is needed to get over this lava rock wall:

It is not hard, but some people may be turned off from having to climb over it.  On the other side of the wall I could see that most of the backside of the island is composed of lava rock:

Something else I noticed from the wall was that I had a good view of the neighboring island of Molokai out in the distance:

I could also see towards the south, Makapu’u Point and its famous lighthouse:

As I walked across the world of lava rock on Moku Nui’s backside I came to the first of many tidal pools that I saw during my hike:

The coastline on the far backside of the island narrows considerably in some areas:

There is also one area where a noticeable trail goes up the side of the island to get around a large crack that the ocean crashes into:

As I hiked around the crack I could see a number of birds on the rocks checking me out:

After hiking around the crack I next had to scramble across a narrow path with ocean waves crashing below me:

Here is the view looking straight down as I crossed this area; any slip would likely be fatal here so I recommend caution:

Eventually I could see the Oahu coastline again as I hiked around the island:

The path ends where the ocean waves crash into a small inlet behind Moku Nui:

If the ocean is calm it would actually be possible to just swim across this area to reach the other side.  The day I visited the waves were crashing into the inlet.  I probably could have swum across it despite the waves but, I did not want to risk it considering I was hiking by myself, so I turned around to head back to the beach:

I had to recross all the same rock obstacles on the way back, but I made quick time since I was now familiar with the route:

I then had to climb over the rock wall again:

After climbing over the rock wall I next walked back over to the beach:

The views from the beach looking back towards Oahu were just amazing.  I really picked a great day to kayak over to Moku Nui:

More can be read about the amazing views from Moku Nui at the below link:

Paddling Routes on Oahu: Kailua Beach to the Mokulua Islands

Here is the view from the beach looking back up towards the summit of Moku Nui:

After spending a few minutes hanging out at the beach and taking in the views, I then decided to hike over to the back side of the island again, but this time by using the northern trail:

The trail on the northern side of the island is quite obvious and easy to follow initially:

On this section of the trail I had some nice views of Kailua Bay and the Ko’olau Range:

I also had a nice view of the extinct Ulupa’u Crater located at the end of the Mokapu Peninsula:

The trail on the north side eventually ends and I had to scramble along a rocky coastline again:

However, the coastline on the northern side of the island is not as rugged as the south side, because of this I recommend that people that want to access the back side of the island to use the northern route:

The trail ends at the same inlet that I had reached from the opposite side of the island:

At this inlet people do go cliff diving.  On Youtube there are plenty of videos of people cliff diving from these rocks.  For people interested in doing this, be very aware of the ocean currents and tides as well as the depth of the water.  There have been deaths by people cliff jumping into this inlet.  Here is one final picture of the backside of Moku Nui before I headed back to the beach where I proceeded to kayak back to Oahu:

Conclusion

For anyone kayaking over to the Mokulua Islands I highly recommend taking the short walk around to the backside of Moku Nui.  However, make sure to bring shoes because this hike would be pretty miserable without them.  The hike provides some really nice views of both the island as well as Windward Oahu.  Paddling over to the Mokulua Islands and hanging out at Moku Nui is one of my favorite things to do on Oahu and I think most other people that have done this trip would agree.