Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tunnels built as part of the Pacific defense network. Several steps take you up to the top obser-
vation post on Point Leahi. The views are indescribable.
If you want to go with a guide, the
Clean Air Team
leads a guided hike to the top of
Diamond Head the first Saturday of every month. The group gathers at 9am, near the front
entrance to the Honolulu Zoo (look for the Mahatma Gandhi statue). Hikers should bring a
flashlight and cash to pay Clean Air's $10 fee. Each person will be given a bag and asked to
help keep the trail clean by picking up litter. For more information, call
&
808/948-3299.
Fly Away
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo
from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. A plaque on
Diamond Head Road memorializes her 12-hour,
50-minute flight in 1935 from Honolulu to Oak-
land, California.
KANEALOLE TRAIL
This is the starting place for some of Oahu's best hiking trails; miles of trails converge through
the Makiki Valley-Tantalus-Round Top-Nuuanu Valley area. To get a general feel for the
hikes in the region, take the Kanealole 1.5-mile round-trip moderate hike, which climbs some
500 feet and takes less than an hour. If you're interested, stop at the
HawaiiNatureCenter,
Mon-Fri, 8am-4:30pm), where you can find information on the environmental and conserva-
tion needs of Hawaii, displays of plants and animals, hands-on exhibits, and numerous maps
and pamphlets about this hiking area. They also sponsor organized hikes on weekends.
To get here, take McCully Avenue north out of Waikiki; cross over the H-1 Freeway and
turn left on Wilder Avenue. Make a right turn on Makiki Street and continue until the road
forks at the park. Take the left fork past the Makiki Pumping Station; the road is now called
Makiki Heights Drive. Follow it up to the hairpin turn and make a right onto the small spur
road that goes into Makiki Valley; park just beyond the green trailers that house the Hawaii
Nature Center. If you are taking TheBus, it's a little trickier: From Waikiki, take TheBus no.
E8, 19, 20, 23, 24, or 42 to the Ala Moana Shopping Center and transfer to TheBus no. 17. Tell
your driver where you're going, and he'll let you off near the spur road just off Makiki Heights
Drive; you'll have to walk the rest of the way.
After stopping at the Hawaii Nature Center, continue up the path, which wanders beneath
the protection of kukui trees and lush vines. The path gets smaller and smaller until it's just a
footpath. Along this narrow path, look for the tall, bushy, grasslike plant called Job's tears. It's
considered a weed in Hawaii, but this is no ordinary grass; it can grow up to 5 feet high and
produces a gray, tear-shaped seed. The trail continues through an abandoned valley where
there once was a thriving Hawaiian community. Occasionally, you'll spot the remains of stone
