Kuli’ou’ou Valley Trail

This was a great walk for my family. My 4 year old son walked and I carried my daughter in our kid carrier. Nice easy walk. No Vistas but beautiful forest and some birds. I’d say it’s a great way to get children out and exposed to short hikes other than paved trails.

This hike starts in the same place as Kuli’ou’ou Ridge, but it’s much shorter (1.5 miles) and easier (only 300 ft elevation). However, if you’re willing to do something a little more strenuous, Kuli’ou’ou Ridge is a much better hike.
Relaxing stroll that follows the valley streambed and leads to a couple teeny waterfalls. This area tends to be both shady and dry (not always easy to find that combination). The stream will be dried up if it hasn’t rained for a while and is actually quite lovely after a rain. This hike a good option when it’s rained a lot and you’re looking to avoid something that’s too muddy.

There’s a reason for there being 170+ reviews for the Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail and zero reviews (until now) of the Kuli’ou’ou Valley Trail. Apathy.
Both trails begin from the same spot (the end of Kala’au Place) and while the ridge trail goes up, up, up to beautiful vistas, the Valley Trail goes nowhere. Literally. It crawls along the valley floor for about one mile then just peters out to nothing. It’s not that it couldn’t have gone further but more like whoever blazed the trail just completely gave up. The guidebook I read from (Suzanne Swedy’s «Hiking the Hawaiian Islands») described the end of the trail thusly: «After 1 mile of walking on good trail, you can cross to the other side of the stream… but beyond this the trail is not maintained and becomes a muddy brushy scramble».
So there you are.
The trail has a mild elevation change of 350 feet, is extremely easy, goes about 1 mile, and took me 60 minutes total to «hike».
I’m of the opinion that the same people who forged the trail got 1 mile in before saying to themselves «nobody’s ever going to go on this when that other great trail is right over there» and because they just stopped, nobody does. And nobody really needs to. If you have very young children, a very old dog, or just want a pleasant stroll through nature maybe give it a try. If you enjoy actually hiking though, just skip it.