Pipiwai Trail Map

What does the Pīpīwai Trail look like on a map?

A single line going inland and uphill, and then the same line back. There is no loop option, no alternate return, and no way to shorten it once you are out there other than turning around. Everything on this trail is measured from one point, the trailhead across the road from the Kīpahulu Visitor Center lot.

The climbing is front-loaded and the map does not show that. You gain 400 of the 800 feet in the first half mile, which is why the walk feels hardest before you have seen anything. From the banyan to the far end of the bamboo the grade is gentle, then there is one short pitch of stairs above the bridge, and the last stretch to the falls is nearly flat.

Which way do you go at the fork?

Left. About 0.1 miles in, a few hundred feet from the road, the path splits beside Hale Hālāwai, a reconstructed Hawaiian meeting house. Left climbs inland toward the waterfalls and the bamboo. Right is the Kūloa Point Trail, which drops toward the coast.

This is the only genuine navigation decision on the trail and people get it wrong daily. The tell is immediate: if the ground is heading downhill toward the sound of surf, you are on the coastal path. Turn around, it costs you two minutes.

Where does the boardwalk run?

Through the bamboo, starting around 1 mile in and running roughly half a mile. It was built because the mud underneath used to pull shoes off, and it does that job, but the planks stay wet under the canopy and they are smooth. This is where people fall, not on the stone steps everyone worries about.

There are shorter sections of boardwalk and small footbridges elsewhere on the trail, but the bamboo stretch is the long one. Nothing on the map tells you it is slick. Walk it flat-footed and keep one hand free.

Where are the stream crossings?

Two of them, both after the bamboo thins out, the first at around 1.8 miles and the second just short of the falls. Neither has a bridge. You rock hop across water that is normally ankle deep, and depth is not the problem. Footing is. The bed is rounded boulders and they are slick.

Do not confuse these with the bridge at 0.9 miles, which is a proper structure with a handrail over the confluence of the Palikea and Pīpīwai streams. That one you walk across without thinking. The two crossings are the ones that decide whether you finish, because high or brown water there is the clearest turnaround signal on the trail.

Where does the Kūloa Point Trail go instead?

Down to the ocean. It leaves from the same lot and the same fork, runs 0.5 miles round trip with about 80 feet of elevation change, and takes about half an hour. It is the walk to the Pools of ʻOheʻo, the tiered pools most people know as the Seven Sacred Pools.

The two trails share nothing but that first hundred yards. If you want both, do Pīpīwai first while you have energy and daylight, then walk down to the coast afterward. Kūloa Point is also the accessible option in this district and the one to take if the group cannot manage stone steps.

How accurate is the trail diagram?

The order and the distances are right. The shape is not. A schematic like this one puts every landmark at its correct distance from the trailhead so you always know how far you have to go, but the real trail bends, doubles back along the gulch, and crosses contours that a straight line cannot show.

Use it for pacing rather than navigation. You do not need navigation here, because the trail is one path with one fork and it is obvious the whole way. What you need is to know that the overlook is 0.5 miles in and the bamboo does not start until 1, so that nobody in the group thinks the grove is around every corner for forty minutes.

Questions

Is there a map of the Pīpīwai Trail?

Yes. The trail is a single out-and-back path of 2 miles each way with one fork near the start. The stop-by-stop table on this page gives the distance and cumulative climb for every landmark.

What is the order of stops on the Pīpīwai Trail?

Trailhead, the fork at Hale Hālāwai, the first climb, Makahiku Overlook at 0.5 miles, the banyan, the bridge, the stairs, the bamboo forest from about 1 mile, two stream crossings, then Waimoku Falls at 2 miles.

Where is the bamboo forest on the Pīpīwai Trail?

It starts about 1 mile in, just past the stairs above the bridge, and runs roughly half a mile on boardwalk.

How many stream crossings are on the Pīpīwai Trail?

Two, both between the end of the bamboo and Waimoku Falls. There are no bridges at either. Normal depth is ankle deep and the footing is rounded, slippery boulders.

Which fork do you take at the start of the Pīpīwai Trail?

Left, at the reconstructed meeting house about 0.1 miles in. Right is the Kūloa Point Trail down to the coast.

Is Kūloa Point on the Pīpīwai Trail?

No. It is a separate 0.5 mile round trip from the same trailhead, going to the Pools of ʻOheʻo rather than the waterfalls.