The Most Secluded Place on Oahu Ka'ena Point State Park

An Easy Hike With A Roaring Ocean

Oahu certainly felt the most crowded of the Hawaiian Islands on my visits, especially downtown Honolulu.  Despite the awesome food and attractions (Diamond Head and Iolani Palace for example) of the south eastern side of Oahu where Honolulu is, after a few days I wanted a break from all the hustle and bustle.  The best place to get away on Oahu in my opinion is Ka'ena Point State Park on the far north western side of Oahu.  

Enjoying the seclusion of Ka'ena Point on Oahu.

Ka'ena Point is a State Park encompassing the north western tip of Oahu.  This area was sacred to the ancient Hawaiians.  They believed the souls of the recently deceased would jump off the cliffs of Ka'ean Point into the spirit world.  I would say it now can serve as a place of contemplation and meditation due to the quite landscape, only interrupted by the crash of waves and chirping of birds.

The parking lot to the kid is more like where a paved road ends at a beach.

Before Ka'ena Point was a park, a road encircled the point of the island, connecting the still existing roads arising from the south and east, the current access points to the park.  The dirt road that once encircled the point now serves as a wide hiking trail, although it is rather washed out in some spots.  The ex-road makes for a flat easy hike along the coast.  Visitors can simply hike along the road approaching from the south or east along the coasts and turn around whenever they feel they've had enough for one day.  This was our plan, and our entire hike originating from the southern entry point lasted about ninety minutes.  We turned around when we encountered an especially bad washout of the trail.  Since we were hiking in sandals (yes the trail is that easy) we decided not to attempt the by pass without better foot ware.

My brother making his way along the rocky trail of Ka'ena Point.

While Ka'ena Point is a nature reserve we were not fortunate enough to see any wildlife on our hike (other than a couple of birds that flew briefly overhead).  That just made for more time to take in a beautiful coastline of Ka'ean Point.  Below the trail, the coast consists of blocks of basaltic rocks.  These rocks were formed from cooled laval that spilled out of the volcanoes that built Oahu.  Today these basalt blocks are constantly battered by waves, breaking them down into black rocks that litter the coast.  

The ever present waves carve out natural arches out of blocks of basalt along the coast.

Another sign of the constant erosion of basalt blocks along the coast of Ka'ena Point are the abundant natural arches along the coast.  When a wave wraps around the headland (a small peninsula of solid rock that juts into the water) the headland receives most of the impact on either side around its neck.  Due to the increase in erosion force at this location on opposite sides, the rock is worn away here first, creating an arch.  We saw several arches formed in this manner along our hike of Ka'ena Point, not something I have seen elsewhere on the islands giving the park one more unique aspect.

A wave actively eroding an arch down to a stump.

Want to read more about my time on Oahu? Check out my post about snorkeling and paddle-boarding on Oahu, the ride on the Pineapple Express at the Dole Plantation, hiking Diamond Head State Monument, or visiting Iolani Palace.  Interested in the other islands?  Read about my time hiking and riding a submarine on Maui or visiting the Kona Brewery on the Big Island.