Na Ala Hele Hawaii Trail & Access System

This hiking trail is on U.S. Air Force property. In order to drive to the start of the hike, we had to enter through the Air Force gate. Someone in our group made advance «reservations» by providing names of drivers and vehicles. After driving through several guard stations and passing round satellite balls, we came to the start of the hike. A sign showed that the Na Ala Hele is part of the Hawaii Trail and Access System, State of Hawaii, Dept of Land and Natural Resources. The hike to the summit is a series of up and downs as you make your way through the valley, along the rim with beautiful views of Yokohama Bay, then finally to the top. Looking makai we could see into the Makua Kea’au Forest Reserve and looking north, we saw a sliver of ocean and Mokuleia beach. At that point we met other hikers coming from the other direction who started the trail from Dillingham Air Field and they said it took them about an hour to get to where we were. It took us about two hours, but that’s because we made many stops along the way to take photos. Returning to the start of the hike took about one hour. It’s a somewhat challenging hike because of it’s length. Best to go early in the morning because it starts to get hot by late morning.