Hiking Waimano Loop Trail With My Nephew
On Tuesdays, my mom drives my nephew from our house in Kaneohe to his house in Waipio. Home for the holidays, I decided to join her this past Tuesday. We also thought it would be fun to convince his mom to come on a short hike with us before all eating dinner together out on that side of the island.
She readily agreed and I looked up a few possible trails on my Alltrails app.
Choosing the Waimano Loop Trail
My nephew is four years old and hasn’t gone on many hikes (only one in Desert Hot Springs and some walks around the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens). We weren’t sure how he’d do on the hike, so wanted to make sure we didn’t bite off more than we could chew.
The app showed the Waipio Botanical Gardens, which I thought was perfect, but it was closing in fifteen minutes, so we had to pass. There were a couple of parks that were also listed in the area, but I wanted him to experience more of a hike.
The Waimano Loop trail was the third option listed near his house in Waipio. It was a 2.33 mile loop in Pearl City, and we figured we could turn around at any point. This was our choice.
We drove from his house to the trail. Upon arrival, there was a gated area where it looked like the trail began, so we drove in. Once inside, there were signs stating that the trail head was just outside the gate and we needed to turn around and park on the street. We were trying to do that when Aunty in the guard shack started shouting at us.
“Where you going??” She yelled.
“We are going hiking,” my mom said back, over the car music that she couldn’t figure out how to turn off.
“You cannot park in hea’!” Aunty said, “Go park on da street!”
Perhaps we should have taken this less-than-warm welcome as a sign, but we didn’t heed it and turned my mom’s truck around to find parking on the street.
Starting the Waimano Loop Trail
We started the hike, choosing go on the lower loop first. It was almost all downhill. We moved along the sloping path over roots and rocks and slippery leaves. We were surprised that my nephew was loving it!
“I love hiking!” He declared.
What he loved most of all was giving his Gram, aka my mom, a “boost.” This meant running full force and pushing her bottom so that she could make it over the roots or up any type of incline.
These boosts resulted in bursts of laughter and sent us racing down the trail.
This promising attitude was still in play as we reached the half-mile mark, about a quarter of the way through the trail.
“Should we turn around?” My mom asked.
My nephew’s mom and I looked at each other, then looked at my nephew. We had been hiking for about thirty minutes at this point, and it felt shorter than that. We were a quarter of the way through the hike. We could definitely do the entire loop!
The Trail Turns
We should have known that the good times were limited…. He is a four-year-old after all.
We had gone another eight of a mile when his legs started to feel tired. Not only that, but a few “boosts” for Gram had resulted in him tripping over his own feet (or roots) and falling onto his knees and palms.
This caused quite the slowdown, as he stopped to look at the mud that now caked his knees and hands.
The problem with slowing down was that we were now lengthening the time it took to walk along the twisting path and the mosquitos now had easier targets. We swatted at them, trying to avoid having to deal with itchy bites that evening.
This was especially tricky when we came to the beautiful stream that rushed by. We did, of course, have to stop and point out how the water moved down through the mountain, but it was short lived as we waved away the buzzing insects.
Completing the Loop
What comes down must go back up.
It’s a lesson every hiker knows well.
I had hoped that by choosing to continue along the loop rather than turning back and walking up the slopes we had started down, we’d avoid the steeper sections of the trail. I still think it was slightly less of a gradient than if we’d turned around, but we definitely didn’t avoid any hills.
The loop section took longer than expected as my nephew noticed more and more that his legs felt tired.
Not only that, but the trail was small in some sections with a drop down the right side. He, of course, did not notice that there was less room for his little body to walk and needed plenty of reminders to walk slowly rather than dancing or racing up these sections.
Still, it was a beautiful hike and we walked under arching branches that created tunnels and admired the view of the valley at the top.
We saw caves, a hidden house at the top of the valley, and continued to shout “root” “rock” as we made our way up the trail.
Racing the Sunset
When we reached the top, there was a little stone bench where you could sit to rest and admire the valley views.
We, of course, needed to take a picture of my nephew there because kids love nothing more than taking pictures when they’re tired.
We got a few cute shots of him backlit with the setting sun. My mom wanted to take more, but we reminded her that that beautiful sunset was happening FAST, and we needed to get a move on.
She conceded and we moved to finish the trail.
The last mile felt much longer than the first. We had come to the fence that lined the road, which made us think we were closer to the car than we actually were.
At this point, my nephew had decided that his little legs would no longer work. He dragged his feet. He sighed. He stopped in the middle of the trail and just stood there.
There was only one thing to do!
“I need a boost!” I said.
“You give Aunty Kellen a boost,” his Gram agreed, “and Aunty Kellen will give Mommy a boost. It’ll be like dominoes!”
This worked. Giggles and happiness followed as he sprinted and gave me a push. I then pretended to jog and gave his mom a “push.” She then ran forward down the trail.
We continued this game until we finally saw the little guard shack and knew we had arrived back at the trailhead.
A Satisfied Ending
We drove home in the dark, happy to have made it back just as the sun was setting. Stray cats played near the street and we drove from Pearl City back to Waipio.
In the comfort of his home, we ate a taco salad that we’d made and felt satisfied as we enjoyed sweet desserts after the exercise!
Though it was touch and go there for a while, I now knew for sure that he was able to hike at least two-mile trails.
Knowing that we have the “boosting” game in our back pocket, I can’t wait for the next time I’m back to take him on something a little harder—only this time we’ll try to get there many hours before the sun sets.
In Conclusion:
How long is the Waimano Loop Trail?
According to the AllTrails app, the trail is 2.5 miles long.
Is Waimano Loop Trail Kid-Friendly?
Yes, Waimano Loop Trail (Upper and Lower) is a kid-friendly hike. My only advice is to talk to your kids about staying away from the edges of the trail when it starts to narrow. There are also some tall roots and rocks that they’ll need to climb over.
How steep is the Waimano Loop Trail?
No matter which trail you start on, this loop does have hills, but they’re not super steep. According to Alltrails, there’s only 462 feet of elevation gain on this hike.
