Hiking the Luakaha Falls Trail on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Distance: 0.8 miles / 1.3 km
The Luakaha Falls Trail in Nuʻuanu Valley on Oʻahu is one of the least-visited waterfall trails on the island due, in large part, to the barriers required to legally access the trail and the risks associated if you choose to hike without a permit.
That being said, 100% of the Luakaha Falls Trail is on property that is accessible to the public, so long as you have a valid permit. I say this to say that some residents in the area would have you believe the trail is off-limits to all.
To learn more about this, click here to skip ahead.
Luakaha Falls Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Luakaha Falls Trail is located on the side of Nuʻuanu Pali Drive.
Out of caution, consider the Luakaha Falls Trailhead to be a high-crime area for petty theft. By this, I mean never leave bags or anything valuable in your car.
To add to this warning, never park at this trailhead with expired registration/ safety check. HPD and towing companies target this area for cars that they can legally tow if one of these is expired.
Google Maps Directions: Luakaha Falls Trailhead
Hiking the Luakaha Falls Trail
As previously mentioned, hiking the Luakaha Falls Trail is accessible by permit only.
This aside, the Luakaha Falls Trail begins just before the first house on the left if you were driving down Nuʻuanu Pali Drive.
This is the first of many warning signs stating that fines may be as high as $10,000 for hiking without a permit or defacing Kaniakapūpū.
Luakaha-Kaniakapūpū Junction
The split to the left leads to the Kaniakapūpū Ruins, located only 0.1 miles (0.2 km) off of the Luakaha Falls Trail.
This is shown in the photos below.
Kaniakapūpū Ruins (King Kamehameha III’s Summer Palace)
You can read and learn about Kaniakapūpū on the posted signs, but, most importantly, please be respectful.
Do not leave the main path, climb on the ruins, or do anything that would be deface or disrespect this beautiful historic site.
Luakaha Falls Trail
Once back on the Luakaha Falls Trail, the split for the trail down to the waterfall is only a short distance ahead.
There are two trails that lead down to Luakaha Falls, but the trail on the right is the safer and easier route of the two.
This is the route that’s shown below, but at the end, I included a few photos of the alternate route to the stream.
Go left to get down the trail to Luakaha Falls.
The path leading down may be more or less challenging than the photos here, as fallen trees and bamboo continually alter the trail.
Luakaha Falls
For such a short trail, Luakaha Falls is one of the least-visited waterfalls on Oʻahu, especially when compared to the neighboring Lulumahu Falls.
Alternative Route
The alternate route involves hiking down to the waterfall on the far side of the Nuʻuanu Stream.
I don’t recommend it because it is unnecessarily more difficult, and in the past, people have lost their lives from a fall over the top of the waterfall.
Luakaha Falls Public Access
In the past, I have been confronted by the person that owns the property adjacent to Luakaha Falls because they were trying to tell me that the waterfall is on their private property.
That is absolutely not true, and people in Hawaiʻi are afforded public access to our natural resources, as per the state constitution.
Then, when I said this, the person tried to tell me that the grass surrounding the waterfall was their private property, which is also not true. That’s why I included the parcel map here to show that a large portion of the grassy area is public land, as the property line between public and private cuts right through.
Overall, the person was grasping at straws to try and get me to leave, but just know that if you have a valid permit, you completely within your rights to visit Luakaha Falls.
All said, the permit system for Luakaha Falls and Kaniakapūpū is very vague, but to the best of my knowledge, hiking is accessible via the same permit as Lulumahu Falls. I say this because they are the same state-owned property, as per the Honolulu parcel map.
Book Here: Luakaha Falls Permit
Native Plants on the Luakaha Falls Trail
Since the Luakaha Falls Trail is such a short low-elevation trail, many of the plants that you will see on the hike are non-native/ invasive species. To further that point, even bamboo is an invasive canoe plant in Hawaiʻi.
However, there are a number of Hau trees, which was the only native plant that I saw on this short trail.
If you would like to know more about Hau and tons of other native Hawaiian plants from across the islands, I encourage you to check out my separate post linked below.
Read My Separate Post: Native Hawaiian Plant Guide
