Hiking Makapu’u Point

I completed my first official hike while on Oahu! Waimanalo is just north of the eastern most tip of the island and on the eastern most tip is the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail. It's a pretty easy hike, the trail never gets too steep, the entire length is paved and there are beautiful rest/viewing areas all along the path. At the very top of the trail there is a platform where you can look down onto the lighthouse - my favorite view. All along the trail are gorgeous views, and if you feel like climbing some of the other hills you get a really great idea of how the east side of the island looks for the birds. 

Makapu'u Point Light - Opened in 1909. It has the largest lens of any lighthouse in the US.

The best portion of this hike are the tide pools. To get to them you have to hop off the trail near the top and climb down some very steep lava rock cliffs. It's super fun, a decent physical challenge and the scenery is great (different lava formations, shapes and colors). I definitely wouldn't want to do it in flip flops again. Tons of loose lava rock, pebbles and sand make some of the steeper areas super sketchy. 

When we got to the bottom the waves were pretty rough, so the surf crashing into the rocks was spectacular to watch. Some of the spray from the bigger waves probably shot up 40 feet. There were also blowholes that shot water out super loudly and looked like geysers. I considered trying to wash my hair with a blast of ocean water but since I've only been here two weeks I didn't want to risk decommissioning myself too soon.