Koko Crater trail is a straight trail that is built on top of the abandoned rail way. It is located just across from Hanauma Bay. Since the famous Haiku Stairs (stair to heaven) is an illegal climb, we decided to try this Koko Crater trail climb. Tourists don't usually come to this trail and most tourists just do Diamond Head trail instead.
When we got to the trail head, there were many people making the climb. This trail is 1.8 miles long that goes straight towards summit of Koko Crater. Most web sites label it as a trail with moderate difficulty, but I would say this is a difficult trail although it is only 1.8. miles. This trail has a very steep climb and the wooden logs on the trail makes it even hard to climb.
The beginning of the trail is easy and smooth. However, after about 10 minutes of climb, the elevation starts to gain sharply. Every step we took is start to hurt our knees. At around half way mark, the rail way path start to elevate above the ground and we could only walk on the logs carefully to prevent falling down. This is the most dangerous part of the hike. Some people choose to take a detour and go around it via a small path on the side of the trail.
After an hour of hard fought hike, we finally reached the top. The view was breath taking and beautiful. We were able to see everything from the Koko Crater summit! We could even see the entire Hanauma Bay from the summit.
There are few bunkers and abandoned huts on the top of the summit. Some people climb onto the rooftop of the abandoned facility. Just be very careful not to go too close to the edge of the cliff since the ground is quite sandy and slippery. We actually saw a boy slipped and fall. Good thing that he was able to grab on to the branch and did not slip further.
Going back down the trail is a bit tiring too. For most part, we went down on side ways since the trail is steep. When we got down, our knees were hurting badly.
In general, we do not recommend this trail for any beginner hikers. However, if you are an experienced hiker, this is an amazing trail to do and the summit has breath taking view!
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