Powerline Trail (from the south) is a 10.1 mile lightly trafficked point-to-point trail located near Kapaʻa, Kauai, Hawaii that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watching and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
hiking
nature trips
walking
bird watching
views
wild flowers
wildlife
over grown
Oww my legs
Unless you are hiking just for the miles, this trail(and I use that term loosely) is waaaaayy overgrown and hard to follow. If you do decide to take it, wear long pants and take extra water. The vines will cut your legs and ankles.
Would not recommend without pants, views are not worth the trouble
A fight with thorny raspberries and super thick non native vegetation almost all the way to the top. Muddy, slippery, just pretty miserable in general, except climbs aren’t bad at all. Would not recommend for someone looking for an enjoyable hike. However! This trail will get you to the top of the ridge if you can navigate through the fields of tall grass where the trail has disappeared. So, if you need to get up there for whatever reason (work for me), this trail will do it. (I just went up from here and back down.) but I’m not sure the views are worth the fight up! Note that the signage at the trailhead does say this trail is unmaintained: absolutely no joke there. You have to squint in many spots to guess at where the trail is!
We hiked 3 miles in then out from the South. The trailhead has a sign that warns that the trail is unmaintained, and indeed, it was way overgrown. But the nature is amazing up there, you get to hike under the roots of some giant trees, and have some spots with beautiful views.
The parking for this is just passed the bridge over the river. Theres a small trail through beautiful ecalptyus trees to the bathrooms. If you have a 4 wheel drive you can venture the road up more but we had a rental. The curve up the road has a really pretty view of the trees. We only made it half a mile since this trail a pretty much all mud and deep ravines of water. This road continues on to the trail to the Jurassic Park.
most of the trail was washed out due to the heavy rains in April. it is a rough hike especially with the trail being washed out up near Princeville. and since this road is not maintained I don't think it's going to be accessible anytime soon. hiking 3 to 4 miles turn around and head back. or find another Trail.
five star four wheel drive trail for the experienced only...not bad brah
This is a great trail only if you do not mind mud, mudholes, and frequent showers. The views from different parts of the powerline trail are amazing. The first 4+ miles to the trail summit is pure Hawaii rain forest and jungle. We walked the 10.5 mile trail to the northern trailhead where we were picked up. We are a couple, 58 year old male and 56 year old female. The trail was strenuous for us and very wet. It took us 7 1/2 hours to complete the one way Powerline Trail. Well worth it one time. There was no one else on the trail after the first mile, only us, so be prepared to be alone. Cell phones did work on most of the trail.
