Qualla: Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail: Introduction

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NPS, Public domain. Before there were roads on the Big Island, there were trails. Fishermen, priests, warriors, and families moved along the coast on footpaths worn into lava rock by generations of bare feet, sometimes paddling outrigger canoes when the shoreline grew too rugged to walk. These paths threaded through more than 200 ahupua'a, the traditional Hawaiian land divisions that ran from mountaintop to sea, connecting communities that depended on the ocean for survival. The Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail preserves 175 miles of this ancient network along the island of Hawaii's western coastline, from the Mo'okini Heiau at Upolu Point in the north to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park in the south. Its name translates simply: ala kaha kai means "shoreline trail."

Image: NPS | Public domain

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail: Footpaths Older Than Memory

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NPS photo, Public domain. The trail system predates written records by centuries. When Captain Cook arrived in 1778, these paths were already ancient. A section known as the Ala Loa, meaning "long trail," was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, running from Kiholo Bay to Kalahuipua'...

Image: NPS photo | Public domain

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail: Lava, Resorts, and Broken Segments

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NPS photo, Public domain. The trail today is not a single continuous path. Centuries of lava flows have buried portions. Development has paved over others, transforming ancient footpaths into segments of the Hawaii Belt Road or resort access roads. Only one section has signage, and much of the trail recei...

Image: NPS photo | Public domain

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail: Walking Where They Walked

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NPS, Public domain. The northern terminus at Upolu Point places hikers at the Mo'okini Heiau, one of the oldest and most sacred temples in the Hawaiian Islands. From there, the trail moves south along a coast that alternates between stark black lava fields and pockets of white sand beach. The terrai...

Image: NPS | Public domain

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail: A Trail as Cultural Preservation

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NPS, Public domain. What distinguishes the Ala Kahakai from other historic trails in the national system is its inseparability from the culture that created it. This is not a route blazed by explorers or soldiers moving through someone else's land. It is the everyday infrastructure of a civilization...

Image: NPS | Public domain