Loved this 5 miles round trip hike to the beach. Huge variety of vegetation and most of the trail tramps through a tree forest. The tree forest is interesting with some abandoned and vegetation encrusted old jeeps and cars, historic rock walls and towards the end, spur trails to the sea cliffs, and a collapsed lava tube. At the end is a gorgeous bay favored by sea turtles. We saw at least 23 turtles on our visit. Please note that this trail is muddy and very muddy in spots even when it has not been raining, and the footing is very uneven so it is not for the casual walker, for flip flops or any shoes that you don't mind getting very muddy. I found that having hiking poles was helpful in order to gage how thick the mud was at various places on the pathway. Go early as it is very humid by late morning or mid day. read more

See all

Read the reviews. Is it muddy and rocky and uneven? YES. But it's mostly in the shade! Be prepared, have the right shoes, take your time, a lot of the really bad spots and walk around areas etc. if you're not careful, you will end up covered in mud. The beach is neat, we enjoyed snorkeling. Be careful as there can be some strong currents on the far left side (if you're looking out) according to some locals we met. read more

The Puna Trail that leads from the dirt parking lot to the secluded Shipman Beach (Ha'ena Beach) is 2-1/2 miles in each direction and consists of a jungle, lava rocks, and muddy conditions. It can be challenging especially during the rainy periods and at times it may seem forever until you reach the very end. Nevertheless, I was finally able to make it to the beach and it was worth it in the very end, though it's not one of these points of interest that I would want to do again. As for Shipman Beach, it's a nice place to relax at if it wasn't for the strong waves and currents particularly during the winter months. On better days, you might even see some sea turtles hanging out on the rocks nearby (do not approach them!). Best to apply bug repellant prior to hiking and make sure to scrub your shoes before and after at the trailhead brush. read more

See all

I feel like I was being betrayed. LoL. According to the entrance signage the hike is about 2.5mi one way but I don't think it's accurate coz it seems like we've been hiking forever! To be honest, if you are looking for a beach coastline this one is not for you. You can find a better serene beach than here. Thus, this is more of a cliff smashing those semi-pointed rocky cliff. So rather if you want to challenge yourself then buckle up and get ready to rumble on a muddy trail. Don't be too discourage about what I wrote here. Though there is a lot of physical work involved in here it has lots of shade that will at least help yourself to cool off. Mud is a mud. Don't try to fight back too much coz you might end up blanketed with mud! Just look for a detour trail to help yourself a bit. Just don't wander too far to avoid getting lost. Overall t'was a challenging hike and I guess a pretty dose of adrenaline that you're looking for an adventure. So yeah, I still recommend you to do this hike as the cliff is worth every sweat! Not heavily traffic, that means to more juanderful instagrammable photos to post! LoL. Mahalo for reading and happy juandering fellow yeeps! read more

See all

Great place to see turtles with only a few other people around. The hike is easy but muddy and near impossible to push a stroller or drag a wagon in. read more

Ha'ena Beach - aka Shipman Beach - Hiking Near Me - Keaau, Hawaii

Another spot that made me homesick for upstate NY. This reminds me of some spots along Lake Ontario, and I love having to hike with a swimming reward at the end! Having a 2.5 mile muddy hike there means the only people who go are respectful outdoorspeople who practice LNT. Not a speck of garbage other than what the sea washed up. I took the flat trail in and hiked the ocean side out. It's a little tough to find your turn to get back to your car from the ocean side- there's a very noticeable 4-wheeler trail that will take you back, but you have to know it's there. A few locals showed it to me and I was grateful. I probably would've been foolish enough to keep hiking to the Point (not a big deal, just a road walk back to your car). I wished like hell that I brought my pack with me here as well as my tent. So many inviting (unofficial) backcountry campsites along the beach! If you have 2 people, and carry in all your water, you could have a great experience there. This has made my work gig in Hawaii well worth it! I may even come back if I have time before I leave:-) read more

See all

Ha'ena is very beautiful - one of my favorite spots on this planet. If you visit, just be aware of the strong currents, especially at high tide! There is no lifeguard and many people have drowned here over the years. https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2022/08/13/hawaii-news/hawaii-teen-dies-brother-missing-after-both-swept-at-sea/ read more

Ha'ena Beach - aka Shipman Beach - Ha'ena / Shipman Beach Currents - Hiking Near Me - Keaau, Hawaii

2.5 mile/nearly 2 hour one-way hike to a essentially private beach with (if you're lucky!) a few turtles! We tried this hike twice: once during a rainy week and again after it wasn't raining for a few days. Highly recommend waiting for a non-rainy week to attempt this. It's so much easier without huge mud puddles - unless you don't mind the mess and the bug bites! Packed a light lunch and lots of water, plus sunscreen and bug spray, and started the hike at 9:30am on a Saturday. We were the second couple there and spotted 3 Honu! One HUGE one was on the beach and two on the rocks where the waves break. In total, we spent 5 hours on this outing. There's a small lot with plenty of street parking. Dogs are allowed on leash at all times and there are no trash cans at the beach so pack a bag for your rubbish. Once you see the first "No Trespassing" sign on a gate along with a bunch of fallen coconuts and a clear view of the edge of the island/vast ocean, you're about 15 minutes away from the beach. read more

See all

Beautiful and secluded spot with actual sand! The hike/walk is about 2.5mi each way. Please note that the hike can be VERY muddy, make sure you are up to the challenge & bring the right shoes! (many lost shoes are found on the trail). The trail can get very humid at times, and is full of mosquitos, so bring extra mosquito repellant. The beach makes the hike/walk worth it! Beautiful Crystal clear waters, and if you are lucky you will get to see green turtles sunbathing! Make sure to stay away though. Also note that the parking lot gates close at 5pm and make sure to brush your feet before & after the hike! Mahalo! read more

See all

This is a old Hawaiian trail that passes through an old fishing village. When you see the wall along the walkway to your left and off the trail to the left and to the right you'll know your in that area. The one thing about this trail is your walking on an old pahoehoe lava flow so it's not in any way level. Overgrown with a root system that creeps across the trail in certain areas, loose rocks, small hills and muddy pits. With all those, you'll soon realized your not looking at the surrounding areas your passing. Your constantly fixated on where your placing your next step unless you stop and look around. I'd say 80% of the time your looking down. But don't let that keep you from stopping and checking stuff out. When you get to the end of the trail and see the bay it's beautiful. We we're the first ones there that morning. The water was crystal clear and the sand was a mix of black and white. The deepest areas was about 4-6 feet at the opening to the ocean. This beach is also fed with fresh water from underground springs that come in from the wall on the left side, bubbling up from the sand under the water and running in from the adjacent pond. The water was super cold with veins of warm water throughout area. I'm going to assume that's the salt water. To me the water tasted almost to the point where you could drink it but not quite. When you come out of the water and dry off without a towel you don't have that crusty salty feeling on your skin either. There were turtles sunbathing on the reef and one huge one on the beach. There were also a couple of young Nene geese along the edge Unfortunately no seals on both hikes. This is a fairly easy trail just 2.5 miles each way and it's pretty much a straight shot beeline from the parking lot to the end. Some straight aways you can see how straight the trail is out to about 200 yards or more thinking that's the end of the trail but it's not and it happens more than once. The first leg was about an 1hr 45 minutes because we were stopping and look around. The return walk was 1hr tops.  The parking lot is small. I'd say max about eight to nine max capacity. Lock your doors and don't leave any valuables behind or in plain veiw because there was broken glass in the lot. Don't forget to scrub your shoes before you go on the trail. It serves a purpose and not put there for good looks. Remember to pack out what you pack in there too. read more

See all

This is a hike for all ages. No threat of death, no cliffs, just a nice walk through some trees. The path is quite wide, and in places can be quite rocky. You do hear the beach at times, and there is a spot where the trail opens up so that you can walk along the beach if you wanted. I did not have a chance to check this out though. It is about 2.5 miles from the parking to the beach. I would not recommend walking this if there has been heavy rains. It hadn't rained recently but there were still some puddles of mud along the way. We also saw HUGE cobwebs across one part of the trail that we needed branches to clear away. They were actually quite pretty shimmering in the early morning sun. My friends and I started this hike around 7:45 in the morning. The air was cool and there was enough light coming through the trees to see where we were going. As we walked along, we heard a car - a red Jeep was heading our way slowly crawling along. We all wondered where they came from and how they got onto the trail. As they passed, we exchanged "alohas" and continued our own way. We passed a few abandoned cars - gutted and overturned and an old bunker. With the beautiful black sand beach in sight, the last thing we needed to do was cross over a "river". It was not flowing and the water was almost black. One by one we worked our way over the logs and made it across. We actually needed to cross over that river two more times and all of us stepped in that black water at least once - I actually got both shoes stuck in it and had to rinse them off in the ocean as soon as I was free. Later as we were watching people walk in we saw that there was another way around that stagnant water and went that way on our way out. This seems like a very popular beach - a few tourists, locals and a hula halau came by when we were there. It was a treat to watch the hula on the black sand. The water is VERY cold but so clear. There were four sea turtles sunning themselves on the rocks that are a part of the barrier to this little cove. read more

Ha'ena Beach - aka Shipman Beach - Low tide. Beautiful. Water was VERY cold. Lol - Hiking Near Me - Keaau, Hawaii

Perfect beach if you love to hike.. it's a beautiful and peaceful beach.. the walk in is very relaxing...

The beach is located at 19°38'37.6"N 154°58'58.1"W. You park in a parking lot at 19°37'06.9"N 154°57'35.7"W (type this in on Google). The parking is located at the end of Beach Rd. You take the rugged trail down into the jungle...it can be very muddy and wet along the way; however, there are some side trails around the big ponds on the trail. About 1/3 of the way down the trail there is a crucial fork in the road, where there are three solid yellow posts. Take the trail through and past the three yellow posts. If you take the right trail, it dumps you out in the coast and if you take the coast trail down (like I did), you can tact on 2 hours to your hike! Apart from the dirty muddy trail, it gets better and only allows a single person walking on the trail. After a 2.5 mile hike, you get dumped out onto Ha'ena Beach. The water is cool and only 1 foot deep for a good ways out! There are lots of turtles that like to hang out here (we counted 11) and there are coconuts all around the ground in the area. Don't attempt this trail towards the evening, unless you have a flashlight, because the jungle gets pitch dark. read more

See all

My husband and I wanted a not too hard hike. We picked poorly perhaps, but we think we enjoyed it. We're "young" seniors. I would not have survived without my trekking poles. It hadn't rained recently, so the mud wasn't too bad. There were still areas where the trail was 8 feet wide and the puddle was 10 feet wide (mud puddles that you could sink into). There are areas where you're working your footing over occasionally loose lava rock. And one area, in particular, where we had to go off trail to get around the mud, I swear the plants would wrap themselves around my ankles. It says the trail round-trip is 5 miles. According to our GPS tracker it was closer to 8.5 miles. Add to that the areas we had to find our way back to the trail, or work around obstacles (downed trees), it took about 5-1/2 hours to complete. That said, the scenery was gorgeous, there was a lot of shade, Ha'ena Beach has a sort of protected area to splash around in (light swimming), and you'll probably see a turtle or two. So, if you go (younger or older) you may want to.... -- Bring lots of water (in a backpack so you can carry your trash out) -- Bring trekking poles (if you have any knee challenges or similar) -- Bring bug spray (there are sections where you will get eaten otherwise) -- Bring/wear a swimsuit for a rewarding dip at the beach -- Wear water/mud worthy trail shoes -- If you're making a day of it, bring snacks -- Heads up....no facilities of any kind Note, that 5-1/2 hours was still with us working to move fairly quickly to get back to our car (don't leave anything worthwhile visible - we heard that locals park a little out for theft protection - we didn't have issues). We had a chef tasting reservation at 5pm at Izakaya Miyo we didn't want to miss. See my review for that! Overall, it's a great story to tell and we were pretty thrilled to have completed the adventure. read more

I don't know why this is listed as a Business, but oh well. The beach is pretty, especially for the windward side, but the multitude of fresh, icy water vents make it feel like taking a shower while your brother shuts the hot water valve on and off. The real problem for a lot of folks is the longish trek in through forested wet lands while being taunted by the sound of crashing waves from am ocean we couldn't see through the trees. All in all, it's worth a visit once or twice, but that is all. read more

The hard hike is worth the amazing beach you get to at the end! It's nice and sandy and we saw 4 or 5 sea turtles. It's very muddy and rocky, so be ready for that. You have to cross a little river/swamp to get to the end. Bring bug spray if you have it because there were a lot of mosquitos. The hike is about 2.5 miles each way. There's free parking in a small lot at the end of the road. You should try this hike if you want to see sea turtles while on the island! read more

1hr 45 min hike out to the beach, 1 hour walk back. Very muddy and lots of mosquitos. Mostly through jungle with scant light, don't go anywhere near sunset or you will be walking back in the dark and potentially sprain an ankle. Due to mud, roots, and rocks I was looking down almost the whole time to see my footing. Cool banyan tree groves and jungle foliage. Beach at the end was small and okay, I was underwhelmed. Also weird that there is a big manicured property right by the beach that is private property with Kapu signs all over reminding you not to trespass. I was underprepared for the hike because I kept reading "it's only 2.5 miles" and didn't bring enough water, bug spray, and a snack. Not sure I'd go again, too long and too muddy for a beach that was a bit meh. read more

This beach is located on the bottom of Kaloli, you turn left on BEACH road and go all the way down to the dead end. Warning this is a pretty long Hike. When we decided to do the hike we did it around 1pm. I dont recommend doing that because it takes a while to get in and out of there!!! The hike was quite enjoyable, it does get pretty muddy so dont dress to impress! Lol. The first part of the hike is mostly mud puddles and tress hovering over you. It you look to the side of the trail theres some ant trails that someone made that you can use to stay clean and dry. Middle part of the trail there iis a lava tube we didnt go exploring in it. Dont be fooled there is many other roads so just follow the road with the pillars next to it. The ending part you will pass a gate to a ranchers property, the cliffs and the old bunker keep going! When you get to the end you will need to cross the stream its not too deep its probably knee high. Some one made a small bridge with broken branches becareful while crossing. The beach was really nice, the day we hiked out we were the only ones there. If you go near the stream flowing in to the ocean the water is Really cold. The Bed&Breakfast owner isnt that pleasant they wont let you use the side road. If you decide to do it bring lots of water. read more

Ha'ena Beach - aka Shipman Beach - Haena beach - Hiking Near Me - Keaau, Hawaii

be aware of the weather especially rain so that you can be prepared for the walk out and back. we saw sea turtles and thoroughly enjoyed this hidden gem. read more

I read up extensively on this hike before attempting it, so I am not saying any of this lightly. It is referred to as an "easy" or "moderate" hike but that is relative to a lot of factors. The day we went was a sunny day in September and we started out mid morning. If I was going to do this again I would have covered myself in the DEET type of bug spray (I was using this natural stuff-mistake!) and brought even more water than I did. The bugs were ferocious. The hike starts out in the hot sun and then turns to mostly jungle and there was lots of mud. I wonder if this would have been more tolerable walking along the coastline...anyway the beach is beautiful beyond description and if you are physically fit and prepared with lots of water, bug spray and decent walking shoes you won't have *much* trouble. If someone in your party has any even slight health issues I would not recommend this because if you start to have trouble on the way back out it could get pretty bad. We almost made it to the end but had to call 911 and my friend had to be carried out by the fire department, he started feeling faint and having trouble breathing. Two very kind local residents, (one who is also a nurse-thank you!!!) stopped to assist us and he had to be taken to Hilo Medical Center so our judgement about this "easy" hike ended up costing us about $3000. Other people seemed to be having no trouble so like I said, it's all relative. read more