Lovely, peaceful trails at this park. In this visit we only had time for the nature trail which was well maintained and had a number of interpretive signs describing the various trees and shrubs. Also near the nature trail is the arboretum of native plants with additional interpretive signs, be sure to visit both areas. If you have more time, do the jeep trail to gulch trail as a loop. read more

See all

This place is pretty confusing and also empty so we were afraid to explore too much. We checked out the garden but it seemed a bit under maintained and dead. Seems pretty easy to get lost and no reception so come prepared. Plenty of parking but for some reason gave kind of eerie vibes. read more

Kalopa State Park - Garden - Hiking Near Me - Honokaa, Hawaii

See all

Not well maintained as it may have been like 2 years ago as other yelpers have stated. It was empty. There was only 2 other cars parked besides ours and there's cabins and grounds for camping. However, the hiking trail according to the map was kind of confusing and things doesn't seem to be where it should be. We only checked out the Polynesian garden that seems kind of dead and we were afraid to explore more, because we heard barking that might be coyotes/wolves that we didn't want to stick around to find out if it was only a dog or not. Although we kind of came late in the day, the drive here was kind of nice seeing all the wild animals around like a drive thru safari and there's placards for plants to learn about it if you're into that. Overall, I wouldn't recommend making a whole trip out here. It doesn't seem safe as we didn't see anyone or rangers around. read more

See all

It is not a business; it is a state park. It is a peaceful place with welcoming spaces, quiet, nature, and upcountry ambiance!

Beautiful park with a well-marked and well-maintained trail system; great for a day hike. It wasn't nearly as remote or primitive as I had been led to believe by online descriptions of it. There are flush toilets, several cabins, and a nice covered picnic area. We saw one other couple there, but there were also rangers and maintenance workers around. The forest is very dense, with ferns, moss, VERY large trees and a lot of birds. We saw some exotic "sea anemone" mushrooms and a lot of ginger flowers. There is an easier nature trail near the picnic area near the bottom of the park. The rest of the trails are all uphill from the entrance. We hiked most of the trails in the park in less than four hours. The park is basically laid out in a rectangle maybe a little more than a mile from top to bottom and maybe less than a mile side to side. You start at the bottom; the parking lot is near the middle of the bottom side. There is a four-mile-or-so loop that goes around the perimeter of the park - part of that loop is called the horse perimeter trail. On the other side of the rectangle is a "gulch" trail that runs uphill mostly along a deep gulch said to have been formed mostly by pleistocene era glacial ice-cap runoff. The gulch trail is connected to the "perimeter" trail by a trail across the top of the park. There is an old "jeep trail" that runs straight up the middle of the park from the parking lot to the top of the rectangle, and a couple shorter transverse trails that run between and perpendicular to the jeep trail and the gulch trails. There are signs located at all of the trail intersections. There are a few places where water can run through the park during up-mountain rains, leading to possible flash-flooding. Some descriptions of the park say the flash-floods can be dangerous, and in at least one place there is the potential to be washed down into the gulch. Some descriptions say that the trails can be muddy. When we were there in August, the trails were hard-packed and the streams dry. read more

See all

Had an amazing walk through the park the other day. Just beautiful! Nobody was around. You could hear the birds singing and the trees swaying in the breeze. It had just rained so it was that lovely fresh forest smell. Can't wait to go back for another hike around the park. read more

Kalopa State Park - Hiking Near Me - Honokaa, Hawaii

See all

Very nice display of local plants. Park is clean and well maintained. Facilities are excellent.

It's a nice park for a picnic. They have three campsites and three cabins. We camped there one night. The sites are each a concrete pavilion with no real privacy in an open field. The bathrooms and showers are in the middle. They were very clean and well maintained. Attached to the bathrooms are two covered picnic tables and two grills. During the night someone did come and say they had reservation for one of the other sites and kicked off the people there before them. So there is no security and anyone can come into the sites. We where there for most of the day and night and we never saw anyone from the park. No one checked ours or anyone else's reservations. Overall it is nice place, but I wouldn't want to camp there alone. read more

My guidebook recommended this place, and I'm glad I took it! It's a really great, very accessible way to see a real Hawaiian forest. The only downsides are that some parts of the trail may be hard to find, so take a map because it is not maintained by national park standards. A lot of nice flora can be seen there and there are even parts outside the park that you can have a picnic. It wasn't crowded at all when I went, so that was an added bonus. Go for it! read more

Wanted to hike the forest trail, didn't even find the starting point. I peeked into the Polynesian garden but didn't get in as it's small and don't seem to offer much. Also walked by the cabins. The campers were friendly but didn't seem to be used to visitors. The parking lots are empty (besides the one nearest to the cabins). read more

We went to the park twice. There is a snack bar, showers and you can rent chairs and umbrellas there. On one of our visits, we couldn't swim due to jellyfish, but they let us know that before we came in. There were very few people there that day. On the day when we could swim, it was busy, but not over crowded. The admission fee was $5 per person, but parking was free. read more

A lovely location, and as easy place to hike with several options. I had read that the trails were poorly marked, but they have been significantly upgraded making it nearly impossible to get lost unless you decide to wander off the beaten path. The wandering off was worth it, but I'll be darned if I can describe where we did that. I suppose the park could be a bit better labeled as to flora and fauna, but that's a quibble. read more