Hiking In Hawaii: Pink Pillbox Hike | Oahu, Hawaii

If you’re familiar with hiking in Hawaii, particularly Oahu, it’s all about finding the best places to snap a good photo of the island and it’s just an added extra bonus to see lots of fun colors. I love finding great places to explore that we haven’t done yet, so last weekend we woke up early to check the Pink Pillbox Hike off our list.

Located on the west side of Oahu in Waianae, the pretty pink pillbox sits high above Farrington Highway. Once you get into Waianae, you’ll see Kaukama road if you’re on Farrington. Turn right and park alongside the road there. Around the 9th light pole, you’ll see the entrance to the trail. Steep initially, it turns into switchbacks that are pretty easy to maneuver and we saw hikers of all ages on the trail.

The journey to the top didn’t take long at all (maybe a mile, if that?) and before we knew it – we had come upon the pillbox. Truth be told there’s actually a few pillboxes, but only one bright pink one. We climbed on top and had some fun, before settling down to watch the whales breach off the in distance.

We happened to be hiking on an overcast day, which turned out to be a total win for us. It wasn’t too hot and there wasn’t any bright sunlight to bounce off the water, so we could easily see the whales and fishing boats coming in and out. If you go on a super sunny day, definitely pack sunscreen and bug spray, particularly if you plan to continue onto the ridge line hike, instead of straight back down.

Total, it took us about an hour and a half and that included stopping at the top to take photos and sit and watch the whales for about 15 minutes. I would recommend this hike for hikers of all skill levels, but maybe not kids, as there were a few parts where the rocks going up were a little uneven and slippery.

I would definitely do this hike and plan on taking future visitors up to take in the sights! One word of caution on this hike, and you can read more about it on Yelp, is to remove absolutely everything from your car prior to parking and hiking. Friends of ours had their windows smashed and a different set of friends had their car stolen altogether attempting this same hike, so be smart.