Another trail accessed via the Pali Highway is the Judd Trail, also known as “Jackass Ginger,” for a waterfall along Nuuanu Stream, which you walk along part of the way.
It’s a pretty small waterfall, but a popular swimming spot. I have no idea how it got its name.
The Judd Trail is a loop, which takes you above Nuuanu stream and into the forest. Most of Hawaii’s native forests were effectively eaten to the ground by feral goats and cattle after Western contact, and were replanted with non-native species once people realized that massive erosion problems and reduction of stream flows were a result. The Judd Trail runs through non-native forest, including dramatic plantings of Norfolk Island pines. It’s also named after one of the early foresters in Hawaii, Charles Judd.
I’ve heard descriptions of this trail as running through “Hawaii’s beautiful native forest”- this is ridiculous. I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a single native species along the route- maybe a fern or two.
But it’s a nice, cool trail on a hot day.
One reply on “Walking the Judd Trail”
[…] the Honolulu Mauka Trail System. This system includes the Judd Trail, which I talked about in a previous post. While the Judd Trail is in Nu’uanu Valley, most of this trail system is on the south side of […]