Jurassic Park Trail Denial

THE JEEP

When I found out we were going to Kauai Hawaii for vacation, I knew I had to figure out how to go off-roading at some point on the vacation. I looked at some of the standard rental car companies and saw they rented Jeeps, but you never know if it will be a Wrangler Sport, Sahara, or if you can get lucky and get a Rubicon. After some searching around, I found a different rental company, Diff Rentals, and they offered Jeeps and Ford Broncos. I contacted them and they helped set up a brand new 2024 Wrangler Rubicon Xtreme Rubicon and I was stoked to rent it.

RESEARCHING TRAILS

After I had the Jeep I wanted, it was time to research where to wheel on the island of Kauai. This is where I ran into some issues, as I found there really is not a ton of info out there. But what I did find is that there are two main trails that everyone seems to talk about and mention: the Jurassic Park Trail and Polihale State Park.

Hearing about the Jurassic Park Trail excited me about jeeping down memory lane. From my understanding, the trail is now a power line road, but in the original movie, it led to one of the more iconic movie scenes: when they arrive at Jurassic Park, the gates open up, and they drive through.

Polihale State Park is on the far western part of the island and is a beach where you can drive your vehicle. After reading some fine print from your standard rental companies and other sites like Turo Rentals, most of these will not allow you to drive your rental onto the sand. Diff Jeep rentals are different, as they allow and encourage you to do so. At the entrance to the long dirt road, a sign states, “4 Wheel Drive Beyond This Point”.

DENIED

We decided to run the Jurassic Park trail reasonably early in our vacation before the rest of our party showed up. So, we woke up early and headed out. I researched where to start the trail, and after watching some older YouTube videos and reading a few blogs, I found the entrance.

Everything takes a while to drive to in Hawaii. Distance-wise, it’s not very far, but you can never go very fast, and with the hilly and mountainous terrain of Kauai, it can take a while. After about a 45-minute drive, we arrived at Keahua Arboretum. According to my research, this is where most people would use as their base camp or starting location in their videos.

Once I started up the hill after a short stop at the Arboretum, I knew we were at the correct location. The terrain wasn’t challenging, but it was a dirt road and a lot different than the road we drove on to get there. After about a half mile up a hill, we were greeted with not one road closure but two. You could tell people had been going around the gate to the right, but it was tight with a full-size Jeep. However, not feeling comfortable driving around the gates, we decided to turn around.

I was devastated. Nothing I could find said much about the trail other than that it was on the island, especially about it possibly being closed or why it is closed. The owner of Diff Rentals had even suggested the trail to me, so I knew it was one that people ran. But we didn’t want this to ruin our day, so we quickly devised a game plan and went with plan B.

NOW WHAT

After a quick talk with the family, we decided to head to Polihale State Park. This was another area that I was suggested to explore. Unfortunately, Polihale is on the other side of the island.

Close to an hour drive back west, we arrive at the entrance and find a familiar sign: 4 Wheel Drive Beyond This Point. It’s always nice seeing a sign like that when you are trying to explore a new area and already struck out once. We drove on a rutted-out gravel road for a few miles until there was an opportunity to pull off onto the beach.

Polihale State Park

One of Polihale State Park’s beautiful parts is that you can drive on the beach. I would have to see how many beaches in Hawaii allow this, but I know not everyone can. You are also not always allowed to drive your rental on the beach, either, hence why I chose to rent from whom I rented from. They encouraged it.

Because I was in a different state that I had to fly to, I didn’t have any of my normal air-down tools, so we didn’t air down the tires as I didn’t know where the closest air fill-up location would be. So, I stuck in 4WD right away and slowly started down the beach. I stayed up close to the edge vs drifting down closer to the water, to make sure I gave myself plenty of room.

We didn’t have any issues, and we saw lots of locals out fishing. You could tell they were a little curious about us, as I don’t think they see too many tourists drive on the beach. Polihale is the farthest northwest you can drive on the island, and we went all the way to the end. It was cool being able to say you have driven all the way to the farthest parts of the island.

After we hung out for a little bit and my dad went off exploring, we didn’t have to head out. Instead of driving the whole way out on the beach, we went a little way and then ditched that idea and headed for the road. I know the sign did say, 4 Wheel Drive Beyond This Point, but on the way out, we did see a couple of cars that were driving on the rutted-out road. It’s not something I would want to do, but you could make it back there if you really wanted to. Just don’t drive on the beach.

Waimea Canyon/Koke’e State Park

For the rest of the week, we mainly did other touristy things, but near the end of the week, we went up Waimea Canyon to Koke’e State Park. If you ever go to Kauai, you definitely need to make sure you drive to the end of the road and make all the stops on the way. The views are unbelievable and nothing like I have seen anywhere else.

One thing I did notice on the way up, I did see another sign that said, 4 Wheel Drive Beyond This Point. At the time I could not find out where this went. I did not have OnX downloaded at the time but I probably should have. I knew TrailsOffroad did not have any trails on Kauai, but I did not have the OnX app to check at the time.

Since then, I have found that trail where I saw the sign. So, next time I go to Kauai, I will put it on my trail list and make sure I make the time to run the trail.

Conclusion

We may not have been able to run the trail we wanted to, but we still had fun driving on the beach. And always keep that in mind: no matter where you might go wheeling, always have a plan B in case something prevents you from running what you originally wanted to. Anytime you find yourself in Kauai, Polihale State Park, Waimea Canyon, and Koke’e State Park should all be on your list to visit. Have fun exploring.