Kakahaiʻa National Wildlife Refuge
Managed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
45 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Photo: The original uploader was Sanba38 at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.5C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Kaunakakai
20% of Kaunakakai’s land is conserved: 1,673 acres
15 miles of mapped trail cross Kaunakakai, 1.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 41% of U.S. towns · #73 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it
Conserved land
20%
1,673 acres · of 12.8 sq mi of land
Trails
15 mi
1.2 per sq mi of land
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
669 ft
Makakiloiʻa
Lakes & rivers
5
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Kaunakakai?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Kaunakakai have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Kaunakakai is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns, #73 of 93 in Hawaii. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Kaunakakai’s overall grade.
Conserved land20% of the land · typical HI town 14% · U.S. 4%ATrails1.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (15 mi) · HI 0.5 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land0.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (0 acres) · HI 4 · U.S. 13DParks close to home0% of residents within a half mile of a park · HI 83% · U.S. 72%D−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 41%
LessMore
Hawaii towns of 2,500+ (93)Ahead of 22%
Hawaii towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Kaunakakai’s 20% is ahead of 65% of Hawaii towns, while its trails per square mile lead 73% of them.
Water is 22% of Kaunakakai’s area (4 of 16 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 16%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
1,673 conserved acres
20% of Kaunakakai’s land. Water is left out: Kaunakakai has 12.8 square miles of land and 3.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Kaunakakai’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Private owners1,414 ac
State Department of Land148 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service89 ac
County67 ac
Watershed Protection Area · 1,414 acState Resource Management Area · 148 acNational Wildlife Refuge · 89 acLocal Other or Unknown · 67 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private Landowner Watershed Protection Area Watershed Protection Area | Private owners | 1,414 | Closed |
| State Department of Land State Resource Management Area State Resource Management Area | State Department of Land | 148 | Open |
| Kakahaia National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 89 | Restricted |
| County Land Local Other or Unknown Local Other or Unknown | County | 67 | Unknown |
Things to do
8 places to go in Kaunakakai
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Kaunakakai
Cooke Memorial Pool
DirectionsBoat launches in Kaunakakai
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Peaks in Kaunakakai
Makakiloiʻa669 ft elevation
DirectionsPuʻuoʻahu561 ft elevation
DirectionsKukuiokahoʻāliʻi367 ft elevation
DirectionsPuʻumaninikolo131 ft elevation
DirectionsPicnic areas in Kaunakakai
2 picnic areas without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
5 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
4Baseball
2Tennis
1Basketball
1Skate park
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Kaunakakai: April to July
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 11.0 | 11.4 | 12.0 | 12.6 | 13.1 | 13.4 | 13.3 | 12.8 | 12.2 | 11.6 | 11.1 | 10.9 |
| High (°F) | 79 | 79 | 79 | 81 | 83 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 87 | 86 | 83 | 80 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
June is the driest month (0.6 in) and September the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 3.6 inches fall in January, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Kaunakakai →
Questions about parks and trails in Kaunakakai
How much of Kaunakakai is conserved land?
20% of its land, against a typical 14% for a Hawaii town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Kaunakakai’s trails?
Kakahaiʻa National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Kaunakakai?
3,398 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Kaunakakai or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 67 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Kaunakakai have?
Ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #73 of 93 in Hawaii. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Kaunakakai neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →