Onomea Trail – A Scenic Drive on The Big Island

When we were at Rainbow Falls we met a lady who lived on the Big Island and she was giving us all kinds of tips! Most of it was amazing advice, but one piece that we almost missed out on, I have to say I think was wrong. We almost missed the Onomea Trail

There’s a scenic route between Laupāhoehoe and Rainbow Falls that has a small sign, if you blink you could miss it, but don’t. Although it isn’t an incredibly long road, it’s absolutely beautiful! There are trails in the area and even a botanical garden! We didn’t go to the botanical garden, but we did get on one of the Onomea Trails down to a beautiful cove and stunning beach!

This is a zebra dove. I know that zebras are typically black + white, but this one has turquoise stripes!!! How amazing!

The drive alone is beautiful, covered with gorgeous trees and tropical plants. Then, we come up to this opening in the vegetation to see this STUNNING views! It’s so just beautiful that we actually u-turned to do this trail. If you continue down this road, you actually get to a botanical garden.

I mean, look at this view!

This is the trail down to the beach and I believe that it connects to the botanical garden.

Look at this beautiful bloom! I love all the beautiful natural beauty!

Along with all the natural beauty in the trees and flowers, and even these massive fruits that you had to dodge. Matt even dodged one crashing down to take this photo! 

And then we got down to the beach and it was just so beautiful and peaceful! I love the beaches here with the rocky surface, the cliff views, the amazingness that was this trail!

I am a lover of rock formations, and I love this because of the perfect cutout that looks a bit like a window. What a perfect scenic view to experience on our last full day on the Big Island. 

This woman was weaving baskets in a traditional way, made out of leaves. I thought they were so beautiful and I wished I could take one home. 

Look at the detail in them! They’re so beautiful!

There’s that very fine line between discovering things on your own and taking advice of locals + other travelers. If time allows you to do them all, like it did for us in this situation, do them both! Otherwise, trust your gut, and don’t beat yourself up over opportunities missed, just embrace it and think of it as something to do NEXT TIME. I love that so much about travel because there isn’t ever an end to it. There’s constantly so much more to do and see. It’s never-ending. It’s ever-changing. It’s always inspiring!

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