Oahu’s North Shore Bike Path Was Built on WWII Trains and Tsunami Carnage (Video)

Anyone who has ever visited the North Shore of Oahu, whether to surf the famed Seven Mile Miracle or merely spectate, will be familiar with the bike path.

Behind the multi-million-dollar homes, and the iconic surf spots they overlook – Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Rocky Point, et al – a bike path lines the storied shores. It’s a meeting point, of sorts, with pro surfers passing plebes, mingling on the lush, bumpy path.

And it turns out, amidst the countless shakas thrown by bike and foot traffic on the path, there’s also a rich history to the corridor. Below, the video dives in.

“There was a train track that went around the island,” the narrator explains. “These trains back in the day hauled everything from sugarcane to people, and was known as the ‘Pineapple Express’ through the ‘30s and early ‘40s until World War II.”

With the second World War, Hawaii became a strategic outpost for America in the Pacific amphitheater. And the military used the trains, not for sugarcane, but weapons.

“Then, the railroad tracks were used to shuttle these huge guns between Waimea Valley and Kahuku,” the video continues. “Eventually, it became the backbone of an area where military guys would be protecting the beach from any potential attack.”

But then, in 1946, a tsunami hit Hawaii from an earthquake that struck the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. And the path was impacted by waves, ranging 45 to 138 feet.

“A huge tsunami just ripped up the tracks, and that was it,” the narrator says. “It sat around for a while, then the state took it over, and built what became the bike path.”

So, next time you’re cruising the bike path on the North Shore, there’s a little history lesson to pull out of your pocket. The more you know.