Waihee Ridge Trail

To my shock and horror, I was looking at my list of blogs and discovered that I had not yet reviewed Waihe'e Ridge Trail - bad haole! Bad! That said, here is a review of said trail that is a tad north of Wailuku, east of Kahului in Maui.

I'll begin by saying that this is a hike suitable for just about anyone provided you can get past the first two hundred feet or so of concrete road that climbs about a 30% incline. So, yeah, just about anyone can do that though it's an auspicious way to begin a hike. Rest assured it is the toughest park of the hike...provided the rest of trail isn't wet. 

While Waihe'e Ridge Trail is a relatively easy five-miler round trip when it is dry, wet conditions make this a bit more challenging without hiking sticks. (And the trail is wet most of the time, even in summer.) After the concrete road you'll find yourself under a canopy of trees and a whole lot of exposed tree roots underfoot. Eventually you'll come to some viewpoints of the valley on one side and the more scenic Waihe'e Valley on your left, which - when it is clear - is a wonderful view. (Be warned, though, all three times I've hiked this trail it has been cloudy which detracts from the view, in my opinion.) After the viewpoints you'll eventually hit the cloud line where the trail gets even wetter than it probably already is, thus reminding me more of hikes on Kaui than Maui. You'll climb muddy switchback after muddy switchback hoping to see a waterfall to no avail. (The closest waterfall you can get a glimpse of is across a valley on either side of you.) 

By the time you hit the 2.0 mile marker, you begin to wonder if this hike is worth it. Well, it is if you just like hiking, but honestly there are many hikes on Maui that are most interesting as you can see in my video below. There is no payoff when you reach the top of the trail; just some water to splash in that surrounds a dilapidated picnic bench up in a cloud. You might want to rest here for a few minutes and ponder how annoying it will be to get down off this hill if you don't have a hiking stick. 

This is a convenient hike - not to mention inexplicably popular hike - if you just happen to be out Wailuku's way, which is to say I had other business this day and that's why I agreed to the hike. Frankly, I would have rather done 13 Crossings just a little further up the road, but my wife doesn't like to walk in streams. Sigh. 

Directions: Take Highway 32 / Kaahumanu Ave. west of Kahului until you reach Highway 3400 right after Kahului Harbor. Turn right here and go north to Hwy 330, about three miles. Turn right on Highway 330 and continue until it becomes Highway 340 at mile marker 2. At 9/10 mile past mile marker 6 is Mendes Ranch on the right. Turn left here on to a gravel/unimproved road and it is approximately 1 mile up hill until you reach a small gravel parking area.

13 Crossings Trail Maui

Park here.

Go there.

13 Crossings, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…Actually, while I would say 13 Crossings aka Makamakaole Trail is nice, it isn’t any more interesting than some of the other ‘wet’ hikes around Maui. In fact, if you do like ‘wet’ hikes, the kind of hike you’re going to get wet on, then 13 Crossings is about as easy as they come. (At least until the very end when you have to climb up one waterfall to get to the next. And even then you can climb more ropes and apparently go on and on and on…) The easiness of this trail – 3 miles out and back – makes it less interesting than some other hikes, particularly the wet hikes found along the Road to Hana which often offer ocean views. 13 Crossings offers no such view and the waterfall scenery is tame for a fellow such as myself coming from Oregon. The waterfalls are nice, sure, but that’s all they are. Nice. The pools of water up this way are cool, which is a nice respite from the easy bake oven that is Kihei so it’s not like this hike is without its plusses. Oh, and the trail does have a section of small bamboo forestry which, you guess it, is nice. If there is anything else to note, it’s worth mentioning that if you come to a large boulder

Nice.

forking the stream into left and right paths, go right. You can still go left and you will still be taken to a waterfall and swimming hole, but it’s not the one every other blogger talks about. Actually, it’s a little curious that no one else mentions this fact. Maybe they’ve got better trail instincts as I always seem to find myself going left when I should be going to the right. I’m sure that means something deeper than I am willing to think about.

Wrong waterfall.

Picturesque. That's why I took a picture.

Directions: Go about 1.5 miles past mile maker 6 on Hwy 340; mile marker 7 is MIA. Look for a hole in a fence on the mountain side of the road just before the road takes a sharp bend. Go through the hole and almost immediately begin your first stream crossing. 

Kaanapali Beach, Maui

Kaanapali Beach, a few minutes north of Lahaina Town and about 40 minutes from Kahului, is the collective term for the strip of sand that runs along much of the western shore of Maui. Many people estimate the beach to be at least one mile long and as much as three miles long. My own estimate puts the beach’s total length at about two miles from the southernmost end at Canoe Beach (or Hanakao’o Beach if you’re Hawaiian and can pronounce Hawaiian words) to Black Rock (or Pu’u Keka’a).

Black Rock in the center, Kaanapali to the right.

Serving as a backdrop, there are no less than nine hotels and rental condominiums right off the beach. That being the case, Kaanapali Beach if far more crowded than any other single beach on Maui. If you don’t mind crowds, this fact provides ample opportunities for people watching. For example, if you want to see how the locals live on the weekends, go to Canoe Beach where they gather en masse during the weekends to celebrate birthdays. (Mind you, Canoe Beach is the least beautiful section of Kaanapali Beach.) Near the middle of Kaanapali Beach on the sea side of the Whaler’s Village shopping Plaza is “Dig Me” Beach where allegedly beautiful people gather to flaunt their feathers. Frankly, the only high marks this area of the beach gets is for its preponderance of inflated egos. At the northernmost end of the beach is Black Rock where snorkelers and cliff jumpers gather. The snorkeling if decent if you swim around the rocks towards the north but the afternoon currents can be a bit tricky. Turtles are as common here as anywhere else and people seem to see eagle rays here a lot, though I’ve never seen one here. You do have to watch yourself snorkeling, though, as kids and teenagers jumping off Black Rock into the water generally have no qualms about cannonballing you. At sunset, there is a traditional Hawaiian prayer said on Black Rock after nearby torches are lit, capped by a dive into the water meant to evoke the spirit of Hawaiian royalty.

As I said, the beach is long but it is also wide with a fairly steep drop-off at times which often makes for good body- or boogie-boarding. The sand here is fine and powdery for the most part, which no doubt once earned Kaanapali Beach the distinction of being voted the best beach in the world a few years ago. (By whom, is another question, since everything in Maui appears to be voted “the best.”) Yet, the best snorkeling is off of Black Rock since there is hardly any coral or underwater topography for the remainder of the beach’s length. The rest of the beach is still good for swimming, though, provided one stays out of the way of Stand-Up Paddleboarders (SUPs), kayaks, para-sailing tourists, and now, sadly, jet skis. This beach that was once content with sunbathers, swimmers, and snorkelers has now been turned into a circus. If you’d some exercise while watching the circus, you can walk the narrow beach path that runs along the beach from one end of Kaanapail to the other, only, don’t be surprised if you are offered some illicit drugs by locals, usually in front of condo rentals (maybe because the hotels run tighter security?). If you want shop or grab some grinds (food), Whaler’s Village is between the Westin Resort and the Aaston condo rentals. Naturally, all the shops and restaurants are overpriced, but as far as food goes, I have found Hula Grill to be the most consistent in terms of quality and value for your dollar. There is a McDonalds in Whalers Village if you want to save money, but I don’t think it’s worth your health.

Finally, if there’s one big problem with Kaanapali Beach, it’s the lack of public parking. Yes, there are two covered parking lot where you can pay to park, one just past Kaanapali Beach Hotel and the other next to Whaler’s Village; that’s your best bet if you don’t want to spend a lot of time looking for the other mythical public parking lots. (I believe the current per hour price for parking there is about $5 an hour. If you buy $15 worth of goodies in Whaler’s Village or eat at any restaurant, they can validate your parking ticket; another option.) For a complete rundown of all your parking options, please visit the Trip Advisor link below. Mind you, the review is from 2009…

Parking in Kaanapali

Overall, Kaanapali Beach gets 3.5 out of 5 stars from me, losing points for becoming too overrun in the past few years. Otherwise, there are far worse places to be. Enjoy your stay!