A beautiful hike to do in Maui is the Waihe’e Ridge Trail. However, I hiked it the day after a rain storm. If you chose do this (and you probably will since it rains pretty often during certain times of the year) here are a few things to remember:
- Wear clothes/shoes you don’t mind ruining/throwing away (because there is an 80% chance you will fall at some point along the steep trail).
- Grab a walking stick asap. Look towards the bottom of the trail where previous hikers might have left large sticks that could be used as a hiking stick. If you go on this trail when it is muddy, you will need it.
- Bring lots of water. And drink it. Also possibly a snack for when you reach the top if you easily hunger like me.
- Get there early because the parking lot fills up fast. When it is full, you have to park about a mile down the road in the overflow parking, and it’s a hike just to get to the main parking lot.
People of all ages were on the trail, so it is “fun for the whole family.”
Now on to the nitty gritty. The drive to the Waihe’e Ridge Trail is BEAUTIFUL. You feel like you are in Jurassic Park. And you constantly want to pull over to the side of the road to take pictures, but there is rarely a spot to do so. The road itself is one lane at times with lots of twists and turns, so I was very thankful my friend Chris was driving instead of me that day.
The first part of the trail is just straight up concrete. The straight up kind of incline where you feel at times you need to walk backwards because your shins start to kill you. And it’s okay to take several “photo” breaks to catch your breath. I mean, take pictures.
Once you get to the top of the ridge, not only do you feel accomplished/sweaty, but the view is gorgeous.
The hike up and back can be done in a morning before lunch. You feel quite accomplished and still have lunch and the rest of the day to look forward to.
The Adventures of LC 