Hiking Trip To Waihe'e Trail.

(A.K.A. "Swinging Bridges Trail")

Today, we visited the Waihe'e Trail on West Maui. This trail is located a few miles west of Wailuku along the Kahekili Highway. It is on private land, but the owners allow free use of the trail to the public, they issue free permits to hikers who call their number.

There is a catch, though: Even though the trail owners allow free use of their trail, for parking and access to the trail you must go though someone else's private land, unrelated to the trail owners, and they charge you a fee to cross inside and park in their property, before the trail head. Fees are $6 per adult, Kamaaina rates are $3 per adult. Hope that was not too confusing.

The Waihee Trail takes about 90 minutes each way and it is not very steep. It requires crossing a stream at a couple of places and it has two swinging bridges. It starts as a narrow dirt road open to 4WD vehicles and then it narrows down progressively after the swinging bridges. The trail follows an old irrigation canal which parts of it are still in use, other parts abandoned. Some old abandoned structures, as well as modern stream gauges are seen along the way.

The trail offers great views of the Waihe'e Valley. There are fresh fruit trees, as well as coffee trees. We ate fresh Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) and Guava. There were many mango trees, but sadly, mangos were out of season.

Near the end of the trail we found a nice pond of clear water to take a dip. As usual, the water felt real cold at first, but you get used to it after a couple of minutes. Also towards the end, the valley opens up and reveals a tall waterfall in the distance.

Following are some selected pictures of the trip.

Gwen at the first swinging bridge and me, at the second swinging bridge.

Some of the views along the trail.

Here I am, foolishly climbing on a slippery, fallen tree spanning across the trail. You can almost hear the "VONAGE" music playing... "Woo hoo!, Woo hoo hoo!". Don't worry, I did not fall.

An Old Control Gate at the Irrigation Canal. (Below). Parts of the irrigation canal, as well as some of the water tunnels, are still in use.

Found some fresh guava. This brings back memories of my childhood in Puerto Rico, where guava trees were common in my family's farm, and we ate them fresh, straight from the tree.

Gwen enjoyed some fresh, juicy Lilikoi (Passion Fruit), that we found along the way.

Taking a dip in the Stream. (Below) The water felt very cold at first, but it felt great after a couple of minutes. It was a very refreshing break from the hike.

A View of the Waihe'e Valley Near the End of the Trail. Notice the clouds are starting to roll over the ridge. The tall waterfall is on the valley on the left of the picture, but by now, it was covered by clouds.