♦ Lahaina Pali Trail

Where: Olowalu/Maalaea, Maui

Length: 5 Miles (One way)
Hiking Time (Non-Stop): 4 Hours

Difficulty Level: 4 of 5.  (5 being most difficult)

Weather

Elevation Gain: 1,600 ft (from Kahului side)

Parking: Yes, (see ↓ NOTE)

Security: No

*NOTES

• On both sides you will have MASS heat to deal with, bring a full Camel-Bak of water.  
• On the Kahului half you will have major wind buffeting you going westward towards the ocean. 
• No bathrooms
• Parking on the Maalaea side is available, (See Directions below for more details)
• The Lahaina side has a shaded canopy of Kiawe Trees off the highway

The AGONY BOX
4 of 5 ranking.  The only reason this hike isn't a 5 is that the distance is only five miles.  But the heat more than makes up for that detriment.  The path from Lahaina side is cobblestones spaced far apart.  The Maalaea side is washed out from mega rains we had here in the islands at the beginning of 2011.  There is probably only one full grown tree along the path if you ever wanted to get out of the sun; and that's at the beginning.  After you come over Lahaina you will be "attacked" by winds so powerful they run our wind farms, sometimes upwards of 50+mph! 

Quick History: 

Hundreds of years ago, Hawaiians had a trail that circled Maui called the ‘Alaloa’ or ‘the long road’. About 200 years ago, the current Lahaina Pali Trail was built on a small portion of the Alaloa that allowed land access around Maui’s SW corner from Lahaina to the capital, Wailuku. Prior to the building of this trail, travelers would walk along the coast where possible and would swim around any sheer sea cliffs that might have blocked their way. Sometime before 1825, the zigzagging Lahaina Pali Trail was built that offered a more direct route across the ridges and gullies of the steep slopes of the West Maui Mountains.
~Info taken from here.

Directions to: In Wailuku town, get onto Honoapiilani Highway, travel West towards Lahaina.  

♣  If you want to start at the Maalaea side, then look where North Kihei Rd intersects to the left of Honoapiilani, drive a bit further towards Lahaina way and look for a dirt driveway on your right going towards the mountains.  There will be two gates.

**DO NOT USE the left as that is a private pasture.
**USE THE RIGHT, as it has a doggy clip, but be sure to ALWAYS close the gates so the cows don't end up on the highway.  There will be another gate at the top, same doggy clip style, close it also, then head left and follow the signs to the trail-head with the Kiosks on the right.  You won't miss it and park to hike!

♣ If you want to start Lahaina side, then keep rolling past Maalaea Harbor then the road will become curvy and along the the Pali (cliff).  Drive till you go through a tunnel (the only one on Maui) and the road will start to descend.  At the bottom, look right and you will see the "canopy shaded" parking lot.

Picture Descriptions (I'll try to keep these to a minimum as I don't want to ruin your experiences! ☺)

Lahaina-side Parking Lot with Shade

Trailhead Kiosks

Terrain preview...

Old Highway

Triple Highway

Believe it or not,
 this is the trail

Bring your A-game for this trail

These are place markers that are
keyed to a brochure from the DLNR.
They are NOT Mile marker signs;
those ones are located in the
river bottoms. 

"Triangle Rock of Hope"
(Half my Camel-bak was dry)

Smoothens out near the top

I was bookin' it to avoid night!

Descent Downhill to Maalaea begins

Trail is regularly weed
whacked / maintained

Fireweed = BAD on the trail.

The Maalaea side isn't easy
either the lower you descend.

If you're patient to build
up to them, you can take
Vibrams on any trail

Kiosks-Maalaea

Credit: jason.fiala

Credit:Waymarking.com

Pass by North Kihei Intersection and
look to your right for this Driveway.

Maalaea Parking Lot